bleach in toilet to speed things up

[sunofthebeach]

to clear a slow toilet, a friend recommended to pour a gallon of bleach in the toilet, flush, then don't use the toilet over night.

I have read people talking about high chlorine levels being bad for plastic cement or rubber seals.

Anyone think I 'll damage anything by doing this?

[NWMNMom]

I'm not sure but I believe that many of the tank drop ins are made of bleach so there is chlorine products sitting in millions of toilets.

[chem geek]

Drano and similar products mostly contain lye / caustic soda / sodium hydroxide. It is the high pH that breaks down most organic clogs (hair in showers, paper in toilets, etc.). Chlorine has high pH and is an oxidizer, but lye is even stronger for this purpose. High pH does not harm metal nor plastic pipes or gaskets (low pH is harmful to them) if not exposed continually. High oxidizer levels, such as chlorine, however, are more harmful to these substances (probably not a disaster, but I'd avoid it).

So lye would be better than chlorine. As for the tank drop ins, many do have chlorine, but they release a rather low concentration of chlorine -- not like adding a whole jug of concentrated bleach to the toilet. This add-ins are more like chlorinating your toilet water for sanitation (don't dive in now ).

If you want to use a grocery/hardware store generic product, I would use lye -- but it only takes a little. Just use a small amount (a tablespoon or so) and see if it improves flow.

[EDIT] I checked some Clorox sources and I am wrong. It is OK to use bleach in the toilet, but not in the quantity that was stated in the post -- not an entire jug. One cup is the recommended dose and is less than a tenth of the concentration of using a full jug. [END-EDIT]

Richard

[shadowman]

It has been my experience that the chlorine drop-ins for toilet tanks definitely cause premature wear on rubber seals. I have fobidden their use in my house When I worked in a hardware store as a kid, customers would bring in mushy, distorted seals and I would ask them if they used those things. 99% said they did.

[KurtV]

Some toilet manufacturers won't honor their warranty if in-tank cleaners are used (not sure how they would know if you did). My guess is that they are claiming that the chlorine damages seals or other parts.

[matt4x4]

I can attest to the mushy rubber syndrome - my wife is a hardcore puck user, I replace the flapper yearly because it breaks down and turns to mush - usual sign is hearing a small drip drip.
But when it's all said and done, a 1.99 flapper isn't a big deal.
Haven't seen anything else break down over 7 years of usage....

[Spensar]

Interesting page and how the cleaning pucks can cause flush problems in some situations.

http://www.toiletology.com/blue-goo.shtml

[CarlD]

Having read this thread I had a VERY slow sink. I poured in Draino gel and saw it contained sodium hydroxide and sodium hypochlorite as its active agreements. The stuff opened up 2 slow drains but one was still no better.

So I went out to the pool, got a cup or two of 12.5% from the carboy and poured THAT down the sink, waited a half hour and VOILA! fast-running sink again! That was yesterday.

[chem geek]

So it sounds like the summary of these stories is that occasional use of chlorine (or chlorine and lye) to clear a clog is not a problem, but use of the chlorine tablets that expose the seals to more constant levels of chlorine can wear them out or for the blue tabs can change the viscosity to prevent suction flushing.

[mbar]

I learn something new everyday from this forum