bleach in toilet to speed things up

[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