Why Are People Pouring Dish Soap Into Their Toilet at Night? Let's Break It Down...

How the trick works

Start by checking the water level. If the bowl is nearly full, do not add anything yet. Wait for the water to drain down to its normal level, or scoop some out into a bucket first. Then squeeze a good amount of dish soap into the bowl, about half a cup. Plain, ordinary dish soap is fine. Let it sit for a few minutes. Because dish soap is heavier than water, it sinks down toward the drain and settles on the clog.

Next, fill a bucket with hot water from the tap: as hot as your tap gives, but never boiling. Pour it into the bowl from about waist height, in one steady stream, and stop if the water rises close to the rim. The height gives the water a little force to push on the clog, while the heat and the soap do the rest. Then leave it alone. Twenty to thirty minutes is often enough; for a stubborn clog, leave it overnight. In the morning, flush once and watch. If the water goes down normally, you are done.

Why does it work? Many slow toilets are blocked by a soft plug of toilet paper and waste stuck in the curved pipe hidden inside the toilet, called the trap. Dish soap is made to break up grease and make surfaces slippery. It coats the clog, helps loosen it, and lets it slide through more easily. One warning matters more than all the rest, though, and we explain it on the next page.