It’s a little bit startling to see your toilet bubbling. You lift the seat of the toilet and look into the bowl to notice that there are bubbles coming up from the pipes below, either one large bubble at a time or several bubbles coming up in a steady stream. That’s not something you’ve ever seen before. And if you’re thinking that it’s a sign something is wrong—well, you’d be right.
The Down Low About Bubbling Toilets
A bubbling toilet is never a good sign. Usually, it means that there is air pressure building up down inside the drain. When there’s no outlet for the air pressure coming into your drain (in other words, you have a clog), that air has to come back up through your toilet into your home. That’s where those air bubbles come from.
In the worst of situations, those bubbles that are coming up into your toilet could have a sewage-like smell that makes your bathroom or even the rest of your home uncomfortable to live in. While this smell isn’t necessarily dangerous, it’s not something you will enjoy breathing in. And if the clog isn’t resolved, you could see yourself dealing with a bad backup in your home or in the home of your neighbors.
The Solution To A Bubbling Toilet
So, how are you supposed to stop this bubbling in your toilet? This could be an easy fix or it could be a problem that requires professional assistance.
For A DIY Solution
Start by trying to resolve the clog yourself. If you just have a regular clog only a few inches down the line from your toilet, you can dislodge the clog with a plunger and send the blockage (along with any air pressure building up behind it) back down the drain. If this solves the problem, congratulations! Just make sure you keep an eye on that toilet so that you don’t see the problem coming back.
When DIY Doesn’t Work
If a plunger doesn’t resolve the problem, it could be that your blockage is too big or too far down the line. Talk to your neighbors to see whether they are having a similar problem. If the clog (and the corresponding buildup of air) is in the sewer main, this means you must contact the municipal sewer authority to resolve the problem. A strong sewage smell is usually an indicator that the air pressure buildup is happening far down the line away from your private residence.
Time To Call The Plumber
However, if your neighbors say they are not having a problem with a bubbling toilet, that could mean you have a bad clog that is not located within the sewer main—it’s still there on your property. You may need to snake the drain to dislodge whatever it is that’s stuck within the pipes.
There’s also the potential that you’re seeing a lack of ventilation in the pipes.
The way the toilet is designed, air flows down when you flush, but it then needs to be vented back out from the pipes before the rest of the wastewater goes to the sewer. This is done via a line known as the vent stack, which runs from your drainage system up to the roof of your house, where the air from your sewage drain is then emitted into the air outside your house (and because it’s coming from your roof, it’s up high enough where nobody can smell it). This helps balance out the air pressure in your drainage system. But when there’s lack of ventilation, usually because something is blocking your vent stack, that air then gets stuck in your lines and gets pushed back up into your home.
If you don’t have a vent stack installed, you should get one as soon as possible. Although this is a slightly complicated installation, it’s necessary if you don’t want to end up with air stuck in your pipes. If you already have a ventilation pipe but you still have a bubbling toilet, check to make sure that the vent stack isn’t clogged. A blockage in the vent stack could be caused by animals nesting in the line, or even because there is debris that has gotten trapped in the line and built up over time. These blockages are what’s preventing the air from getting out of your drainage system. When the air can get out of your drainage system through your vent stack, the air is then pushed back up through your pipes.
The Most Important Takeaway
When air doesn’t have a way to escape via its proper route, it will come back up via the improper route (that is, through your toilet, carrying gross sewage odors with it). To prevent these problems from happening, it’s best to seek out the guidance of a professional who can properly diagnose and remedy.