How To Unclog A Camper Toilet

We’ve all been there, right? Felt that panic? You’ve just excused yourself to go to the toilet, everybody knows you’re in there. But you’ve flushed the loo and the water has started rising.

You haven’t heard the woosh of the toilet clearing itself. Oh no, the toilet’s clogged up. You flush and flush and flush – nothing. Are you sweating yet?

How long can you stand in there before people start to notice you’ve been gone a while? How do you fix it?!

It’s one of the worst feelings in the world. As humans, we’re pretty bashful about relieving ourselves in the toilet, and it’s just so embarrassing to clog up a toilet.

And doing it in the home is an awful experience as it is, but doing it in a camper just feels so much worse. Heaven forbid someone comes in after you. Or even worse, you spread an odor around the camper. Oh no, it’s stuff out of a nightmare.

Nobody wants to walk out of that toilet with that sheepish facial expression and bright red cheeks and let everyone know I’ve clogged the toilet…

But don’t panic, because it’s a pretty easy fix. In this article, we’ll go over the ways you can get that toilet unclogged in no time at all. So what are we waiting for?

Let’s jump straight into it and get that toilet unclogged.

Best Ways To Unclog A Camper Toilet

1. Boiling Water

Simple but effective. You don’t need to rush out to the store and start buying a collection of chemicals, and you don’t need to put yourself through the ordeal of using your hand as a plunger (ew.) All you have to do is boil some water.

This a pretty effective method, and it’ll more often than not sort the problem straight out. All you’ll have to do is pour a few pots of boiling water into the toilet.

You’ll want to open up your toilet’s valve and then pour the water down the toilet into the holding tank. And just like that – clogged no more.

However, this simple and effective method does come at a small price. And that price is a stinky smell. You may waft a pretty unpleasant sewer-like smell through the camper so you’ll need your ‘it’s the toilet – not me’ excuse at the ready.

But don’t worry, crack open the window and door and the smell passes pretty quickly.

2. Flexible Tank Wand

I am a firm believer that every camper toilet should have a flexible tank wand hidden in the room. As far as gadgets are concerned, this is a pretty great one to have available, especially in the case of a clog-related emergency.

It’ll give you a clog-free toilet in a matter of minutes and will keep the toilet odor-free and clean. So it saves your camper toilet from clogs and your campers from toilet-based embarrassment.

You can’t go far wrong with Camco’s tank wand it does a great job of unclogging your toilet easily, quickly, and effectively.

It’s not the cheapest gadget on the market, but it’ll come in useful time after time. We all know how easily camper toilets clog, and you can always trust this wand to come to your aid.

And a quick wiggle of the wand is much less effort, and far less embarrassing than the water method.

3. Septic Safe Declogger

Now, I will say that a chemical clog remover should always be used as a last resort when all else fails. You don’t want to be using chemicals down the toilet too often as it can have pretty negative effects on your toilet, holding tank, and pipes.

But, if you have a stubborn clog, they will work to save the day. You can get chemical cleaners that are specifically designed for camper toilets, but even so, I would advise that you use them sparingly.

Thetford Kitchen & Bath Cleaner is one of the specially designed options that are safe for use on plastic and porcelain toilets such as the ones that are used in your typical RV toilet.

In terms of use, it’s super simple. All you have to do is pour it into your toilet and then rinse.

Preventing Future Clogs

Other than being embarrassing, clogging a toilet is just inconvenient and annoying. It always happens at exactly the worst possible moment, and it’s just time-consuming and frustrating for everyone involved. Prevention is the best cure.

There are a few things that you can do to help prevent your toilet from clogging up, thankfully. We’ll take a quick look at these now.

1. Use Rapid Dissolving Toilet Paper

The overuse of toilet paper is one of the main offenders when it comes to clogging your toilet. It’s pretty easy for the stuff to get stuck in your toilet pipe and then build up in your tank. This is really annoying because it can become quite difficult to actually remove.

But how do you overcome this problem? You can use less toilet paper, but that’s not always possible. The better choice would be to switch to rapid-dissolving toilet paper that breaks down 4 times faster than regular paper.

2. Use More Water

Water is your best friend with camper toilets. I’d suggest filling up your bowl before and after each toilet use to prevent clogging.

It will help stop solid masses from forming in your black tank, and once there is a solid mass in the tank, it can be really difficult to actually remove.

3. Use Drop-In Packets

Using Drop-In Packets is an effective way to treat your black tank which will help break down any waste in the toilet and help get rid of those unpleasant smells.

They’re really easy to use, all you need to do is pop a packet into the toilet and flush a decent amount of water down to cover it.

Final Thoughts

Clogging up a toilet is a universally despised experience. Preventing clogs is the best option to avoid embarrassment and inconvenience. But sometimes, a clog is unavoidable.

Follow the steps discussed in this article though, and your toilet should be back up and running in no time at all.