Toilet Not Used For Months

If the toilet is not used for months, the homeowners might think something is wrong. Fortunately, they can talk to their plumbers about this.

The plumbers will diagnose the problem and fix it.

When you are living alone and there is no one at home for a long time, the toilet in your house is not used for months or even years.

So, what should you do with your toilet? Well, it is best that you try to sell your toilet at a garage sale or through your real estate agent if you want to sell your house or apartment.

It will be very embarrassing if the toilet in your house is still in good condition but cannot be used by other people due to you not using it for a long time.

What To Do If Toilet Is Not Used For Months?

Close the Water Valve

If you haven’t used a toilet in a long time and it is in top condition, you might not want to use it after so long of not using it anymore.

This will be accomplished when you close the water valve in your toilet’s supply line going to your house’s main water pipe connection behind the wall.

When trying to empty the toilet bowl, you might not be able to do this effectively because the water in the bowl might already be stagnant when you are trying to flush it because of the closed water valve.

This is why, whenever you work on toilets in your apartments or houses, make sure that the water supply valves are turned off first before you do anything on the toilet itself.

This is usually found in the lower part of the wall, directly above the toilet bowl, where the wall meets the floor.

Using the Toilet

You are about to use the water in the toilet bowl again; hence, you have to turn the water supply valve on.

When you flush the toilet, you get rid of any leftover water in the bowl so that it can be cleaned well and thoroughly later.

You will not want to work on a dirty toilet after all the cleaning and repairs that you have done on it, so make sure that you remove as much residual water as possible from the bowl before you start working on the other areas of the bathroom.

For most folks, you’ll only need a plunger when attempting to remove the residual water from the bowl, but for more advanced cases, you might want to use a drain snake or an auger to loosen the residual clog at the bottom.

This should clear the toilet and allow you to use it again without incident.

Empty the Toilet Tank

The key task at this step is to empty the tank completely of its contents.

You’ll see that it is usually easy to remove the tank lid from the tank of your toilet.

Remove the lid and place a bucket underneath the tank to catch the liquid that will come out when the tank is emptied completely.

This will help eliminate water waste, which will ultimately save you money as well.

Once again, be patient and careful as you work so that you will not spill any liquids around yourself or the floor of the bathroom you are in.

Fill the Toilet With Water and Flush It Again

The next step is to fill the tank with water to the fill line indicated on the tank top of your toilet.

Before flushing, make sure there is enough water in the tank to make the refill process easier later on.

This is why you need to be careful when filling the tank; you do not want to spill any of the liquid around yourself or anyone else working in the bathroom.

This is one of the crucial steps in a DIY plumbing project; this is why you should take your time and really make sure that everything is done correctly the first time to avoid having to repeat the whole process over again several times.

Be patient and ensure that you turn the water off at the supply valve once you have filled the water tank up correctly. Otherwise, you can end up wasting a lot of water and money.

You may check that everything is in order before flushing the toilet one last time to ensure that all of the contents in the toilet bowl have been flushed out as well.

At this stage, you may now proceed to work on the rest of the areas in the bathroom; however, this should only be done after you have ensured that everything has been done to your satisfaction.

What Happens If the Toilet Is Not Used for an Extended Period of Time?

When drains are not utilized for an extended period of time, they can start to smell unpleasantly over time.

Because of this, it’s important to make sure you don’t leave your toilets empty for long periods of time.

Otherwise, you may end up with clogged toilets or dirty-looking bowls when you finally decide to use them again.

How Often Should an Unused Toilet Be Flushed?

Here are some things to consider if you have a seldom-used toilet: If you have a rarely used toilet, you should flush it once every three days or so to ensure that the bowl does not become too dirty over time due to the presence of residual dirt and debris inside.

This will keep the toilet clean and ensure that you do not have to do major cleaning later on when you finally decide to use the fixture again.

An evaporating trap allows air to circulate inside the drainpipe; as a result, it allows water to drain out of the trap without creating a backflow of water back into the bowl when the toilet is flushed.

Should I Cut Off the Water Supply to an Unused Toilet?

To keep the traps full, just run water into the bowl whenever you use it; this will ensure that the air that is trapped inside the drainpipe is replenished every time the bowl is flushed out.

Allow the water to evaporate, and your traps will stay full, which means that you will have less risk of having a clogged toilet in the future.

Is It Safe to Use a Shower That Hasn’t Been Used in a Long Time?

If a toilet has not been used in a long time, there is a risk of stagnant water because the water in the bowl can breed bacteria and mold if it is not regularly cleaned or flushed out.

Water may gather in portions of a home’s water line that are out of sight, which may pose a health risk to the occupants of the house.

Therefore, it is important to turn off the water supply whenever a toilet is not used for an extended period of time.

Also Read: Is It Bad To Shut Off Water To Toilet?

Final Words

These are the procedures to follow when dealing with a toilet that has not been used for an extended period of time.

If a toilet hasn’t been used in months, turn off the water supply to the fixture and flush it a few times to ensure that the water flows freely through the drainpipes and that the water is cleaned effectively before it returns to the household water system.

This should assist homeowners to keep their toilets clean and minimize the risk of having a clogged toilet bowl later down the road.

You don’t want to use the restroom only to discover that you have to take care of a messy clog in your bathroom.

An unused toilet that has been sitting around for months needs to be taken care of the right way; otherwise, it may result in you having to call a plumber for help to fix a major clog problem.

This is why you must be attentive and ensure that you take the right steps to keep your home’s plumbing system in good shape.