7 Easy Ways to Improve Toilet Flushing Power (updated:October 2024)

Use these tips to boost your toilet flush power

If you find that you need to flush your toilet multiple times, it could be due to a lack of toilet flushing power. This is usually a symptom of bigger issues but can easily be fixed in many cases. Here are a few things you can do to improve the flushing power of your toilet.

Remove Any Clogs

Toilets get clogged. It’s just the way things are. If your toilet has suddenly lost a good amount of its power, the first place to check is a clog.

Luckily this is an easy fix.

First, get a bucket of water (one to two gallons should do the trick) and pour it into the toilet bowl. Then give the toilet a flush. This should dislodge any items that are clogging up the trap.

If this doesn’t work, you want to make sure it’s not a clog. Grab your toilet plunger and give it a few pumps (this is the best one). The force from a plunger can dislodge any clogs like toilet paper. I find it best to make sure that the plunger has a good seal and that enough water covers the plunger’s mouth.

Lastly, as a third alternative, you can grab a plumbers snake and try to clear any clogs that way.

Clean the toilet bowl holes to improve toilet flush power

If you have started to notice black mold in your toilet, you may have some clogged jet holes.

These toilet holes are typically hard to see when you look at your toilet. That’s because they are underneath the rim of the toilet seat. There are a good amount of them in the toilet bowl, and if several of these small holes are clogged, you will have less water passing through and less power.

This can happen if you have build-up from your water. Over time this build-up blocks these tiny holes. The build-up causes blockages, and less water passes through these small holes. The less water that passes through these holes, the weaker the toilet bowl flush. Less water means less water per flush and means low water flow.

Before you clean the toilet bowl jet holes, flush the toilet again and see if there are any places where jets of water aren’t flowing out of the small holes.

Clogged jets can be a cause for weak flush

If you notice that water isn’t flowing out of all of them, the holes could be plugged. So you need to unclog them.

To do this, you will need to clean out any of the individual holes that may be plugged. You can do this using a pipe cleaner, drill bit itself (don’t use the cordless drill), or paper clip.

You could even try using the toilet scrub brush to see if that does the trick. But more than likely, you will have to get inside the hole to clear out each individual one, and a brush won’t get in the holes to clean them out.

If that doesn’t work, move on to the next step.

Check the water level in the toilet tank.

Next, you will want to make sure that everything is functioning properly in your tank. Remove the toilet lid and put it on the ground.

Inspect the water line to see if your tank is filling up to the correct level

Look at where your water level is and make sure it’s at the designated water level. There should be a water line from the manufacturer, or you can see where the water has normally been sitting over the years.

A rule of thumb is that the water should be half an inch below the flush valve.

If you notice that the tank isn’t filling up to the waterline, the float may be stuck, or there could be an issue with the overflow tube.

Over time the float can get stuck at a lower level than it should. This means the water in the tank cannot rise to the full level. When the tank doesn’t have enough water, you have a weaker flushing toilet. Move the water tank float assembly unit to make sure it is moving smoothly.

Inspect the chain and flush valve in the toilet tank

Inspect the chain in the water tank. If his chain is too long, it can get caught underneath the fill valve, leaving it open, and water continuously runs through. This means not enough water pressure and a weaker flushing toilet.

If you hear water running in the night, it could be that your toilet tank is leaking because of this, or a crack in your overflow tube.

To fix this, make sure there is enough tension in the chain so that it can close but not too much that there is extra sitting on top of the flush valve (flapper). Inspect your flush handle, as there are three places to attach the chain, and moving it is pretty easy.

adjust toilet flushing power tank chain and flush valve

The toilet tank chain should be pulling directly above with little slack to get the strongest toilet flush.

The chain should have ¼ to ⅓ inch of slack on it. You want to ensure that when the leaver gets pushed that the flapper is fully opened. The best way to know this is by flushing the toilet with the lid off and see if the flush valve is opening as much as it can. This is best achieved when the chain pulls the flapper straight up.

If you have too much chain, the flapper can close prematurely, and there will not be enough water coming through. This lack of water pressure means there will be a weaker flush.

If you have a dual flush toilet (low-flow toilets or high-efficiency toilets), you will want to make sure that it is flushing the right amount. We have a two-button dual flush toilet, and the buttons can move around. This means that sometimes when we are doing a full tank flush, it’s only doing half. Inspect the button on your dual flush toilet and make sure that the buttons line up to the appropriate flush valves.

While these are great for conserving water using fewer gallons per flush, if you aren’t getting the right flow of water coming through, you won’t be able to flush toilet paper, let alone anything else.

Inspect the bowl fill line

If your bowl does not have enough toilet water in it when it flushes, it can lead to a weaker flush. To make sure it’s filling up properly, take some water in a pail,5 gallons should do it, and start to pour a gallon of water in slowly.

After a point, the water level will stop rising. This is the level that your water closet should be filling up to after you flush the toilet.

Make a note of this level in the bowl. And flush the toilet again. If the water doesn’t rise back up to that level, your fill valve may need to be replaced.

Related: Read this if you have your toilet tank is not filling up. or this if you need to know how to flush a toilet without running water.

Use vinegar in the tank

The next thing you will want to try is putting white vinegar in the toilet tank. Letting the tank soak in white vinegar can remove any buildup if it has been happening in the tank.

To do this, remove the lid of your water tank put it on the floor.

Next, turn off your cold water supply. Look for a pipe coming out of the bottom of the toilet tank and follow it to the wall or floor; there should be a valve there to shut off the water to the toilet.

Give your toilet a flush to drain all the current water that is in it.

Once the bulk of the water has come out, pour the vinegar into the tank and let it sit for at least 2 or 3 hours. The longer the white vinegar can stay on in the tank, the more, the better chance it has at removing any clog that may exist.

We also use vinegar to remove calcium buildup on our kettles and buildup on our taps. White vinegar is truly a useful home cleaning supply and an affordable way to keep your toilet bowl clean.

Remember to turn the water back on, or else you will have a toilet that doesn’t flush at all.

Use bleach in the toilet

Turn off the water supply to the toilet tank. You will find it behind the toilet. Next, pour a gallon of bleach into the toilet bowl. Let the bleach sit for up to half an hour so that it can work its magic. Let your family members know that they aren’t to use this toilet for half an hour.

When the time is up, flush the toilet, and that gallon of bleach will dislodge any clogs that are in the toilet.

Turn the water on again, and put the toilet tank lid back on. Allow the toilet tank to fill back up before giving the toilet a few more flushes (allowing it to fully fill up each time). This will ensure that the bleach is fully gone out of the bowl and give it some time to unclog the toilet.

If all else fails…

Lastly, if nothing else is working, you will need to contact a professional plumber. You can use the link below to find a plumber in your area that can come and help you get a more powerful flush.

Click Here to Find a Local Plumber

Final thoughts on getting the most powerful flush from your toilet

The reason your flushing ability has changed is due to one of several reasons above. Remember that less water flow means less water pressure. While we always want to have good water efficiency. Too much can mean a lack of flushing power, and we want to make sure that we always have the right amount of flushing power.

How to Improve Toilet Flushing Power with These 7 Tips