Why Is My Toilet Bubbling?

If you have ever had the occasion to be standing in the bathroom, minding your business brushing your teeth, and suddenly see bubbles coming up from your toilet drain, you might be worried about what could be down there.

Stories of monsters and crocodiles living in the sewer systems of large cities have been passed around for generations and, it’s easy to let your imagination run wild when you see those unprovoked bubbles coming up from the drain.

In fact, a bubbling toilet is a relatively common situation and there are (luckily) several things that you can do to troubleshoot the problem:

• First, it is important to identify if other plumbing fixtures in your home are also having problems. To do this you just go around the house running water and flushing toilets. You are looking to see if any of the sinks drain slowly, if the other toilets bubble also, etc. But, also to see if any specific scenario causes the bubbling. For instance, if you turn the washing machine on and the toilet bubbles – this is good information to have because it narrows down the possible causes of the bubbling.
• Next, you can carefully climb onto the roof of your home and check to make sure the air vents are clear of debris, leaves, and nests. This time of year there is a lot of rubbish blowing around in the air and, all of it can block an air vent from allowing sewer gasses to escape. Once the gasses make it to the vent and find it is blocked, they will travel back the way they came and out the toilet – causing bubbling from the drain.
• Finally, if you have noticed that a faucet of a fixture in your home is leaking, it might be a bigger problem than just some dripping water. If there is a pipe that is cracked it could be causing some serious problems including air pockets and bubbling toilets.

If your toilet is bubbling, make sure to check these few things and contact a professional plumber. It is important to get situations like this addressed right away as they can quickly escalate into something much worse – that will be more expensive and disruptive to repair.