10 Tips ▶ How to Flush a Toilet Without Water? - Housekeepingbay
Updated on Feb 16, 2023
8 Minute Read

How to Flush a Toilet Without Water?

Need to use your lavatory when the water is off? It’s not a problem anymore!

We are so used to always having a 24/7 access to water in our lavatory rooms that, when an emergency occurs, its absence becomes a true disaster! It can happen due to many reasons. For instance, it might be your home plumbing issue, or the municipal supply has been turned off temporarily due to plumbing fixing.

No matter what the reason is, flushing your toilet when there is no water there may turn into an embarrassing situation. Especially if you are not aware of what has happened. So how to make a toilet flush without water? Easily! And it will not require anything special from you.

How to Make a Toilet Flush Without Running Water?

How to flush a toilet without water in the tank? There are two ways you can do that, and each of them will require very little effort from you. Well, and an empty bucket, of course!

  • Flush the toilet using water from the bucket
  • Flush the toilet using water that you have filled the tank with before

Now let’s see how each of these methods can work for us. For an example, we will use the situation when the tank was already empty from the very beginning.

Imagine your house was suddenly deprived of water for some reason. And you have no idea of what has happened. And then you suddenly need to go to the toilet room. You do what you need to do there and then you pull the handle…and nothing happens!

Maybe, somebody has already flushed it before you and now it is waterless, it does not matter that much. What does matter is that you have no water in it! But don’t worry, if your toilet’s bowl was already empty when you tried to flush it, you still can fix the situation by using one of the suggested methods.

First of all, you can use an ordinary bucket. Filled with water, of course. Since we normally use about one gallon of it per flush, be sure your bucket has approximately the same capacity or even a bit larger.

What you need to do in this case is to fill the bucket with water, and then pour it into the toilet. LIke that, all the content will be flushed down the pipes as it should be, and you won’t even have to use a handler of the bowl!

The second approach will require you to fill the toilet bowl with water. For doing this, you will need a bucket again. Just pour some water into the tank and flush it as you usually do.

How to Make a Toilet Flush Without Running Water

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Detailed Instruction On How to Flush a Toilet Without Water In Tank. Method One

Now that you know the general order of actions that need to be taken to flush the waterless toilet, it will be useful to learn exactly the step-by-step description of how everything should be done. Even though the process is basically very simple and clear, certain nuances must be taken into account.

How to flush a toilet without water in the tank

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So if you are going to flush your toilet using water in a bucket for this purpose, you will need to do the following:

  • Fill a bucket (or better two) with water.
  • Ensure the total capacity is about a gallon or more since this is how much we use per flush.
  • Start pouring water slowly from the bucket at the beginning, then quickly dump the remaining into the bowl.
  • The pressure of pouring water, as well as the shape of the toilet, will make the content be washed down the pipes easily.

Detailed Instruction On How to Flush a Toilet Without Water In Tank. Method One

For this method, you don’t need to use a handler or empty the toilet tank. Also, if you assume you will have the same water issue in the future, we would recommend you always having a bucket of two with extra water just in case.

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Another Way Of Flushing the Toilet That Has No Water

The second approach is somewhat similar to the one we described above. The only distinction is that this one requires that you pour the water not into the toilet directly, but you fill the tank with it. And then use it as usual.

Simply take the lid off the tank and fill it with water until it reaches the overflow line. And then use the tank’s handler to flush the toilet as you normally do. The only disadvantage of this alternative method is that it requires more water in comparison to the first one.

It means that, if you only have one gallon of water, you’d better opt for the first approach (or get more water somewhere if you can).

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What Happens If We Flush the Toilet While the Water Is Off?

Have you ever thought of what could happen if we flush the toilet when the water is turned off? Is it possible to break it like this? Well, as for the breakage, it is hardly possible by simply flushing the toilet when the tank is empty.

What will happen is that the human waste will not be flushed through the pipes as it should if we pull the handler having the tank empty at the moment. So you will not cause any damage to your toilet, but you will definitely have to fill it with water to flush, otherwise, you will end up in a very embarrassing situation!

What Happens If We Flush the Toilet While the Water Is Off

How to Flush a Tankless Toilet Without Water

You might not be aware of that, but there are toilets that have no pre-installed tank and thus they do not use water for flushing the human waste! But how do they work then, you may ask?

Well, basically it uses a special mechanism to turn the human waste into a compost-like substance. See, when you make use of such a waterless toilet, all the water material is collected in a compost chamber beneath the bowl.

This chamber has a chimney attached to it, and this chimney is always black with small air inlets at the tip of the unit. Thanks to these inlets, a light breeze is able to come in and turn the extractor on. Then the fresh air travels to the compost chamber through the bowl. Then the air is streamed over the waste causing the dehydration effect.

Since the chimney is painted black, it makes the unit heat up in the sun. Like this, the air inside the chimney begins to rise up accelerating the airflow at the same time. The air goes up the chimney then and becomes released into the air. It all reduces the volume of waste by ninety percent! And besides, such a device kills pathogenic bacteria and destroys odors.

How to Flush a Tankless Toilet Without Water

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What Are the Positive Features Of a Waterless Toilet?

Since we are all so used to common toilets with tanks that need to be flushed, a reasonable question may occur when we get familiar with their waterless alternative. Are there any benefits in using such a lavatory appliance?

Of course, there are! And you will be very surprised when you learn how many of them these toilets have.

  1. Eco-friendliness
  2. No contamination risk
  3. Affordability
  4. Beneficial for agriculture
  5. Mobile

And indeed, waterless toilets are safe for nature since they use no water and no chemicals. Also, they do not contaminate water since they simply have no flush! It means that there is no risk of sewerage to get into the water we drink.

Advantages of waterless toilets

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One more beneficial feature of this sanitary system is that it is very affordable. After it is installed, you will not have to spend a penny to keep it operating! Finally, these toilets can become very helpful for the farmers. How? See, the waste they leave after dehydration is actually organic manure that can be used on the fields instead of chemical fertilizers!

With all these benefits, it will be reasonable to shift to waterless toilets instead of the common ones that still use flushing.

So now you already know what you can do to flush your home toilet when the water suddenly gets turned off for some reason. We shared two most common ways of doing that with you so, next time it happens, you will have what to choose from. However, do remember to keep your toilet tank always filled with water just in case it gets turned off unexpectedly. Like this, you will at least have enough water for one flush!

And also, now you know that even waterless toilets exist. This may become a good reason for you to think about substituting your current toilet with the tank and bowl with the more eco-friendly and affordable alternative that both you and nature will benefit from.

Can a waterless toilet get clogged

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Frequently Asked Questions

⭐How to flush an air pressure toilet without running water?

Use a bucket of water, one gallon or more, to flush the toilet with it.

⭐How much does a waterless toilet cost?

A self-contained composting toilet costs around 1400 dollars.

⭐Can a waterless toilet be clogged?

Yes, it can be blocked by the dry leftovers of human waste.

⭐How to clean composting toilets?

You need to dump the solids, then clean it with soap and water, then add the coco coir and install a new rubber seal.

27 thoughts on “How to Flush a Toilet Without Water?

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  1. Nataly says:

    What to do if a kid pooped in a toilet without water? How to flush it if water will be turned on again only tomorrow morning?

    1. Nicky says:

      You need a bucket of water and a plunger. Sorry, but this is the only way you can do that “dirty job”!

  2. Pharell says:

    Is it enough to do a toilet won’t flush with one bucket of water? And by the way, how many buckets do I need per one flush?

    1. Mathew says:

      Typically, one regular size bucket is enough per one flush. This amount of water is strong enough to clean the toilet bowl.

    2. Bill says:

      Typically, one regular size bucket is enough per one flush. This amount of water is strong enough to clean the toilet bowl.

  3. Tony says:

    How much water do I need to flush a toilet manually?

    1. Emma says:

      You’ll need at least one gallon per flush. If you know ahead of time or anticipate that you’ll be without running water, fill up your bathtub in advance.

  4. Lily says:

    Due to water line repairs, there will be no water in our house today. But here is the thing: how do I flush my toilet? What happens if you flush the toilet when the water is off?

    1. Holly says:

      I guess it dependss on whether the tank is full or not right now. If there’s water in it now, you can flush your toilet once or twice. But afterward, you’ll have to do it manually with a bucket of water.

  5. Mariia says:

    How to flush a toilet without handle? Is it only possible to do manually?

    1. Holly says:

      Maybe, there’s a button somewhere? If there is no button, then I guess the only option is to flush the toilet manually.

  6. Raffael says:

    Hello! Could you please explain how to flush a toilet without power (e.g., during the power outage)? Thanks!

    1. Lily says:

      Hello!  In that case, you can manually add water to the tank to flush the toilet. This method creates a cleaner flush and also, you use less water than you would do by pouring the water directly into the toilet bowl.

  7. Rocky says:

    Hey everyone! Here’s the tricky question from me. Does anyone know how to flush a tankless toilet without water?

    1. Gloria says:

      I can only think about using a bucket and a plunger. Maybe, there are also other methods, but this is the only one I can imagine.

  8. Lorika says:

    Can you flush a toilet without water in the tank? What are the options to do it? Manually or are there any other options to do it? Like can I get water anywhere else? I wanna be prepared for different situations.

    1. Gloria says:

      If you are stuck in such a situation, you need to find a water source and use the needed amount. If you run out of water unexpectedly, you can utilize the water from a pool or a jacuzzi, or collect rainfall or melted snow.

  9. Katrine says:

    Can you tell how to flush a toilet without water pressure? I’ve got a new tank for my toilet and it seems like it creates a very low pressure which I don’t really like, but it is what it is.

    1. Kayly says:

      It is better to fill the tank by pouring a bucket of water. Fill the toilet tank with water until the top of the overflow tube is reached. The flush handle can then be used to flush your toilet as usual. There’s also the option of a “gravity flush,” which is a way to consider.

  10. Aya says:

    How to flush a toilet without running water? I mean if the tank is empty and there’s no water in the sink…

    1. Eleanor says:

      You can fill it with water manually and flush as usual. If your plumbing does not allow water to flow into the tank, you can do it in a very simple way. All you have to do is manually pour a pail of water into the toilet bowl, and you’re done.

  11. Charlie says:

    Does anyone know how to flush a tankless toilet without water? I had a bad situation a couple of days ago and thankfully we figured it out, but maybe there are any hacks we need to know?

    1. Alexandra says:

      Get a bucket or any container you can find near and fill it with water from the sink, then flush the toilet.

  12. Sawyer says:

    Hi everyone! Please, tell me somebody how to flush a toilet without water pressure with the use of a plunger? The water was turned off yesterday all around the neighbourhood, so I  need to struggle with this issue somehow. And I don’t know how! Thanks in advance!

    1. Giavanna says:

      Hello. I don’t understand why you would need that plunger at all. You simply fill a large bucket with water, and flush it down the toilet. Start slowly and then quickly pour the rest of it. Like that, water will create the necessary pressure, and no plunger is needed.

  13. Celia says:

    How much water does it take to flush a toilet without filling the tank? We often have water being shut off for no obvious reason, and I realize I can’t guess how much water to prepare for the next time. We have an ordinary size toilet tank, if that matters.

    1. Marina says:

      Hey! We often have this problem, too. I personally use one gallon of water per one flush, but I always get several gallons ready since sometimes you may need to flush twice.

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