Severe thunderstorms and snowstorms are common. In many cases, these significant weather events can knock out the electrical power to your home for a few minutes, a day or two, or even longer.
If you don’t have a reliable backup generator, an extended power outage can pose a variety of problems, such as a loss of air conditioning or heat, spoiled food in the refrigerator, and the inability to use your electrical appliances.
And as if these issues weren’t bad enough, at some point when the power is off, you might find yourself wondering if you can flush the toilet during a power outage.
Do Toilets Work During a Power Outage?
The short answer: It depends.
If your home has a gravity-fed waste removal system, you shouldn’t experience any toilet-related plumbing issues. These systems don’t rely on electricity and instead use the natural force of gravity to move waste downward through the piping and out into the sewer.
You might only have a problem with a gravity-fed waste removal system during a winter storm when freezing weather causes the pipes to freeze. If you can’t flush, dumping a bucket of water into the toilet can usually fix the issue.
Toilets That Can’t Flush When the Power Is Out
If your water removal system is powered by electricity, flushing the toilet during an outage can become problematic. With this type of system, waste gathers in a specially designed chamber and is then transferred into the sewer by an electric pump.
Without electricity, the pump won’t work. Frequent flushing will eventually cause the chamber to become full and potentially overflow, causing sewage to back up into your basement, which can create a messy, unpleasant, and expensive situation.
Preparation Can Prevent Toilet Flushing Issues During a Power Loss
No matter which type of waste removal system you have, installing a reliable standby generator, also known as a whole-house generator, can ensure you’re prepared for a power outage.
A dependable generator will keep all your home’s electrical systems — including electrically powered waste removal systems — functioning properly until power is restored in your area.
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Frequently Asked Questions
Can you flush the toilet when the power is out?
It depends, but for most toilets, the answer is yes. Your typical toilet is located above your sewer line. It can flush without electricity because it relies entirely on gravity and water pressure to move water through your toilet and drain, into the sewer line, and beyond.
You might run into trouble with toilets that depend on pumps to move waste and water, such as those you might have installed in a basement. You might also struggle to refill your toilet if you rely on a pump to supply water.
Do toilets work without power?
Most toilets work without power, with the primary exception being those located below your sewer line. This is because your average toilet can rely on gravity and how water flows to get its contents from your home to your city sewer line or septic system.
The exception would be toilets that need to elevate wastewater, meaning they rely on a sewage ejector pump; you typically see these in basements. Your toilet also might not be able to refill if you rely on a well pump to supply incoming water.
How many times can you flush a toilet without power?
Gravity and water pressure from municipal water systems will handle all the hard work for your typical toilet, even when the power is out. If your toilet needs power to empty itself, for example, if it’s physically lower than the level of your sewer line, it might not flush even once.
If your toilet needs power to refill, like if you rely on well water, it can probably only flush once or twice. You could manually refill the tank of most toilets in this case, however, so it might be worth storing water if you rely on a well pump.
