toilet back up

[nogggin]

Please, can someone can help us solve our toilet mystery?

Our award winning Kohler toilet that we installed in our downstairs bathroom has been acting up. We purchased (and installed ourselves) this model a few years ago for our new bathroom because we have the same one in the upstairs bathroom, and it always operated just swimmingly. The new one downstairs operated just fine, too, up until a few months ago, when it started backing up repeatedly.

The man from Roto-Rooter can't help us (although this did not stop him from taking a couple of hundred dollars of our money). He came out and ran a snake through the toilet twice, and then replaced the tank valve with a valve that is supposed to allow more water to fill up in the tank. Neither of these fixes worked for more than a week. He suggested that for another couple hundred dollars, we should have him come out and remove the toilet to look for possible obstructions, such as a bottle cap or something similar that might turn about, thus causing a blockage sometimes, but not at other times. We decided to save our money, and removed the toilet ourselves.

However, when we did this we found no objects inside of the toilet bowl outlet, and nothing obstructing the flow of water thru the toilet bowl. We took the toilet outside and ran a hose through it and thru the little holes around the rim, and the water flowed just fine. So, confused, we put the toilet back, hoping that it would function properly in the future. But no, it blocked up again, seriously badly, within days.

I can't believe that there is a blockage in the sewer, as both our upstairs toilet, which has always worked just fine, and the downstairs messed up toilet, are connected to the same stack and go into the same sewer. Also, the Roto-Rooter man said that if there were a blockage in the sewer, we'd have sewage backing up into the lowest point in our downstairs bathroom (that being the bathtub), which we don't have at all. It's only the toilet that's causing trouble.

I'm sure that no one in my household is dropping things into my toilet that don't belong there. Is my toilet haunted, or what?

[Special Ed]

If by "backs up" you mean a flush doesn't clear the bowl contents, consider telling each user to flush each individual deposit rather than waiting until finished. If you wait till the end, there can be a very large amount of stuff-- plus toilet paper in there-- that may not all clear completely due to the low flush rate toilets the fools in Washington have mandated upon us

Cheap fix-- try it--- and report back ;-)

Edw.

[Doug Kanter]

If you get disgusted and decide to replace it, definitely read the Consumer Reports toilet test article. Seemed quite thorough. They had to make test turds. I won't elaborate any further.

[Dick]

Or, he could just replace the Kohler with a Toto like we did. No such thing as a low flush rate with a Toto. They could probably flush cannon balls.

Dick

[hallerb]

If it f;ushes fine using a bucket, then your rim is clogged, or the dip tube isnt sending water down as it should

what happens if you flush with a bucket?

if it flushes fine then its the rim or bowl fresh water openings

if it doesnt then its a obstruction downstream/

when you had the toilet off did you try dumping a bucket of water down the open pipe?

just went thru this with a friends toilet, fix took just minutes once I identified hers flushed fine with a bucket:)

[molenczuk]

Excellent advice. We have to do that with our Kohler and that seems to solve the problem

I read on the web a few weeks ago where the board that is in charge of testing these devices or writing the test plan (I'm not sure which) has FINALLY agreed on the dimensions of a standard 'deposit' when testing these devices. The 'deposit' will consist of a thick mixture of ingredients shaped in the form of a 'log'. The ingredients have the same consistency and come from some type of cooking/baking supplies. Wonders never cease to exist. You can give me one of the old toilets that uses a million gallons to flush, any day of the week. ....LOL

[tbasc]

We have a Toto in our basement which backed up. It was finally determined that a clog in the city system was causing the problem. Once the city fixed their system, we've had no problem. TB

[Sev]

I'm wondering if a bird's nest or other obstruction has fallen down the vent- did RR snake vent? The upper part of stack could still be clear, allowing upstairs toilet to flush.

[mm]

What do you think doesn't belong there? What about all those girlie things they advertise on tv. Fortunately, they're so vague, I don't really know what they are, and don't want to.

Remove NOPSAM to email me. Please let me know if you have posted also.

[Oren]

Spoke to folks in South Florida the other day after a foot of rain, frogs were jumping out of vents while the "ole-man" was up there water-hosing the vent.

These were prolly "spring frogs", having grown up there.

Oren

"My doctor says I have a malformed public-duty gland and a natural deficiency in moral fiber, and that I am therefore excused from saving Universes."

[buffalobill]

look harder: always have your roto rooter man pull a towel back thru the commode with a closet auger and find the surprise inside. history here suggests a plastic disposable spoon or a wooden stool sample/popsicle stick. the lone snake is helpless against at least these two items. or at fluidmaster search for incomplete flush on the troubleshooting page at:

[buffalobill]

after playing with the toilet tank, commode, garden hose running in the sewer flange while the bathtub drains, looking around the sewer with a couple of extension handle inspection mirror, and pulling the old towel on the snake thru the commode trap, you could still have the sledgehammer ready but first run a miniature security cameras thru that commode trap: SNAKE PINHOLE SONY COLOR CCD SPY CAMERA on eBay $289.

[Art]

If it is a toilet with a Sloan pressure assist valve, they detect backpressure and stop flushing instantly in the middle of a flush. If the washer between the tank and seat has swollen for some reason and not letting enuf water thru, that could be enuf to stop a flush. Or there could be another obstruction.