Toilet Flushing Mystery

[TN]

I've got 3 of the same toilets installed in the house I built in

2005. One toilet has me totally freaked out. It doesn't flush properly and has gotten somewhat worse over time. I can hold the flush handle down and the flapper opens just fine. The tank is filled with water and it empties at rate similar to the other toilets. The bowl just fills up with water the whirlpool starts but it acts as if it is slightly plugged. It flushes a little and the waste eventually goes down, but never the normal "empty the bowl" flushes I see in the other toilets. I've plunged it before so I know there is no clog.

Does anyone have some advice on how to debug this? My instinct says the bowl was just casted defective. I can't imaging its a larger plug somewhere else because all the other drains in the bathroom work fine.

Thanks!

[dpb]

If it's always been a problem I'd suspect lack of near enough or large enough venting or simply a poorly laid out drain line path that while it isn't blocked it does add flow restriction in the path. An example could be a 90-ell instead of sweep in a horizontal run or this is the last on a longer nearly horizontal run or somesuch...

--

[Jeff The Drunk]

[Hugh Jassolle]

Gotta have a long enough vertical drop after the flange for the siphon to build up enough suction to pull turds and tissue down. Especially with today's low-flow bowls.

[Oren]

Review this:

"...Here are some things to try if the weak flush is caused by an obstruction in the bowl's rim, where water is discharged. Toilets with this problem may quickly accumulate unwanted deposits because the flush leaves portions of the bowl unwashed."

Are you sure the tank is filling high enough (marked line in tank)?

[Colbyt]

Always possible that the wax ring was compressed too much and interferes with the flow.

The damnest problem I ever had was when the lid from a small makeup case got trapped in bowl loop. Sometimes it would pivot one way and all would be fine. The next time it flipped the other way an nothing went down.

Did not solve that problem or know the cause until I used the BFH on the removed bowl. Using the BFH was an act of faith as I knew there had to be something in there.

[JohnnyD]

BALONEY!

[Hugh Jassolle]

Even more drop if you want to flush BALONEY.

[Caesar Romano]

On Wed, 1 Sep 2010 13:22:38 -0700 (PDT), TN wrote Re Toilet Flushing Mystery:

I had something like this happen to me once. It drove me crazy until I pulled the toiled and found that a piece of dental floss that someone had tried to flush had gotten hung up across the bowl discharge where it mates with the floor flange. Liquids would flush without a problem, but solids would be impeded by the floss and prevent a good flush.

[willshak]

[e-mail] wrote the following:

So you are saying that a toilet on a ground level concrete slab has the same drop as a toilet on the second floor directly above and using the same drain and vent pipe?

[Steve Barker]

ok, was it always this way?

if not, you have an item in it. Pull it off the floor and inspect.

[Steve Barker]

the siphon is performed in the toilet. As long as the pipe is of proper size, it doesn't need vertical drop. As a matter of fact MOST toilets will have a 90 immediately after the flange just below the floor joists.

[Jack Hammer]

I had come across a similar problem a few years ago with my parents toilet. Replacing the toilet fixed the problem. As I was throwing the old one out I noticed a small hole in the siphon part of the toilet. Paper would catch in that hole and the toilet would act just like you describe. How did the whole get there? I think it possible a small metal snake that was used on the toilet years ago may have caused the damage.

[Art Todesco]

In my old house I had 3 identical toilets from American Standard. The 3rd one was bought off the floor at HD and stored in the garage for over a year ... probably 2 or 3 years. When I finally installed it, it didn't flush. It was like you describe. While none of these units were, what I would consider "good flushers", this one simply swirled and swirled, sometimes flushing paper, other times, not. I removed the toilet and supported it above the laundry tub in the basement. I then filled the tank and tried flushing. I also tried a bucket of water dumped directly into the bowl. The bowl experiment, with about 1

1/2 gallons of water in the bucket, worked. But there was still some question about how fast I was pouring the water. Anyway, after close examination I found a 2" piece of red air hose stuck in one of the main holes under the rim. After a air-hose-ectomy, it flushed good .... well, as good (or bad) as the other two. I don't know much about the best flushers, however, in my new house I have Kohler Cimerons. Don't stand too close, or they will pull you in. They have never required a 2nd flush in the year that I've been here.

[Tony]

I had some bad toilets in the past and would adjust the water fill to stop just before it reached the overflow tube. On one I put a pipe fitting on the overflow tube so I could raise the water higher. (can't go too high or the water comes out at the flush handle) Now I have one that works great with no blockage in a year or so since I installed it, and a second that the previous owner replaced and it almost always works.

[Tony]

Did you snake it for tampons?

[hallerb]

sediment in bowl rim can cause this, acid can fix it fast and cheap

[Robert Green]

What happens when you empty a bucket of water in the bowl? Does it flush normally or do the same sort of thing? If it flushes normally, I suspect there's no obstruction, but instead that something's impeding the water flow. If the flushing water from the tank enters the bowl too slowly, it will not flush.

I use a 1 gallon milk jug that's had a big hole cut into the top as a tester. If you slowly add the water from the jug, the toilet will not flush. You have to add the water quickly to displace enough water in the bowl to start the siphon action going full force. I use the jug flush to empty the toilet bowl of water for easy cleaning but it's also a great test for drainage obstructions. It's also great for people who don't like "splash backs" on their butts. (-: There's nothing worse than getting a jet of dirty water shot straight up your output port. Well, I suppose there ARE worse things . . .

If your toilet passes the jug flush test, then I would suspect something is clogged and not allowing the tank water to enter the bowl fast enough to generate a solid flush.

-- Bobby G.

[Bob Villa]

There is a small hole (jet) before the bend (in the front or bottom of the toilet) that can build-up with hard water deposits. Clean this with a wire.

[DerbyDad03]

re: "a piece of dental floss that someone had tried to flush had gotten hung up across the bowl discharge

re: "a small makeup case got trapped in bowl loop."

In my case it was the cardboard roll from the toilet paper. (darn kids!)

It was stuck vertically allowing liquids to pass but catching solids.