Toilet maintenance issue (sorry!)

[C & E]

I know that I'm going to take some heat for this so I'm offering apologies in advance for my misstep.

Thanks to the many posts here I have successfully cleared up all of my toilet issues (don't ask how many) except one. It may just be a crappy crapper but this thing ejects at least one wad of paper back into the bowl with each flush. It seems like the jet at the bottom isn't pushing enough to force the paper out of its whirlpool-like dance at the bottom of the bowl to force it past the trap. I thought that I'd do the muriatic acid 'cleanse' by pouring it down the fill tube in the tank but it all just seems to all come out of the first couple of hole under the rim.

OK, this is where the beating begins. What am I doing wrong here. Apologies for being dense, folks.

[claudebetts]

Don't feel alone. I have the same problems as you. I'll be keeping an eye on this thread myself.

[Eric in North TX]

I can tell you what I did. I wanted to restore a 3 gallon one simply because you can't buy them any more and most of the new ones suck. I took it completely apart took it to the patio and pressure washed it inside and out, from the bottom, from the top, many times. It works much better, and a good bleaching restored the patio.

[hallerb]

try taping ALL the rim holes with duct tape and use more acid in the dip tube, the SMALL tube in the top of the tank with a hose stuck in it.

leave acid set a couple hours and wear protective clothes heavy rubber glovwes when removing tape.

although first I would try multiple muriatic acid applications, and dont dilute it!

every 10 minutes pour some more in the dip tube, it will likely clear.

brown sludge came out oif my bowl rim holes.

before any more acid yoy could try clearing holes somes with a sharp end of a coat hanger to get stuff moving.

[Stormin Mormon]

There's another toilet thread on this usenet group. Try google search for "clearing toilet jets". And a couple good instruction pages came up.

Before doing jets, I'd suggest to use a closet auger on your toilet drain.

is a not very helpful page about closet augers.

better, including a picture illustration of a closet auger in use.

Directions by Chris: Unclip the end of the spring from the tube Pull the crank handle as far up as possible (long shaft comes out of the tube, and the spring retracts into the tube) Put the curved end of the tube into the toilet bowl, so the spring goes into the drain Crank handle, and slide the shaft into the tube. This sends the spring into the drain (as illustrated). Crank handle a dozen or more times after the snake is fully extended. Flush toilet, and keep cranking while the water is going down. This rinses the crud down the drain, and also rinses off your snake. Keep cranking, and pull the handle up towards ceiling, to retract snake into tube. Remove tool from bowl. Slide handle into tube, and reclip the end of the snake onto the tube near the handle.

The $9 cheapie snake tends to twist and "pretzel" instead of clearing drains. The $25 Ridgid one is worth every penny.

[Bob]

Be sure to do this OUTSIDE. I did mine in my shop and the fumes rusted every metal surface in the shop, including tools.

Bob S.

[Oren]

This was in one of these threads..

(J.C.)

"My Aunt, quite up in years, had pretty much the same problem. I told her I thought it was probably because of a buildup of lime, calcium and other mineral deposits. She became very indignant and emphatically informed me that she had been taking her fiber regularly and has not been the slightest bit constipated."

-- Oren

"Well, it doesn't happen all the time, but when it happens, it happens constantly."

[NickySantoro]

It seems like the jet at the bottom isn't pushing enough

Have the same problem. Seems to be lime deposits in that jet. I shut the supply valve off, flush, bail out the bowl with a sponge, then use a sort screwdriver to dig the deposits out of the jet. Need to do it about every other year. FWIW YMMV

[HarryB]

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