Toilet slowly draining

[Jacob]

I just reinstalled my fully functional toilet, with a new wax seal. after the toilet is flushed and the tank fills up, you can hear water draining into the drain pipe. the toilet flushes fine. it sounds like someone pouring bottled water into the pipe. I am thinking that the drainage from the toilet to the pipe is being restricted by wax. is this possible and do i need to reinstall the toilet or will the wx eventually wear away? thanks.

Jacob

[Joseph Meehan]

No, I would take to cover off the tank and look around. I suspect the your problem is in the tank. There are several possibilities and different configurations with modern toilets increase the number of issues, but make sure the flapper valve is sealing properly and that the float valve is fully shutting off the flow of water coming in. BTW does the water in the bowl stay at the correct level or drain down?

[Jacob]

The water does stay at the correct level. everything inside the tank is relatively new and had been working prior to the removal of my toilet. i only hear the water trickling down for about 30 seconds after the tank fills up. It does make sense that it would do that it the flapper was not sealing, but it only does it for a short period of time. I will check it when I get home. your assessment makes more sense than mine. thanks.

Joseph Meehan wrote:

[Tom The Great]

imho:

Are you noticing any drop in tank water level?

I was told that if you drop in a few drops of food coloring in the tank, and then look in the bowl after a while, it becomes very easy to determine if you have a leaking valve/seat.

later,

tom @

[Jacob]

I have not noticed a drop in the tank water level. I will check it out though. thanks

this seems to be someth> >

[Jacob]

The water level in the tank and the bowl are not experiencing a drop at all. everything seems to be sealed well. I noticed that when you pour water into the bowl you can hear it trickling out into the drain. could it be that there is too much water in the bowl?

Tom The Great wrote:

[Tom The Great]

too much water.... water is self leveling, and since the bowl is open at the outlet, I think any 'too much water' will just exit, and the bowl will only settle at one level.

If you don't see any flushing problems, then maybe you have noisy pipes. This might be beyond any NG reply, if it's bothering you, maybe getting a professional to look at it will help you out.

later,

tom @

[Jacob]

yeah, I am running out of ideas. this was not a problem a couple weeks ago when I pulled the toilet. and nothing has changed. its the same toilet, same pipes, I have a new tile floor and that's about it. my concern is that there is a restriction at the base of the toilet where it connects to the flange, due to the wax seal. I don't know.

Tom The Great wrote:

[hallerb]

turn off water flush toilet.....

does noise still occur? if so its a drain issue

if not its fresh water tank issue.

this narrows down the noise.

perhaps the tank water level is a bit above the dip tube?

of the flush valve is failing?

that happened here wondered what was going on, then part fatigued off flush valve.....

flush valve may have been damaged when toilet was pulled the plastic ones are cheap materials.

[Dano]

1. Take the cover off the tank and flush the toilet. Does the water get to the top of the overflow? I am guessing it does. If so, adjust your float so the valve shuts off before it reaches the overflow - there is likely a water level line indicated on the tank wall somewhere that you can adjust to. Based on your description, I think this is the most likely culprit.

1. To check for tank leak (bad flapper), as someone suggested - put a few drops of food color into the tank and leave it alone for 1/2 hr. Check the bowl - if colored you have a leak. This is great for checking silent leaks which can be very expensive in places like FL where water cost is high.

I don't think your issue has anything at all to do with your install.

Jacob wrote:

[Jacob]

the water level in the tank is definitely not reaching the overflow. I have tried setting the float to it's lowest position an it still does it. I have found the level at which it does NOT do it, by pulling the float up manually to stop the water. The level is below the lowest float setting and I dont think there is enough water in the tank to flush properly.

it can't be the flapper. if the flapper was leaking then the water level in the tank would drop and the water would have to kick on when the float moved down and that doesn't happen. plus the water I hear running is only for about 30 seconds after the tank fills up. then it stops and everything is fine until next flush.

I think I may understand what is going on. correct me if i'm wrong. I think that the wax seal is constricting the flow through the passageway. when the water level in the bowl falls below the depth of the seal (after a flush), the vacuum should be relieved and the water in the passageway should all flow quickly into the drain. instead, because it is constricted by the wax, it flows slower than it should. before all of the water can be drained the water level in the bowl rises above the seal creating a vacuum which stops the draining. at that point I no longer hear the water draining into the pipe. but not all of it has drained. this might also explain the water sound when the water level in the bowl rises without being flushed. the water level on both sides of the seal will rise equally. when this happens, the water level on the passageway side rises so something must be displaced. so the water at the constricted end of the pipe (the end of the vacuum..?) is displaced into the drain, hence the trickling noise. does this make sense?

Dano wrote:

[Jacob]

is there a way to verify this?

is there a way to remedy this without removing the toilet?

Jacob wrote: