Underperforming toilet.

[Dan Listermann]

The toilet at our camp is not flushing properly. When flushed, the bowl will rise, but the whirlpool will not form. After a few minutes, the water level will fall but the bowl is never flushed. If I manually cause the tank to fill to a higher level than normal and then hold the flapper open for the tank to fully drain, the whirlpool does form and the bowl clears. This came on suddenly. It looks like I have a partial clog. The plumber's helper does not seem to help. I suspect female trouble.

Will the kind of snake used for sinks and such work in a toilet or do I have to buy one of the special ones for toilets?

[Joe]

Get good advice from maybe Ace Hardware and buy what they recommend snakewise. Option Two would be remove the toilet to work on it if the snake seems helpless. You Tube and other sources can guide you through a toilet remove and install, as folks in the NG have said many times, 'it isn't rocket science'. Having a straight shot down the waste pipe with the snake is far easier than getting it through all the twists and turns in the commode itself.

Joe

[RLM]

What you want is a closet auger. Best priced one I found.

[iwdplz]

..that's the reason I will never go back to gravity toilets, ever since I installed a pressure-flush toilet. The pressure flush toilet has never clogged on us after 10 years using it, whereas our previous gravity toilet would clog once every few months. Huge difference.

[Winston]

Second the closet auger. Cheap, easy to use and effective.

--Winston

[Dan Listermann]

Talk to me about the pressure flush toilet. Is that where the water pressure pressurizes an accumulator?

[Dan Listermann]

"Get good advice from maybe Ace Hardware and buy what they recommend snakewise. Option Two would be remove the toilet to work on it if the snake seems helpless. You Tube and other sources can guide you through a toilet remove and install, as folks in the NG have said many times, 'it isn't rocket science'. Having a straight shot down the waste pipe with the snake is far easier than getting it through all the twists and turns in the commode itself."

I installed the toilet about two months ago. I would rather not have to do that again if I can avoid it.

[Oren]

"The Lazy Flush"*

Muriatic Acid has been discussed here before AND it works. Follow safety precautions.

[rlz]

One of the things that is commonly overlooked is the Jet at the bottomof the toilet. Not only does wwater come down from the rim, but it also comes out of the jet at the bottom of the bowl. The jet release forces water into the bottom channel which causes the whirlpool. Overtime, hard water buildup can clog the jet giving the symptoms that you mention. Clean the jet using a tootbrush, and this should solve your problem.

RLZ

[Dan Listermann]

"One of the things that is commonly overlooked is the Jet at the bottomof the toilet. Not only does wwater come down from the rim, but it also comes out of the jet at the bottom of the bowl. The jet release forces water into the bottom channel which causes the whirlpool. Overtime, hard water buildup can clog the jet giving the symptoms that you mention. Clean the jet using a tootbrush, and this should solve your problem."

Interesting point!

[Oren]

Fill a 5 gallon bucket with water, steadily pouring in the bowl. If it goes down then chances are the lines are not blocked, not a need to auger and remove the bowl.

Clean the rim/bowl jets and the toilet should work fine and have the desired swirl.

The acid method will do a good job. It really doesn't take 24 hours as mentioned in the link above.

[iwdplz]

"Dan Listermann"

They're pretty simple, the pressure tank is inside the toilet tank rather than having a float with flapper valve. They're sold in every hardware store and nothing fancy is required other than just a different type of toilet. The water pressure builds up inside the pressure tank and it is water efficient and produces a much more powerful flush. So instead of having to flush 5 times with a traditional toilet because the contents in the bowl overwhelm the weak gravity flush, you flush just once with a pressure toilet. So it saves water too.

[Dan Listermann]

So this is a special toilet, not something that can be retrofitted.

[iwdplz]

That's correct as far as I understand because the bowl is a little different to accomodate the way that the water dynamic flows out differently. If there is some retrofit kit on the market it would be easier to just install a new toilet.

I used to have an old style gravity toilet that was built prior to the water conservation efforts and it used several gallons per flush. Then 10 years ago I replaced it with a new gravity toilet and I was very disappointed with the weakness of the flush. I couldn't believe how weak it was in comparison. So I ended up throwing it away and replacing it with a pressure model. Since then I will never go back to a gravity unit, they are junk in my opinion because you can't do a decent flush with less than 2 gallons of water using gravity.

[iwdplz]

..also the reason we don't see pressure toilets in every house these days is because they are noisier than the gravity toilets. But the extra noise is ok with me and I'd rather have that than messing around with stuck goop on a frequent basis.

[Dan Listermann]

You can get a retrofit unit, but the camp is on a well and our pressure is probably not up to the requirements.

[Dan Listermann]

I raised the tank's level and it now forms the whirlpool, but the bowl may not clear. I figure that the jets are clogged (suggestions about how to clean them) or the drain is constricted.

[bob haller]

e how weak

if it flushes solids normally with a bucket of water the interior passages are clogged, its time for acid

[Dan Listermann]

Raising the tank's level seemed to do the trick, but this morning, under load, it did not finish the flush. Last night I used an auger, but it did not seem to help.

Does anybody have any suggestions about cleaning out the jets. I am thinking a set of Allen wrenches might work.

[Stormin Mormon]

Bent coat hanger?

I read some where about a guy who poured muriatic acid in the overflow tube, and it came out the jets. The acid loosened the calcium scale.

They make toilet cleaner bottles with a squirt up nozzle, I don't know if any of them dispense acid to loosen the calcium.