Drain cleaner to clear toilet?

It sounds like a blocked vent. Drain cleaner will not help. How long has this been a problem? Could it relate to some very cold weather?

Diving from left field. Have you checked the tank water level recently? Raise it a bit.

Those low flow toilets are a pain some times.

We've only been in this house since mid-November, so the weather has been rather cold the whole time (we're in Michigan). The toilet did overflow once, and snaking it cleared that blockage, but the water has always seemed to come up a long way when we flush (even before the overflow).

I wondered about a vent problem. Any way to check or remedy without climbing up on the roof?

MB

On 01/26/04 07:52 am Joseph Meehan put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:

I don't think it's a low tank level: the water comes dangerously close to the top of the toilet bowl already.

MB

On 01/26/04 09:56 am SQLit put fingers to keyboard and launched the following message into cyberspace:

Not that I know, but I don't know all that much.

I wouldn't bet against the toilet itself being most of the problem. Look over the workings of low cost and then the better toilets at any plumbing supply or box store. Note the smaller unglazed and more convoluted outlets on the cheapos and see if your home unit has these characteristics. If so, the next move is obvious...replace with a better product and your problem likely will be solved. Good luck.

Joe

Start with

Did you use a narrow drain snake (like for sink drains) or a closet auger? The crank rigs designed for toilets use a much larger snake, and do a different job. I've got a Ridgid #3 closet auger (about $25 at Home Depot) and it does a better job on toilets than the thin snakes.

This makes me think that there is an obstruction in the drain. After it fills "dangerously close to the top" does it then fall to a normal level over time? If so there is likely a blockage somewhere in the drain, not the vent.

RB

M> I don't think it's a low tank level: the water comes dangerously close

I have a toilet in my brand new home doing this after my girlfriend, who sometimes doesn't think too much, flushed some paper towels down it. It comes close to over-flowing then drains slowly back down to below normal water level (in the bowl). I've tried plunging the hell out of it with no luck.

What is the problem? Does it require a plumber or is it something I can do myself?

Thanks! Brad snipped-for-privacy@spam.this.bitch.hotmail.com Remove spam.this.bitch to email me.

RB wrote:

It's no wonder that the paper towels remained in tact. It's really interesting to read some of the patents of the newer batch of "paper towels." In the interest of honest labeling it would be a good idea to advertise them as plastic towels.

I see people using them in microwave ovens for cooking. I wonder if anyone has assessed the health impact of these plastics in food?

RB

snipped-for-privacy@vcoms.net wrote:

Most toilets are designed so that they have enough volume in the bowl to accept the entire contents of the tank and just be filled to the brim. Flush again before it drains down and you'll need waders though.

If the bowl fills on the first flush it is likely that the blockage is close to the toilet, or possibly even in the trap of the toilet. If the blockage were to be further down in the drain pipe the pipe as well as the bowl would be filling and the water level on the first flush wouldn't rise to the brim.

A snake should enable you to get to the blockage and remove or dislodge it. These "plastic towels" don't soften and move out as easily as the older paper towels.

RB

FL- wrote: