Seems to be some trouble with the flush.
Toilets are new, stuff not always going down.
There's a clean out the house.
Would it be a good idea to unscrew and run a hose at full blast down the sewer line?
Would that help the passing of waste to the street sewer line?
Don't see how it would hurt, and might even help. One thing to note is that if you have a root clog downstream, the pipe will fill up with water pretty quickly and belch back some nasty stuff at you. Be prepared to yank the hose out quickly, just in case. If the water flows freely with the faucet full on, then your problem is back in the house, possibly a clogged vent or similar. HTH
Joe
I heard a clogged vent was rare...
Isn't the test for this to use a bucket of water, more than the 1.6 gallons that new toilets use, and pour the bucket into the toilet and see if it flushes well then?
If it does, there is nothing wrong with the drain.
I guess iirc most buckets are 5 gallons and you could use 3 gallons to test.
I thought that was for some kind of manual or mechanized snake.
Is the water going down. If not, don't start with the 3 gallons, or it will overflow. If it's not going down at all, forget this test, but you said "not always".
We had a minor flood yesterday, plumbers out to rotoroot. Second time in two years. Condo, and we are first floor, nearest the main sewer line, so we get the worst of it. They pulled out huge wad of wet-wipes and ? The wet-wipes do not break down, contrary to advertisement. They told us two brands of t. paper that cause clogs, too, but don't remember because I don't use them :o) Good luck.
I do use toilet paper. It would be good if I could find out what brands these are. (Don't use wet wipes, and I hope your neighbors will stop now. I would go to everyone in your line and ask. And not rely on a memo from the association or management company.)
Dental floss is something else never to be thrown in the toilet. My friends discovered this the hard way after only two years in their brand new condo.
Paul in San Francisco
From what I've been told, don't use the "cashmere" or extra soft brands. They don't break down and cost way more.
I haven't seen cashmere, but I think I have used the extra soft. Maybe right now -- I'm too lazy to go look. I've found you need only half as much or less. Using as long a piece as the other kind was actually difficult.
how bout old newpaper?
Keywords here are "Toilets are new".
Hoping I can save you a lot of wasted effort. Pardon the pun.
May I suggest you try holding the handle down instead of a quick flip. The newer johns need this when power dumpers have been active.
We've got a bulletin board, but folks throw McD wrappers in the yard, so I don't know how much a notice will help. They're rich slobs though, not poor ones :o)
TP brands both started with "C", I think .. Cottonelle? and ______ _______? When I finish cleaning up, I'm going to test wet-wipe brands and then write the companies that claim theirs are flushable. Class action suit? :o)
Haven't checked prices lately, but Scott was always best deal if you count sheets per roll :o)
P&M
BTW, this mean, *I* don't use wet wipes. I know you don't. (The "I" was intentionally omitted, but when I later put in the next clause with an "I", it made it harder to understand.
A bulletin board is no substitute for asking people in person. It's practically worthless with many people. Your current problem shows how badly it worked. Even asking in person probably won't get 100% but it will get far better response than a bulletin board.
That's why no amount of print advertising is as good as radio or tv advertising where a store owner or a politician speaks directly. (Actually that's why some print ads put a picture of the owner or someone who appears to be the owner.)
More to the point, that's why politicians try to meet as many voters face to face, to shake their hand and ask them to vote for them, as they can. I think the success rate of that is something 20 times other methods. (It also means that people willing to vote for someone, but who might not bother, will actually go vote.)
And my own personal experience with hitchhiking is that at a certain places one can stand for 20 minutes or even hours, and hundreds of cars can go by** but if one has the chance to ask a driver directly, face to face, like at a gas station or a Howard Johnson's, well, for me, I never had to ask more than 3 people to get a ride.
It is far easier to ignore something in writing, which requires no response, than it is to say No to a neighbor, or to say Yes and then make a liar out of oneself by not being careful when one said he would be.
Also, bulletin boards and memos say things like, Don't... without giving any reason. Or they they give a reason like, It will cause backups. That generates only minimual sympathy if any.
In person, you don't want to lay it on too thick or they may start to resent you, but you can point out the hours it took you to clean, the things that got ruined, the inability to use your own bathroom, or whatever, and you can tailor your words to whomever you are talking to.
"I'd appreciate it if you could.... Something [don't say YOU] is making the toilets back up, and the plumber told me that he found wet wipes , and whatever else was mentioned in the sewer and that we shouldn't use them. [we, not YOU]
In cases something like this, I've been able to address the actual member of the household who is doing what I don't want, but I'm not sure how to handle a situation where the husband answers the door but it is the wife who is doing it, or the kids. I can imagine asking, Is there anyone else here that I should talk to? (So that you can talk face to face with the person involved). I don't remember doing this ever so I'm not sure how well it would work, but if one speaks pleasantly, he can get a lot out of people. That's how conmen and women do it.
**Actually hitchhiking is worse at busy places where hundreds of cars go by. It's better at quiet places where a car goes by every minute or two.That's sad.
One time I was walking through a parking lot at a strip shopping area, between cars, and just before I was even with a passenger window, a big bag from McD or another fast food place came out of the window and spread its stuff around when it hit the ground.
I stopped and bent down and looked in the window and it was a girl near me and a boy in the driver's seat and they looked neither rich nor poor, and I said, "You really are a pig, aren't you?" No instant answer and then I straightened up and walked at my normal speed to the Radio Shack about 80 feet away, listening for footsteps and hoping the guy wouldn't catch up with me and beat me to a pulp before I got to the store. He didn't, and I stayed in the store at least 8 minutes to lower the odds he'd be waiting. But I would do it again.
Thanks.
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