slow toilet?

[Mark Modrall]

Hi...

We have an upstairs toilet that seems to be getting slower and slower. It's not blocked per se; you flush it, and the water in the bowl seems to slowly drain and be replaced with the tank water. The problem is that it never empties the bowl first.

We've tried enzymatic cleaner, draino foaming cleaner and plunging but it continues to get worse... Any idea what to do?

Thanks

-mark

[m Ransley]

Do you have hard water, it is possible the openings under the bowl rim are clogged with calcium reducing water flow. Use a mirror to look at the water jets. If clogged use a piece of wood to clean. If water flow is good your traps may be clogged, trap at the lowest level. Just a guess .

[George C. Fahrlender]

Use a snake designed for toilet use.

[Rileyesi]

I had the same problem and the solution was provided by this newsgroup.

Look in the bowl. on the bottom of the bowl on the front side (i.e. near where the toilet water exits) there is a small hole that water comes out of when you flush. The direction of the flow out of that small hole is in the direction that the water will travel to exit the bowl. Take a wire hanger and bend it so that it will fit into that small hole. If there is a blockage there, you will not get a good flush. I cleaned ours out and it works fine. One other tip, the blockage is very hard. I had to use the end of the hanger wire to bust up the plug and then I bent the hanger into a small loop to scoop out the blockage.

Hope this helps.

[Mark Modrall]

Yep, we have hard water... I looked at our particular toilet and the jets on the rim seem to be facing sideways rather than down (presumably to set up the swirl). I didn't seem any specific jet that was clogged but I can try and clean them all out a bit with a coat hanger I guess.

This sounds like it could be a really dumb idea, so i'll try it out here first - how about putting come CLR down the resevoir pipe to clean out build up?

Thanks

-Mark

[Michael Baugh]

CLR could do it, so could vinegar. I use a .22 caliber gun cleaning brush rather than coat hanger.

[m Ransley]

Pour a bucket of water down the toilet if it drains fine it could be the flapper is not opening fully, or clogged rim jets. If it is the drain itself get it rodded. Or perhaps a clogged trap somewhere.