toilet won't flush all the way

greeting, i have an older toilet (1988) that you have to hold the handle down for the bowl to completely flush. i replaced the flapper but that didn't work. what else could it be? i am thinking of replacing the toilet all together and i'm guessing that the toilets today are much better (flushing power) and efficient than toilets of old.

also, what kind of toilets are those that you would find in a commercial restroom, the kind with no bowl and 'woosh' loudly when flushed. thanks, cj

Open the tank lid, and flush the toilet normally (without holding down the lever).

Does the flapper drop down when you release the lever?

If yes, you need to adjust the chain connecting the lever to the flapper.

Jon

cj wrote in news:MwSJo.50935$ snipped-for-privacy@newsfe12.iad:

Watch the flapper as you flush. Does it stay open until pretty much all the water is gone, then snap shut?

Does the toilet flush better with the tank-lid removed?

Is the skinny rubber hose directing its stream into the overflow pipe that the flapper attaches to? If the hose doesn't spray into the overflow pipe, the toilet will flush very lazily.

Ones with a special high-pressure water feed. It's an expensive system, but good for institutional use because it saves water and prevents clogs. It's not generally intended for home use.

Good thing to check...

What's that got to do with anything? I've never seen a tank-lid which didn't have provisions for preventing it from sealing so tightly it would restrict air flow into the tank.

The purpose of that tube is to refill the bowl during the time the tank is refilling. I did encounter one once on a Fluidmaster refill valve I installed in one of our home's toilets which squirted such a strong stream down the refill pipe that it kicked back up at the bottom and kept the flapper from closing, so the tank never filled.

I solved the problem by placing a few inches of wire solder inside that skinny rubber hose to cut down the flow.

I pinged Fluidmaster about it and they replied that it was not an unheard of problem. They sent me a little plastic flow restrictor to cut into the rubber tube. (I never got a round tuit because the solder worked fine.)

Jeff

I think the commercial ones that go 'woosh' don't have reservoir tanks but are, instead, hooked up to the water mains and deliver about 100 gallons at a pressue of 50 p.s.i.

Sounds like you have a low-water-usage toilet, which is not manadated for resdiential use. They flush poorly, for sure. Most are 1.6 gallons or less, but on all of them I've come across (only 3) f you hold the handle down longer you'll get a much better flush.

Yes but the flush lever can hit the top inside on the lid and never fully open the flapper.

As suggested, adjust the chain/lever link to the flapper.

With the lid cover off, you can see if the lever rises above the tank edge. Adjust as necessary.

The issue is whether the flush lever lifts the flapper high enough to stay up until the tank empties out. The lid could block the lever movement.

I just replaced an old toilet with an American Standard Champion model ($234 at Home Depot). It has a 4 inch flush valve in place of the traditional flapper. The valve stays up only as long as you hold the handle down, but even almost instantaneous flush is more than adequate for all but the biggest dumps. If you hold the handle down, 1.6 gallons go down in about 3 seconds, with a force comparable to a pressure assisted flush.

The flapper stays up once the lever is released but closes with about a third of the tank still full. Would the flapper stay up longer with less slack in the chain? Thanks, cj

jeff_wisnia wrote in news:id9bin$d8b$ snipped-for-privacy@news.eternal-september.org:

If the chain is misadjusted, the lever will hit the underside of the lid before the flapper is lifted up high enough to actually stay in that position. With the lid off, the lever may now suddenly be lifted higher, and the flapper can assume the correct position, which is a clue that the chain is misadjusted.

I've seen toilets that flushed really lazily, or incompletely, with the hose not directed into the overflow pipe. I should have said "may" flush lazily, not "will", since not all toilets will be like this.

Probably not; if the flapper is staying up after you hit the lever, it's doing its job.

What it sounds like to me is that your flapper is giving you a dual-mode flush, where you have to hold the handle for the full volume of the tank to empty out. This is by design on newer toilets, to save water; perhaps your flapper is providing you with this new "feature".

Does the toilet still flush adequately (evacuates the content of the bowl) despite only utilizing 2/3 of the tank? If not, and you need a better flapper, you might try contacting a local plumbing store and telling them of your problem; perhapd they might have a flapper that will provide a better solution for your older terlet.

Jon

That having been said, it won't hurt anything to play with the length of the chain. Just make sure to mark where it is now, so you can return it to that position when you are done experimenting.

Jon

This flapper will solve your problem by controlling the amount of time it takes before the flapper closes

1. The flushometer toilet was pretty standard in NYC apartment houses built or replumbed in the 20s, 30s and 40s.

Thanks, I never ran into that one, but it sure do make sense!

Jeff (Never stopping learning stuff.)