I don’t see a plumbing board so I’ll pose this question here. We built a house six months ago. Our plumber installed 1.6 gallon Kohler toilets (don’t ask me much beyond that). For the first three months everything worked fine. However now in our upstairs bathroom the toilet doesn’t seem to want to hold much water in the bowl. It flushes fine, water rises to the “normal” level in the bowl just fine, and then over five minutes the water just sort of “recedes” back down the bowl drain until there’s only about an inch of water in the bowl. Every 5-7 days we can smell some pretty serious sewer gases coming from what seems to be that toilet bowl (we’re on a septic system). But again there IS water in the bowl, just not very much. Yes, we’ve tried adjusting the float inside the tank, to no avail.
By the way, what effect does sewer gas pose if it’s hanging around the house?
The plumber has been over to look at it. He said that for some reason when he runs the first floor master bathroom tub (in a 3500 s.f. house the upstairs toilet and the M.B. tub are on opposite ends of the house, and I think connected to two different stacks) it somehow affects the upstairs toilet (I wasn’t here when he did this so I’m relying on my wife’s memory here). He told her something about a possible clog in the stack. And in a worse case scenario he said something about having to do something with the septic tank itself. We’ve already tried snaking the upstairs toilet, that didn’t do anything either. But basically he left here saying he was stumped, he’d think about it and return soon to try some more potential “fixes”.
A few office guys have told me that Kohler is known for having issues with their low-flow (?) toilets. I’d love it if it were just a toilet problem, but if the plumber didn’t seem to think it was the toilet who am I to tell him that’s where the problem lies?
Any thoughts on what this issue might be and how we resolve it?
Thanks, Rob
Replies
Not a plumber but sounds like a clogged vent above the toilet or internal crack in the trapway, one that does not leak to outside but down the drain. If the vent is clogged above it could siphon water out of the fixture when others are flushed. When we have a lot of wind mine lowers the level a little but nothing like that.
Bob
So the plumber was there and didn't bother to check for a clogged vent while he was speculating? Did he do the original job?
Climb up to the roof and snake out the vent or drop a hose down there and give at a blast of water. Do you have shedding trees in your area? Somebody drop a squirrel down the vent? Are you in an area where they install vent covers?
Thanks guys. The plumber did do some crawling around the attic doing...something. Not quite sure what since I wasn't here. I live in s.e. Michigan and apparently we don't put screens on our stack pipes. I don't know why, I'm told that there's really no need to. Apparently birds don't like the smell of...well, you know. We have no large trees near the house so there's no chance of it getting clogged with other debris.
The water drops fairly quickly. With no other water running or other drain activity taking place in the entire house, the water in this toilet drops down to an inch in about 3-5 minutes.
- Rob
I agree with Ralph. Your vent is clogged. Snake it or hose it - full blast.
My guess is that the toilets and tubs in the house, which vent through the same stack are slowly robbing the toilet in question of a few ounces of water per use. Fill the tub next to the toilet and watch for the toilet water to go down.
It is a relatively easy fix and has nothing to do with the Kohler brand - this time. Ha!
Frankie
There he goes—one of God's own prototypes—a high powered mutant of some kind never even considered for mass production. Too weird to live and too rare to die.
—Hunter S. Thompson
from Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas
I guess a clogged vent also. One of the best and simplist ways I know to clean a vent is tie a piece of rope onto a piece of heavy chain. I use a tow chain. The weight of the chain will push through most anything in a vent. Birds nest, debri, etc. DanT
It is also possible that you have a hairline crack in the trap as someone else has suggested. This is not as uncommon as you would think. I have seen it twice in the last year on new toilets.
If you don't find a clogged vent, I would have him pull the toilet and just install any old toilet temporarily, just to see if it does the same thing.
These cracks are almost invisible and leak very slowly. They don't necessarily leak externally either.
I think this happens from the installer tightening the bolts, either on the base or on the tank, too much and stress cracking the toilet.