I have been having troubles with the toilet in our main bathroom. At least 50% of the time the toilet will not flush everything away. It can take as many as five flushes to get the job done. Is there something wrong with the toilet , or could something be wrong with the vent that would cause this problem. Any thoughts would be appreciated.
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how old is the toilet?
some waters allow a buildup of deposits in the holes in the rim of the toilet blocking the water flow.
sometimes you have to use a metal hanger to clean out the holes. don't forget the nain hole too.
there is a way to use a cleaner to help remove the deposits but I forget the method. a search should help, been discussed here before.
bobl Volo, non valeo
Baloney detecter WFR
"But when you're a kibbutzer and have no responsibility to decide the facts and apply the law, you can reach any conclusion you want because it doesn't matter." SHG
I should have metioned in my original message that I checked all that out and eveything seems fine. The toilet is only5 years old.
Assuming that this is not a pressure-assisted unit, you may have a bad flapper. If it doesn't open fully, or closes before all the water is out of the tank, you'll have problems. Replacing the flapper should solve it. Or, you may have a bad float adjustment that is not allowing the tank to fill fully, but I assume you checked that.
Pressure assisted units (e.g., Sloan Flushmate systems) can become waterlogged, drastically reducing the capacity of the unit. I saved a link somewhere to a site with repair instructions, if you need it.
Did this unit ever function satisfactorily? If so, and all of the above check out, maybe it's time to cut back on the fiber in your diet. ;-)
(I can't believe I typed that.)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Actually, adding fiber would be the thing to do.
So convenient a thing it is to be a reasonable Creature, since it enables one to find or make a Reason for everything one has a mind to do. --Benjamin Franklin
You may be right. I just figgered a liquid diet would solve all his problems, at least in the flush department. ;-)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Have you recently started using the leave in blue toilet bowl cleaner stuff? This can change the way the toilet flushes significantly.
Uh, I assume you meant to send this to the OP. I don't Do Blue! ;-)
Mike HennessyPittsburgh, PA
Have you seen the new blue stuff from Fluidmaster? It hooks on back inside of tank, hose from fill valve goes to it and then hose from cartridge goes into the standpipe. Does not mingle with tank and cause any problems with components.
They have at least two types of cartridges, regular bleach and one that is for septic systems. I like it so far.
http://www.fluidmaster.com/usa.html
there is a way to use a cleaner to help remove the deposits
FYI, Tim Mooney mentioned the use of muriatic acid to clean the mineral deposits out of stools. He'd dry out the inside of the bowl, duct tape the holes shut and then pour some diluted muriatic acid into the tank - opening the flapper so the solution goes down into the rim where the duct tape holds it in and allows it to eat away at the deposit.
I lived in TX where the water was horrible with mineral deposits and I used this method.......Cleaned it right out, big difference in the flushing ability of the stool.
Wear protection if you do this, muriatic acid is probably dangerous if splashed on yourself.
Doug
How old is the toilet/house? Has it ever worked well?
Maybe 8 times out of ten this problem is due to something (comb, child's toy, even a hardened lump of doo-doo) caught in the toilet gooseneck. The ninth time is due to lime buildup in the jets. The tenth time encompasses all the other possibilities. Poor venting is rarely the problem -- low water level in the tank is probably just as commonly at fault.
Do this: With the toilet ostensibly unclogged, get a bucket and pour about a gallon and a half of water (for low-volume toilets) or two and a half gallons (for older high-volume toilets) fairly rapidly into the bowl (should all pour within about a second and a half). If the toilet flushes "smartly" with a good, solid "glug" at the end, then the gooseneck is probably not clogged and likely the jets are limed up. If the water level goes lazily down, and especially if the "glug" is absent or a long time coming, then probably there's something caught in the gooseneck.
Usually if there's something caught in the gooseneck it's necessary to remove the toilet to extract it. Sometimes removal is impossible even that way.
Do note that some toilets are better than others. Older low-volume toilets are less reliable than new ones, and some of the old high-volume toilets from the 70s were pretty lousy too. We've got some high-volume Eljer's from the 70s that are quite fond of clogging.
Took this picture so that folks would know what I mean when I talk of the "gooseneck" in the toilet. I'm not sure all are this convoluted, but have no reason to believe this one's unusual -- it's just easy to see on your basic commercial toilet:
View Image
Edited 8/6/2007 7:26 pm by DanH
Try this site it has everything you ever wanted to know about toilets and lot more, complete with troubleshooting:
http://www.toiletology.com/intro.shtml
Happy Fishing,
Jack
I have an 8 unit apt bldg. Some of the things that I have retrieved are:
empty plastic dispenser for that blue fluid; ladies hygene items; paper towels;
buildup of brown stuff. Usually I can free it with a dedicated toilet snake,
the kind with a bent pipe with an elbow,sometimes you gotta pull the john.
Good hunting. Larry B
The seal at the wax ring is shot. R&R and it'll be as good, or bad, as new.
Troy Sprout
"A free people ought not only to be armed and disciplined, but they should also have sufficient arms and ammunition to maintain a status of independence from any who might attempt to abuse them, which would include their own government."
-- George Washington