A couple of times now, one of our toilets has drained, not flushed, while someone was in the shower. It doesn't refill, just makes a weird sound and there's no more water in the bowl.
Not sure if it's related, but when it is windy, the water in the bowl moves around. It's not windy tonight though.
Any ideas what could be going on? Thanks!
That sounds like an issue with the vent that goes through the roof. I would start there, get on the roof and see if you can look down the vent. Don't breath in while you are over the vent, it goes directly to the sewer.
In reply to rustyvw :
What would I be looking for?
An obstruction. Something blocking the vent, like a birds nest or dead squirrel in the pipe.
Good vent stack story:
Once a year I run a pressure washer fed snake down all the vent stacks on my apartments. I get to the last one near the end of the building that has a huge ficus tree.
I start the hose down the pipe, I hit the pedal a little too soon and the water blast that auto feeds the snake hose throws a bunch of leaves out all over me and the roof.
The leaves started running around.
What the...?
Not leaves. About a 100 palmetto bugs(American cockroach to non-southerners)
I stomped as many as I could while getting them out of my hair and clothes. The hair on my neck still stands up thinking about it.
Anyway, yea. Sounds like you may want to rent a snake and run it down your vents.
My father-in-law used to snake his one vent on his roof - crazy problem that had the women freaked out he was going to fall.
The draining toilet is a blocked vent. It creates a vacuum, so it gets pulled back into the sewer.
'The moving while windy is more common than you'd think, and that's because wind across the functioning vent causes turbulence, so you have 2 issues, one is a bad vent, one is a normal vent, go figure.
If you have a snake long enough, snake the vent from the roof down. If not, you can push a garden hose with a spray nozzle down the length, but have someone standing by each toilet while talking to you via cell phone! (mine was full of leaves, and little rock pebbles from the shingles).
Once unclogged, put a hat on it so it doesn't clog again.
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