Toilet Issue, HALP!

FYI, I am new to the whole home improvement/repair thing. I grew up with a family that if something was wrong with the car we fixed it. If something is wrong with the house, call somebody to fix it.

So, my upstairs toilet drains slowly to the point of not draining at all. If I plunge it, it will drain fine all day until toilet paper is introduced (doesn't matter how much) and then it goes back to not draining, then I have to plunge it again. I have a feeling something solid is stuck in the S trap.

FWIW, the sink and bathtub drain just fine.

Thanks for any help.

I had the same problem. I thought at one point I was going to have to remove the toilet from the floor, which was a big do not want. I ended up going through 2 toilet snakes, and an industrial plunger (One of the black rubber ones that seals super good around the hole in the bottom) and just plunging the ever loving E36 M3 out of it. SO- I'd say snake it super good, and the plunge the hell out of it.

remove toilet

check trap, if trap clogged decide whether you want to be covered in poop or buy a new $70 toilet

if trap clear problem is in pipe below toilet, may require a large drain opening tool, or a plumber.

90% of the time you find a rotten steel flange that needs replaced.

reinstall old or new toilet

done.

that's how it usually works for me, without the call the plumber part because, well, i've got that huge powered drain auger with the foot pedal just like the rooter guys have.

Go ahead and replace it with one of those long oval, comfortable seating height models and call it a day. You will be so glad you did.

You'll wonder why you ever put up with putting your tuckus on a seat that's way too small and then having to sit there with your knees under your chin. BTW, that little commode promotes &/or aggravates hemorrhoids.

The water connections are the toughest part of the job and that's only because the new hook up will require lengthening or twisting or a different angle or something so that promotes another trip to the hardware store.

Is the vent open ?

Do you have kids? It's not unheard of to have small plastic or other objects thrown into the toilet, which become lodged in the trap and catch all manner of E36 M3 trying to get past. So to speak.

Yep check the trap. I had the same thing happen a couple years ago. Turned out the dog dropped a toy in there when he decided to get a drink. Hard plastic toy at that. Bought a new toilet.

This will make you look like a hero!

Notice the trap behind and under the toilet, pretty snakey; easy to get a tennis ball in there.

http://ext.homedepot.com/video/?bcpid=207606409001&bctid=727061985001

This is relevant to my interests.

Had a problem just like this once when plant roots grew through the sewer pipe coming from the toilet.

"Did you mean toilet tissue"

Get a shop vac. Use the suction function. Place the hose in the toilet bowl. Get a big towel wet the towel down. place it around the hose to provide a seal. Turn on shop vac. Wait until you hear the thunk sound. Then remove everything from the bowl and flush. If it doesn't work the first time, repeat as necessary.

drsmooth wrote: Get a shop vac. Use the suction function. Place the hose in the toilet bowl. Get a big towel wet the towel down. place it around the hose to provide a seal. Turn on shop vac. Wait until you hear the thunk sound. Then remove everything from the bowl and flush. If it doesn't work the first time, repeat as necessary.

then throw away your covered in E36 M3 shop vac

patgizz wrote:

drsmooth wrote: Get a shop vac. Use the suction function. Place the hose in the toilet bowl. Get a big towel wet the towel down. place it around the hose to provide a seal. Turn on shop vac. Wait until you hear the thunk sound. Then remove everything from the bowl and flush. If it doesn't work the first time, repeat as necessary.

then throw away your covered in E36 M3 shop vac

And clean up the E36 M3 in the trap, and the E36 M3 it sprayed out from the vents.

1988RedT2 wrote: Do you have kids? It's not unheard of to have small plastic or other objects thrown into the toilet, which become lodged in the trap and catch all manner of E36 M3 trying to get past. So to speak.

We don't, but the previous owners did.

GameboyRMH wrote:

patgizz wrote:

drsmooth wrote: Get a shop vac. Use the suction function. Place the hose in the toilet bowl. Get a big towel wet the towel down. place it around the hose to provide a seal. Turn on shop vac. Wait until you hear the thunk sound. Then remove everything from the bowl and flush. If it doesn't work the first time, repeat as necessary.

then throw away your covered in E36 M3 shop vac

And clean up the E36 M3 in the trap, and the E36 M3 it sprayed out from the vents.

Why would the Shop Vac be covered in E36 M3??

Why would anything spray out of the vents???

I am confused??? I have been using this method for years with no problems. I own an apartment building; and it works great. Whenever a tenant's hell raising offspring tosses a GI JOE down the crapper this works. Also It works a hell of a lot better and faster than using a snake. I re-read my initial post; did I say use the blower function by mistake?

No I didn't.. Do you guy's even know what this thread is about??? I said guy's because most women already know about this method..

Or see this thread http://grassrootsmotorsports.com/forum/off-topic-discussion/anyone-an-expert-on-toilets/63793/page2/

It's amazing how 2 months and 2 different threads can have 2 vastly different types of reply!!! 2 months ago it was a genius idea. 2 months later not so much.........

Ether way it works and it works faster than an auger or snake.

I'll bet it's a happy-meal toy.

Firstly, if you do opt to throw a new terlet at the problem, don't buy a cheap one - buy a good one.

At our last place we put a Toto dual-flush in the guest bath and it was pretty great. Then we put a Kohler "Gabrielle" in the main bath when we remodeled it, and it's about as awesome as a terlet can be. Suffice to say it's up to our "best efforts", is comfortable, looks good, and the Kohler flapper and flush valve are quality parts. We liked it so much we only took the briefest of looks at other products when we did the master bath at the new place last year.

Every plumbing professional I've talked to likes Toto and Kohler.

Second - There's a GRM forum of toilets, I sh1t you negative:

The Terry Love Plumbing Forum.

... Much good info here.

Use a dedicated toilet auger instead of a drain snake. The snake will slither right on by / through the obstruction. On a heavily obstructed toilet, an auger will work 95 percent of the time. The other five percent requires removal and usually shaking the toilet upside down. It's not hard to remove a toilet and it's not hard to reinstall it. Take it from someone who spent 11 years as a property manager in a building with 46 bathrooms. I've seen everything.

Get a shop vac. Use the suction function. Place the hose in the toilet bowl. Get a big towel. Then, wet the towel down in the bathtub or shower. Place the towel in a circular manner around the hose to provide a seal. Turn on shop vac. Wait until you hear the thunk sound.

Then remove everything from the bowl and flush the toilet.

If it doesn't drain as quickly as it normally would the first time you ever flushed it... repeat the above steps until it does.

In reply to drsmooth:

Haha, you threw it in there again. I will try your method and see if there are any results.

There's really nothing to removing/installing a toilet. So unless your clog may be of the organic nature, fear not. Get a new wax ring.

alex wrote: There's really nothing to removing/installing a toilet. So unless your clog may be of the organic nature, fear not. Get a new wax ring.

Wrong. They make synthetic foam ones now, and they totally rock. You can even reposition the toilet and reuse the same seal.

SyntheticBlinkerFluid wrote: In reply to drsmooth: Haha, you threw it in there again. I will try your method and see if there are any results.

If there is something, unintentionally flushed in the toilet or caught in the trap/downpipe.. This method should work.

alex wrote: There's really nothing to removing/installing a toilet. if your house is less than 20 years old

FTFY.

I am a seasoned home repair guy. The toilet replacement in my 1937 house required demolishing a large portion of the floor to replace large sections of heavily corroded cast iron pipe. Unless the flange is PVC, expect more work.

Here is my advice.... if the flushing issue is limited to just that toilet, I would suspect that it is just that one device. The first thing I would do is rent a toilet auger. They are something like $11 to rent from Home Depot. They are about 3 feet long so they will clean out the trap of the toilet and go down through the flange. If that doesn't fix it, verify that the vent is clear (as was mentioned before). The toilet flushing requires a large amount of air from the vent to operate properly. If you have a bee's nest or a bunch of tree debris that has fallen in to your roof vent, it won't work. I recently cleaned out a bee's nest and mine still didn't work. I snaked a bit deeper and removed what appeared to be the carcass of a rat. I can now flush small children without concern.