Sluggish toilet mystery, round 2, expert help needed.

[5030]

If all else fails, Take an M100, light it, drop in the bowl, quickly flush and run like the wind.... That will clean 'er out....

 

[EddieWalker]

Toilets are pretty easy to pull. I like to use a four wheel dolly commonly used to move furniture around. I place the dolly next to the toilet, pick it straight up and set it on the dolly, then wheel it out of the way.

I've found all sorts of things in toilets. Be sure to look closely inside the trap. Hot wheels, straws, body parts of dolls and legos end up in there all the time.

Eddie

 

[SPIKER]

Common items stuck in the trap are tooth brushes and yes they sure stop up a toilet causing slow flushes. Works flushes ok 3 or 4 times if liquids or little paper but too much paper and or poo poo caca and it jams em up.

I worked in plant making toilets, (seen 10's of thousands of them) only valves are the flush/flapper and the fill valve, no other ones in there. I HAVE seen slow flushes caused by the main line slope (sagging floor) taking some of the fall away and then letting buildup occur. I have also seen hard water or lime/calcium build up in the rim holes and in main lines cause the same issue.

One in my old house in down stairs had lime/calcium buildup in the main line drop that was 1/3 of the 3" line full. My brother and I pulled the main drop and knocked it loose in half moon chunks 3 & 4 feet long by 2" thick! The plumbing had all been replaced in the 70s with PVC and after we cut the sections out we just cleaned & glued it back in w couplings & last one w rubber union.

Mark

 

[Steve out west]

Check out the mans theory about the siphon jets around the bottom of the rim. In that many years they could be plugging up. I have used a coat hangar to clear them. Those holes start the water swirling and create a good flush. Also, it's good to pull the water closet and make sure no dummy has put q-tips in. They will clear the trap and lodge in the bottom of toilet.

 

[pmsmechanic]

We had a toilet that gave trouble for years. The biggest problem was that my wife didn't realize that it was a dual flush toilet and that you had to hold the lever down for the larger loads. Once we got that all straightened out then at times it still wouldn't flush properly. I went and bought a gallon of muriatic acid (used to clean swimming pools. I buy it at Home Hardware). About twice a year we fill the bowl with it and leave it for a few hours. The muriatic acid cleans all the calcium deposits out of the bowl and trap and everything works great again until the procedure needs to be repeated. We do leave a sign on the seat of the toilet warning any user that the toilet needs to be flushed before use! Also try not to breathe the fumes as you pour the acid into the toilet.

 

[TomSeller]

If you take off the toilet be sure to have TWO wax rings available. Do not torque down the toilet to floor bolts too hard, toilet bolts are engineered to snap before the porcelain will crack. .

Right. And don't buy the extra thick wax rings. I thought that would be a good adea and ended up bending the flange trying to get the toilet back down to the floor. I was able to bend the flange back but had to baby tighten the bolts once I put a regular thickness wax ring in place.

 

[TomSeller]

Check out the mans theory about the siphon jets around the bottom of the rim. In that many years they could be plugging up. I have used a coat hangar to clear them. Those holes start the water swirling and create a good flush. Also, it's good to pull the water closet and make sure no dummy has put q-tips in. They will clear the trap and lodge in the bottom of toilet.

Right. I have a rental that had the slow flush problem once. The toilet had the front jet at the bottom front of the toilet that got the water moving towards the P trap. The previous renter had been flushing the wood stove ashes down the toilet and plunging them, compacting the ash into the jet hole. I used a bicycle kickstand (curved just right) to unplug the jet and it flushed perfect after that.

 

[Egon]

N80; after giving your problems some serious contemplation it came to me that it might involve a health issue and the mass handling capability of the existing toilet. Being older it was made in the days of high protein diets so all was good. Present day high non soluble fibre diets result in bulk and mass the present fixture was not made to accommodate.

You will have many solutions to choose from but perhaps the simplest is the installation of the proverbial Thunder Pole in the back yard!

 

[arnoldziffel]

What is with renters and toilets?

I had a tenant that always disposed of her cat's kitty litter down the toilet. A FULL pan all at one time. She always complained that the toilet didn't work well.

I thought all was fine once I finally convinced her not to use the toilet to dispose of cat litter, until she kept clogging the bathtub drain with it.

When she moved out I asked how the plumbing was working and she confirmed everything was now working great. She stated that HER solution was to dump all of the kitty litter down the kitchen sink drain and turn-on the garbage disposal motor!

 

[Damifino]

Something to try before you buy, get a bottle of CLR, and a metal clothes hangar, shut off water to toilet and flush holding handle down until water is below flush valve.

Flush valve is what the flapper seats on, now pour 1/2 bottle CLR into the flush valve, this will allow product to get into the flush rim of bowl.

Let sit overnight or eqivilent, then undo cloths hanger and keep the
part that hooks intact, the flush discharge holes are directional as you will see when flushing.

follow that direction when working hangar in holes, you will feel material like minerals and the like making it feel like your breaking porcelain, just keep on each rim discharge hole out until you have got them all.

Now turn water back on let tank fill and flush, you will be amazed how much debris will come into bowl, hope this helps, if not take 2 aspirin and toss in bowl. call a plumber in the morning!!

Good Luck & happy flushing