Basement Bathroom Toilet Flush Issues

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nielubow

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When my house was built in 2005 the builder added plumbing hookups for a basement bathroom. 9 years later I got around to adding the hardware to finish the bathroom. There is a shower, single basin sink, and toilet (brand new eljer diplomat) - see attached sketch for layout. At first everything seemed to be working fine. We have been using the shower and sink with no issues and the toilet seemed to be working good as well. However, I noticed that the toilet would show signs of a slow flush. At first I thought there was some correlation between the shower being on and the slow flush. Since the shower was ahead of the toilet leading out to city sewer I figured the shower was disrupting flow. Well, then it started happening even when shower was not on. So, I've plunged the toilet numerous times. I pulled the toilet snaked the drain (I have intentionally used the toilet only lightly to make sure everything was working fine - so did not think there would be any issues with blockages). Reinstalled wax ring and toilet and still flushes slow. I noticed that the sink gurgles pretty bad when I flush the toilet. I also snaked the sink drain all the way to the main line. The sink does have a studor vent connected. I am afraid I have venting issues which would require much cost and effort to fix. Any advice would be appreciated.

Update: I thought maybe the studor vent was malfunctioning since I seemed to get a better flush with the vent removed from sink system. However, I checked the vent by sucking and it seemed to flow air very good. Then after pouring a few buckets of water down the sink the flush is very very slow - almost non existent. Is the toilet flow backing into the sink branch??

Thanks
 

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Plumber69

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pull toilet, dump a big bucket of water down the flange and run the supply full pressure in there to. See if it backs up at all. If thats your layout, its not vented properly at all. I would check for negative slop in your pipe from the toilet to. If everything worked before, I think you have something stuck in your toilet which will collect up toilet paper. Pull your toilet and flip it over and look inside with a flash light, and even snake it backwards
 

nielubow

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I did pull the toilet and dumped buckets of water down after I snaked the drain. It seemed to flow ok but did back up a bit - water did rise up the drain. I do not know how well a bucket of water should drain so have no baseline to compare to. I also snaked the toilet. But we have barely used for any solids so do not think it would have blockages to begin with. You said check for negative slop - do you mean slope? How would I check this...the pipes are buried in the floor. I did notice that after I poured the buckets down the drain there was still some water visible (maybe an inch) in the drain.

So how did the builder/plumber get away from an improperly vented system or improperly sloped system? Is there any recourse 10 years later?!
 

nielubow

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I just flushed the toilet after hours of not having used any of the hardware and it flushed fine. I waited for the tank to refill and it became slower and slower in successive flushes and more gurgling in sink each successive time. If a venting issue wouldnt the first flush have had an issue? Either a bad slope or blockage? I guess its off to home depot tomorrow to rent a heavy duty drain cleaner.
 

hj

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Save you money for the "heavy duty drain cleaner". After not being used, the line was empty. The first flush drained properly, but each sucessive one added more water to the clogged line until there was no room left. The Studor vent is completely useless for an issue like this. IF you drawing is correct, and not just a schematic showing where the fixtures are located, the complete system is incorrect and a Studor vent is not a good option for a basement bathroom just because of the issues you are having. Is this a septic system? What did you use to "snake the sewer to the main line"?
 

nielubow

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Initially I used a handheld 1/4 inch pistol grip snake. I know its not the right tool for a 3 in main but wanted to see if I felt any obstructions.

Today, I rented a 1/2"x100 ft powered sewer drain cleaner. I ran into some snags and pushed through. I dont know how far I got but I must have gone most of the way around the house. I dont know if I actually cleared any obstructions since I do not have any experience with using the drain cleaner. But, pouring many 5 gallon buckets down the drain while both the sink and shower were on showed good flow - much better than before snaking Reinstalled the toilet and flushed great. Successive flushes were good also. After 10 or so it slowed down a bit but then went back to normal after a few more flushes. The level of water in the main drain seemed to go down as well. Where as before snaking most of the pipe was full of water, after snaking moved the water level down to an inch or so - should it be empty after no use?

Getting back to the venting. We bought this house new and the builder installed the plumbing hookups (drains and pipes in floor) in the basement. Should the venting have been done by the builder or by us when we installed the hardware? The drawing is a rough schematic of plumbing. I do not know how or where the sink drain gets to the main line. In an ideal world how should this system be vented? This is a city sewer.

Thanks
 
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Plumber69

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Initially I used a handheld 1/4 inch pistol grip snake. I know its not the right tool for a 3 in main but wanted to see if I felt any obstructions.

Today, I rented a 1/2"x100 ft powered sewer drain cleaner. I ran into some snags and pushed through. I dont know how far I got but I must have gone most of the way around the house. I dont know if I actually cleared any obstructions since I do not have any experience with using the drain cleaner. But, pouring many 5 gallon buckets down the drain while both the sink and shower were on showed good flow - much better than before snaking Reinstalled the toilet and flushed great. Successive flushes were good also. After 10 or so it slowed down a bit but then went back to normal after a few more flushes. The level of water in the main drain seemed to go down as well. Where as before snaking most of the pipe was full of water, after snaking moved the water level down to an inch or so - should it be empty after no use?

Getting back to the venting. We bought this house new and the builder installed the plumbing hookups (drains and pipes in floor) in the basement. Should the venting have been done by the builder or by us when we installed the hardware? The drawing is a rough schematic of plumbing. I do not know how or where the sink drain gets to the main line. In an ideal world how should this system be vented? This is a city sewer.

Thanks
If all the plumbing was stubbed out of the concrete the venting gets done later. The sink drain should be 2" till it terminates outside or ties in a dry vent above flood level. Sounded like you have a auto vent which would not vent your toilet very well at all. The 2"sink drain would act as a wet vent for your toilet.
 

Plumber69

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Am I right when you say there is water in your line as shown in the picture? If you pulled the toilet and snaked it and there was still water in the line you have negative slope. If you snaked it and all the water went away you have slope. There should be no water in the line at all.
 

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