Eljer Toilet - no jet/wash down i think? total neophyte but learning

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glenn ritchie

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Hi - I need some help.

I have an eljer toilet on my 3rd floor and it had a leak in the fill value so i replaced it with the korky product. it fixed the running water problem in the overflow tube but now the toilet won't fully flush.

I've done the the following:
1. double checked the water level in tank - about 1/4 inch above fill line on over tube.
2. replaced the flapper
3. poured about 2 gallons of water directly into bowl and it flushed like a king!
4. poured a gallon of bleach in the bowl - waited 30 plus minutes and flushed...not really - flushed when i dumped more water.
5. white vinegar (1/2 gallon) down the over flow tube - let it sit for a while then tried to flush - no go
6. spent about an hour with a drill bit apparently cleaning mineral deposits from underneath the lip of the bowl. mostly in the area toward the back where the water flows into the bowl via bowl.
- this last effort seems to have allowed more water when i flush, but there isn't enough siphon, suction to pull it down that last bit.

Any clues?

Thanks,
Glenn
Neophyte handyman/home owner
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Reach4

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An Apple user, I see.:rolleyes:

If you are on a sewer rather than septic, some report putting some strong chemical down the toilet overflow tube can help clean passages. They can emit very strong (burn-your-lungs-and-eyes strong) fumes, and you would need to open a window and hold your breath and limit the time that your eyes are there. Search for "muriatic" in the toilets forum for some discussions on that.

While that is a nice looking toilet, you may be better off cutting your losses and getting a newer modern toilet. I am not a plumber
 

glenn ritchie

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An Apple user, I see.:rolleyes:

If you are on a sewer rather than septic, some report putting some strong chemical down the toilet overflow tube can help clean passages. They can emit very strong (burn-your-lungs-and-eyes strong) fumes, and you would need to open a window and hold your breath and limit the time that your eyes are there. Search for "muriatic" in the toilets forum for some discussions on that.

While that is a nice looking toilet, you may be better off cutting your losses and getting a newer modern toilet. I am not a plumber

thanks for the reply Reach4. I agree. it's a pretty old, since 1993. maybe try some version of the chemical cleaner down the overflow tube....
 

Reach4

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I am not familiar with that white bowl thing around the flapper, but if you could remove a section or all of the wall of that bowl, it would let more water go into a flush. That could be a workaround.
 

glenn ritchie

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I am not familiar with that white bowl thing around the flapper, but if you could remove a section or all of the wall of that bowl, it would let more water go into a flush. That could be a workaround.
So I took a pair of out door shrub shears and cut 5 flaps - 2 on the left and 3 on the right of the flapper value container. Folded them out toward the sides of the tank and it worked! larger volume of flush to get it jetting. I wonder if a CLR treatment (instead of m-acid) in the overflow pipe will improve it a little more? have you ever used CLR?

BTW - thank you for the workaround!
 

Reach4

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.I wonder if a CLR treatment (instead of m-acid) in the overflow pipe will improve it a little more? have you ever used CLR?
I have, but it has been a while. It certainly is a lot safer. I would also consider phosphoric acid. Low fumes. It is used in foods in much smaller amounts. It is going to be cheaper than CLR. I think the earlier formula of CLR had that.
 
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Terry

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For the flush to work, the bowl must be at the proper level before the flush.
The tube from the fill valve to the overflow refills the bowl after a flush. There is an adjustment on that fill valve that lets you tweak the setting there.
Proper level is usually as much as the bowl will take before it goes over the top bend of the trapway. It will fill to that point, and then any excess will keep flowing over that and down the drain.
If the bowl is flush with too little water in the bowl, it will have a very hard time flushing.
 

WJcandee

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The real issue was that you aren't starting with enough water in the bowl. Fully-open the little valve on the refill thingy on your fill valve, and that should have done the trick.

Why would anyone recommend that he MODIFY the toilet tank when it was working fine like a day ago and all he did was swap the fill valve?

Wouldn't that make one think that maybe it had something to do with the fill valve?
 

Reach4

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Why would anyone recommend that he MODIFY the toilet tank when it was working fine like a day ago and all he did was swap the fill valve?
Because he missed that point. Duh.
 
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