I think clogged rim jets are causing a weak flush

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12ax7

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A few days ago everything was fine on this old gravity flush toilet. One of my teenagers put way too much TP in the bowl and casued a severe clog. He plunged it very hard. Then I plunged it very hard. While plunging I noticed tiny bits of paper coming back up through the flapper and into the cistern. I finally got the bowl to drain. I can fill the bowl with a 5 gallon pail of water and it shoots right down the drain.

Here's the problem now. When I flush the cistern drains slowly. There seems to be a back flow that pushes up the flapper. I used a coat hanger to clean out the but the jets in the front part of the bowl still have only a bit of water flowing out of them. When I did this I got bits of paper and other gunk flowing out in small quantity. This helped but not back to original flushing power.

I took the tank off and replaced the gasket between the tank and bowl because the guy at the big box store said there might be an air leak causing a loss of vacuum. This did not improve anything.

What is the best way to fix this? I read Muriatic acid down the flapper hole might help.

Is there also a jet at the bottom of the bowl that I missed?

This is a fantastic site. Amazing resource for a guy with 2 houses and 3 kids!
 
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Terry

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I don't know if the acid works on paper. I've heard of it used for lime deposits. There may be something in the pathways inside the bowl if water isn't coming out of the rim holes.

The guy at the big box said there could be a vacuum between the tank and bowl?
There is only one model that does that, the Briggs Vacuity which has a small hole between the tank and bowl in addition to the larger flush valve hole.
It's more likely that there is some junk in there blocking the holes. How old is the bowl?
 

12ax7

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The bowl is pretty old. I'd say it dates to the 60's maybe. It was working fine until the clog.
 

12ax7

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would there be a better wire to use than a coat hanger? I was thinking a bicycle brake cable and jacket spun by a drill might be more flexible and shread debris better.
 

Redwood

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Check the siphon jet hole in the bottom of the bowl. I suspect the plunger probably packed it with paper.
The coat hanger wire should do the trick...
The siphon jet passage goes up the front of the toilet all the way to the rim. Some curving of the wire will be required to make it go all the way.
I would flush repeatedly with the wire in there and moving.
 
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