Intermittent Perfect Flushing

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Smhowell

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Previously working used toilet worked for 3 days after re-installation perfectly, then became sluggish and started requiring plunging and multiple flushes. The other day, it flushed perfectly for half a day, and now is back to poorly performing.

My husband doesn't have a closet auger, and won't buy one. I thought I read somewhere that something oddly shaped could be trapped but can't convince him of that. We tried muriatic acid without any improvement.

Anyone have an idea which one of us is wrong? What should we try next?

Thanks in advance,
Sharon
 

Jadnashua

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If the drain line is clogged, depending on how far down and how long the pipe is, until you fill up the pipe to the clog, the toilet will flush normally. Once you fill the drain pipe up, it won't. It would depend on how much water you've run, like how many showers, loads of clothes, flushes. If the clog is not complete, over time, the water level in the drain decends. I think you need the line cleaned out. My unprofessional opinion.
 

Terry

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You may also have something in the trapway that is catching paper.

A toothbrush may do this.

One good test is to try to flush wadded up paper towel.

Anything that slows down the water will impede the siphon action of the flush.

briggs_1.jpg
 

Smhowell

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Intermittant Perfect Flushing - Solved! Thanks, Terry!

Thank you, Terry, very much!

My husband took up the toilet so we could run an old T-shirt through it backwards (I figured it would be big enough to move anything and soft enough to make all the turns). So we got a flexible rope to pull the T-shirt with and tried to push the rope through without success. We then tied a weight (looking for a large nut, but used a socket instead) to it, and a Bic pen with a huge wad of toilet paper came out (before we needed the T-shirt). The rope wouldn't go through on its own, but the weight on the rope knocked the pen loose.

My husband keeps saying that he can't believe that he never saw any signs of toilet paper when probing with a hanger wire. Nothing rattled when he shook it.

If not for Terry, my husband wouldn't have taken up the toilet again! (Never would buy that toilet auger).
 
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