Toilet Flushing every other time

[Dorlando13]

I can really use some help, thank you. We have an american standard toilet. Sorry, I do not know much more about it. We had a broken lever so we replaced it. At the same time we replaced the flapper and chain. Now the toilet flushes every other time because not enough water is getting into the bowl on the first flush. It kind of looks like the flapper is closing too soon. We tried putting back the old flapper and chain and the same thing is happening. We did not have this problem before. Now, we did have to hold the handle down a little longer before but it would usually flush. I have read it could be a clog but it seemed to be working fine before the handle.

We have tried adjusting everything back to where it was originally but the same problem, not enough water comes in on the first flush. I have read it could be the wrong flapper and this and that, we now have the original flapper back on and same thing. I haven't tried the 5 gallon bucket test yet, I guess because I know enough water just isn't coming into the bowl.

Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[Reach4]

The bowl refill rate may be too low. There are fill valves that can put a larger and adjustable amount of water into the bowl fill.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Dorlando13]

The bowl refill rate may be too low. There are fill valves that can put a larger and adjustable amount of water into the bowl fill.

Do you suggest I change out the refill valve? How about a clog in the jet holes?

 

[Dorlando13]

also, when should the flapper close? It appears to be closing very quickly, well before the tank is empty. I have tried holding the handle down longer and that doesn't appear to solve anything. As I mentioned, we always had to hold the handle down for a few seconds but have never had to flush it twice in a row due to low water entering the bowl.

 

[Reach4]

If you slowly pour water into the bowl, the water level will rise to a level. Your bowl should get filled to that level or very close to it on each flush. That fill is not going to be affected by the holes partially clogging. So if you can get a good flush each time by slowly adding a quart or so of water to the bowl between flushes, then the fill valve is no doing enough fill.

If the toilet is pretty much clog free but only suffers from the every-other-time flush, I would replace the fill valve. The silver topped Korky has adjustable fill. http://www.korky.com/fill-valves/quietfill-maxperformance-fill-valve If the toilet has other problems such as clogging, you may be wise to replace the whole toilet.

 

[Dorlando13]

If you slowly pour water into the bowl, the water level will rise to a level. Your bowl should get filled to that level or very close to it on each flush. That fill is not going to be affected by the holes partially clogging. So if you can get a good flush each time by slowly adding a quart or so of water to the bowl between flushes, then the fill valve is no doing enough fill.

If the toilet is pretty much clog free but only suffers from the every-other-time flush, I would replace the fill valve. The silver topped Korky has adjustable fill. http://www.korky.com/fill-valves/quietfill-maxperformance-fill-valve If the toilet has other problems such as clogging, you may be wise to replace the whole toilet.

ok, that makes sense. Thank you. Let me ask you, does the flapper need to stay up for a certain period of time? Ours closes fast but on our other toilet it stays up. On the broken toilet I have tried to manually hold it up or hold the handle down longer and it really doesn't change much. Just didn't know if the flapper is supposed to stay up, if that could also be contributing as I have read something about that also.

 

[Reach4]

Flapper is supposed to stay up for a while. However holding the lever should keep the flapper open until you let the handle go. Since you say that holding the handle does not change much, I would look to the bowl fill. Do the manual bowl top-off for diagnostic purposes.

Changing toilets may not be as hard as you think.

 

[WJcandee]

Okay, to my mind, this whole discussion is completely wrong. You changed the flapper, and now the flapper doesnt stay open long enough. It's the chain length. When you put the new flapper on, you didn't adjust the chain properly. You should have one link of chain resting on top of the flapper, and no more. If the chain is too short, it keeps the flapper from opening all the way, and can hold the flapper off the flush valve seat. If the chain is too long, it doesn't pull the flapper up all the way. Just try adjusting the chain the way I told you to above, one link at a time, and you should be fine.

One other possibility is that your new handle isn't pulling the chain in the same direction that the old one did. Make sure that the handle is adjusted front to back so that it is pulling this chain straight up, and that you are attaching it far enough out on the bar to the handle so that it pulls it straight up.

100% this is a chain issue, either length of chain or direction of pull.

 

[Terry]

I think we need some 800 pixel or less pictures of that tank.

 

[WJcandee]

I think we need some 800 pixel or less pictures of that tank.

Yeah, true. Any of us could probably tell from a photo right away what's wrong. I have been there enough times with the chain and those exact symptoms that it seemed like the obvious answer was obvious; but sometimes the actual problem isn't the most likely ("obvious") one.

I actually had a chain issue develop in one of our toilets. After a couple of years working perfectly with my perfectly-adjusted chain, it started to misfire again about a week ago. Flapper wasn't staying up. Sure enough, tightening up one link solved the problem. I guess that all the pulling may have stretched the rubber a smidge or the chain cut into the rubber a smidge -- just enough to require a chain readjustment by one link to fix it so it works flawlessly again.

(This is the 1986-vintage AS "Galleria" lowboy (2014.013) with the pushbutton flush in my rental apartment. The pushbutton presses down on a rod that is attached to the toilet and has its tilt point near the button, so pushing down on one end, like a see-saw, lifts up on the other end, to which the flapper chain is attached. The whole mechanism is extra-finicky as compared to most other toilets, so I'm not surprised that this is the one on which an issue developed. The building guys never learned how to adjust the chain properly, so it never worked right for years after I moved in, and it wasn't until I began tinkering with plumbing that it became my first project and I fixed it with the right Korky flapper and painstaking trial-by-error chain adjustment. The poor building guys started with 450 of these prima-donnas, and have been replacing them over the years as they turn over apartments, or as residents complain and demand something else. The "something else", unfortuately, is a basic, normal-height Gerber with a big footprint, because the Toto Supremes they originally started using as replacements didn't have a big enough footprint to cover up the fact that the marble installers in 1986 didn't "tile" all the way to the flange, and I doubt they want to spend the $$ on skirted toilets which would cover the flaw. (They still replace the old sinks with Toto sinks, however.) In a small NYC apartment bathroom, the lowboy aspect is nice; sort of another shelf on which to stack toilet paper and the like. The higher toilet tops out just under the bottom of the medicine-cabinet doors, so no room to put anything on it, even a Kleenex box. So I kept the thing, with its weird design and proprietary molded plastic seat, despite the fact that it's both a water-hog and a plunge-o-matic.)