Toilet not fully flushing

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davidmk

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I am having trouble with one of my toilets and am looking for some opinions on what may be happening.

If I flush my toilet and let off the handle the toilet bowl will not empty. It drains a little but that is it. If I hold the handle down and wait then it will complete the flush 20-30% of the time, after 30-60 seconds.

I have flushed the vent pipe from the roof with a water hose running fast for a few minutes. This did not help. I have cleaned out the holes under the rim and they are not plugged.

I have poured a 5 gallon bucket of water down the toilet. There is no gurgling and it disappears/flushes after a couple gallons, and causes the contents of bowl that were present prior to go down the drain.

I have had the toilet snaked and there is not a blockage.

I had a plumber scope the drain line and what he found was that when the toilet was flushed he saw the drain that empties it fill with water briefly.

This indicated to him that the house had settled and there was not the needed slope to the drain pipe anymore, and the house needed to be raised.

It has been very dry here in Austin and I am on a slab on clay. I tried soaking the foundation with a soaker house 24hr/day for a few weeks to see if that would raise my house up and help the toilet. There was not a change in the flushing.

Before I bought my house in 2001 it had been leveled by a foundation repair company. I know I should call them out and have it checked by have lost the paperwork and do not know who it was.

I am wondering if you plumbers out there think this could truly be the problem? Does my house need to be raised? Should I get a second opinion?

My toilet is a $100 toilet installed in 2002 or so and is not great but was okay until this started about 2 years ago. Should I get a stronger toilet?

I have a single story house. How do toilets in basements normally flush?

I would rather not get my house leveled again.

Thanks for your time.

David
 

WJcandee

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I am not a plumber. However, the key element to me of your fact pattern is that the toilet appears to flush properly if you dump five gallons into it. That suggests that the problem may be as simple as the water level in your tank, or how fast the flapper is closing.

What happens if you hold the flush lever down until the whole tank drains? Does it "flush" properly?
 

davidmk

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Hello and thanks for the reply. You are on the right tract. I was telling a friend about the problem and he suggested cleaning out the hole at the base of bowl that is near where the water drains out. It was full of mineral deposit which I scraped out. The toilet now flushes. It was preventing the water from dropping fast in the tank and flushing it all away.

Problem solved! No house leveling!

David
 
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