Weird toilet issue

[Mastiff]

I'm still poking at this one, but wanted to get the question in to you guys. Here's the symptom: If I flush the toilet, it barely fills, at a trickle only. If I turn off the water supply and turn it back on, it starts filling like a champ. It appears to do this every cycle. When it comes back on, there are some bubbles in the water.

Something else that is surely not a coincidence: the washing machine gave an error that it was unable to fill itself (at the same time the toilet tank was not filling, though at the time I hadn't noticed the toilet). Meanwhile, all the other taps and outdoor faucets seem fine.

Ideas?

 

[Plumber69]

I'm still poking at this one, but wanted to get the question in to you guys. Here's the symptom: If I flush the toilet, it barely fills, at a trickle only. If I turn off the water supply and turn it back on, it starts filling like a champ. It appears to do this every cycle. When it comes back on, there are some bubbles in the water.

Something else that is surely not a coincidence: the washing machine gave an error that it was unable to fill itself (at the same time the toilet tank was not filling, though at the time I hadn't noticed the toilet). Meanwhile, all the other taps and outdoor faucets seem fine.

Ideas?

Change the supply valve. Something probably loose in it

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Mastiff]

I posted misleading information. It turns out that the other faucets in the house are not working, at least not all of them. They had enough pressure to run for a little while, then all fizzled out - except one. So the situation is that the toilet can be made to work by cycling the supply and one other faucet in the same bathroom works all the time. None of the other faucets function anymore.

I'm stumped. Only theory I have is that the supply line is plugged in a strange spot under the house so only some of the faucets are affected?

 

[Reach4]

Only theory I have is that the supply line is plugged in a strange spot under the house so only some of the faucets are affected?

What faucets are not affected? Outdoor, hot kitchen, cold kitchen, what?

If everything except outdoor, look for a cartridge filter.

 

[Mastiff]

Okay. Mystery solved. Only one inside faucet was unaffected, outdoor faucets unaffected.

Anyway, I saw this weird stuff in the toilet tank and the answer was there. It's resin from the water softener. The softener must have failed and all the little beads have contaminated the system. Question now: How do I purge them, and are they toxic? I'm concerned about the water heater and appliances. I can remove the diffuser from faucets and get them running.

 

[Reach4]

How do I purge them, and are they toxic?

Not toxic. That is the main thing.

For purging, I would start with flushing the water heater.

Water heater (WH) flushing can be done different ways. The simplest is to
1. Turn off the WH water, and put the WH in vacation mode, if it has one. Otherwise off.
2. Open a hot water tap to pass air.
3. Drain the WH completely. Usually you would use a hose to direct the water.
4. Turn the water supply on fully for a few seconds, and turn off. You are trying to cause turbulence to the bottom of the tank.
5. Do steps 3 and 4 several times. If you have a way to monitor the drained water, you could judge by what you are getting out.
6. Turn the water and WH back on. Close the hot water tap once the air has been expelled and just water is coming out.

The leak probably was from a broken distributor (bottom basket). There is often a top basket, but usually that would not cause the problem.

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/where-to-buy-resin-locally.47805/ #14

https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/resin-in-water.69056/ points out to also make sure that the input and output are not reversed.

 

[Mastiff]

Thanks for the help. So far I just drained some water from the heater. A few beads came out, then clear. I'll go back and do a more thorough job, just in case.

 

[Jadnashua]

Many of the faucets and all shower heads have restrictions in them...the faucets probably have an aerator. Those can get clogged up. SO, you'll need to unscrew the aerators on the faucets then flush things out. You might have problems flushing the cartridges in the valves. ON some toilet fill valves, there's an inlet filter. On some, there's a removeable seal. YOu may have to remove or clean those to make the toilets run properly.

A typical hose bib doesn't have major obstructions, so any beads that may have gone that way just ran right through. Your washing machine may have inlet filters you can clean.