Basement Toto Drake slow to flush after minor flood

[LamontGrady]

I've had a Toto Drake for over 2 years in my basement.
It wasn't installed right, it rocked very slightly the whole time but never noticed any problems.

Monday morning I had 2.5" of snow/rain water in my entire basement (including this toilet). This is a midwestern 1950s brick ranch. At some point during/after the flood (definitely the same morning, when presumably the underground water situation was still on the rampage) I noticed the toilet didn't flush properly. I didn't think much of it but after a few days since the water is long gone, it still doesn't work right.

There was definitely debris in the bowl during the first few non-working flush attempts. Did something float around in the insides of the toilet and clog some minor mechanism or something? I can't figure it out.

Basically when you push the lever down, the water level in the bowl raises, then it just sort of slowly drains out. There is nothing wrong w/ the water coming out of the tank into the bowl as far as I can tell. There doesn't seem to be that extra blast provided by the siphoning action. I have it set up on my big basement sink right now to blast water all through it and make sure there was no obstructions and try to figure it out. It seems to behave the same sitting up on the sink as it did before I removed it.

My best theory is that the wax ring lost seal due to the slight rocking, and that was breaking the siphon? Is that possible - does the wax ring seal need to be intact for the siphony blast to happen?

I have a new wax ring and some plastic shims and have greatly cleaned up the area it sits on. I just don't want to put it back on without understanding what the heck is wrong.

 

[Gary Swart]

I believe you have two problems. The seal was broken because of the rocking. It was almost surely broken for a long time, but the seal does not affect the flushing. It prevents sewer gas from escaping and would also stop water from a clogged drain from getting under the toilet. The horn on the base of the toilet protrudes far enough into the flange that even with a poor wax ring seal, a normal flush will not leak. I would suggest you explore the toilet for an internal clog, probably a foreign object that is crosswise in the trap. This could have been from the flooding. You may have to improvise a tool to poke it free since it sounds like it is really wedged.