Help with conflicting information from plumbers

[cchen]

Hi Everyone,

Found this forum while doing research and I'm hoping to get some clarifications from the community.

I own a duplex with a unit in a daylight basement. The sewer line for that unit keeps getting clogged outside of the house where a section of pipe we replaced transitions back to old concrete pipes. Two different plumbers have suggested that upgrading our toilet to something with a more powerful flush could alleviate the issue. One of them said I needed a pressure assisted toilet and suggested a 1.6 gallon Gerber Ultra Flush, while the other recommended not getting anything pressure assisted and to get something from Toto.

This conflicting information is what brought me here. I've read many of the threads and have seen that Toto gets a lot of love but I'm unsure if it works in my situation since the clog is occurring quite a bit further out. Additionally, the bathroom is quite small so I would like to get something on the more compact side but am unsure if I can get something like the Drake II with the 1.28 flush or if I need to stick with the bigger 1.6 option.

Happy to provide any additional information and thanks in advance.

 

[GReynolds929]

A different toilet likely won't solve the problem. I can see where they're coming from with wanting more water per flush to help carry the waste. The issue is most likely with the transition between the replaced line and existing concrete line. Not sure how that was made but waste is getting caught there. The drain can be scoped with a camera to see what the problem is. You can then either snake it or repair. My guess is at minimum the transition needs redone, at worst the concrete line needs replaced.

 

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[Jeff H Young]

Clean and camera The reason I say this is you replaced a section but perhaps you got more messed up piping downstream further of cource your transition joint is a possible suspect. the toilet swap as a desperate attempt is understandable , my opinion is neutral maybe some help maybe just throwing good money away. I lean towards no help by slight hunch

 

[cchen]

We've actually had two different plumbers come out to camera the line and it checked out. The concrete beyond what we replaced is still serviceable. Due to the house settling, not everything could be graded correctly without replacing the entire line but I was told the impact should be fairly minimal. I guess I'm also dependent on the expertise of these two plumbers but hopefully I don't need a third opinion.

If a new toilet can help in any way, I'd be more than happy to make the swap I just don't want to make the wrong swap.

 

[Reach4]

I own a duplex with a unit in a daylight basement. The sewer line for that unit keeps getting clogged outside of the house where a section of pipe we replaced transitions back to old concrete pipes.

How often does it get clogged? If every 2 years, maybe routinely get this rodded annually. I hope that your sewer work included putting in an outside cleanout.

How about removing the garbage disposal, or getting the tenants to use it lightly? Have you discussed "flushable wipes", and explain that they, like other non-body non-TP waste, should not go into the toilet?

 

[Jeff H Young]

We've actually had two different plumbers come out to camera the line and it checked out. The concrete beyond what we replaced is still serviceable. Due to the house settling, not everything could be graded correctly without replacing the entire line but I was told the impact should be fairly minimal. I guess I'm also dependent on the expertise of these two plumbers but hopefully I don't need a third opinion.

If a new toilet can help in any way, I'd be more than happy to make the swap I just don't want to make the wrong swap.

I dont think a toilet will fix your problem but who knows?