Toilet slow to flush. Help pls

[Danny Wright]

Hello everyone,

My toilet is only about 4 years old. Worked fine until last week.

When I flush the toilet, the bowl just fills with water and then slowly drains. Making some gurgling sounds as it reaches the end.

I pulled the tank and ran a snake through the main drain. Saw the stake come through to the bottom with no problems.

Checked main septic tank line to make sure it wasn't full and that also looks good. Besides our other toilet, dishwasher, washing machine, etc.. all working fine.

I reinstalled tank with a new wax seal. Cleaned the - don't know the term, port holes under the rim that dispense water when flushed with a coat hanger. Flushed toilet and still same problem.

When I do flush the toilet, I notice the siphon jet at the bottom of the bowl is not shooting any water into the main drain. I took some food coloring and poured it into the fill at top and saw it comes out the siphon hole. So I assume it's fine?

I'm stumped guys. Only other thing I can think of is getting a new toilet. Hate doing that as this one is only 4 years old. If any of you guys have any ideas I would love to hear them.

Thank you,
Danny

 

[MACPLUMB]

Brand name and Model ?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Danny Wright]

Brand name and Model ?

Not sure on the model. But the make is Kohler 1.6gal I believe

 

[MACPLUMB]

OK STAND BY SOMEONE WILL COME ONLINE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

 

[Danny Wright]

OK STAND BY SOMEONE WILL COME ONLINE TO ANSWER YOUR QUESTIONS

Appreciate it, Thank you

 

[Reach4]

Try pouring water from a 5 gallon bucket from as high as you dare as fast as you dare. This may move an obstruction.

 

[Danny Wright]

Try pouring water from a 5 gallon bucket from as high as you dare as fast as you dare. This may move an obstruction.

Thanks. Just gave this a try. Sadly didn't work. Just filled up the bowl and took a while for the water to drain.

 

[Reach4]

It would probably be best to replace the toilet. I suspect something is clogged, and it may be something in the trapway. But a new toilet will cover all of that. I am not a plumber.

 

[Danny Wright]

It would probably be best to replace the toilet. I suspect something is clogged, and it may be something in the trapway. But a new toilet will cover all of that. I am not a plumber.

Yeah, you might be right. Thanks.

Anyone else have any other suggestions before I start pricing toilets?

 

[Reach4]

See #4 on https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-use-a-closet-auger-on-a-plugged-toilet.18133/

Also see
https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/sometimes-it-goes-sometimes-it-doesnt.33488/
https://terrylove.com/forums/index....three-flushes-to-clear-the-toilet-bowl.33527/

 

[Danny Wright]

See #4 on https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-use-a-closet-auger-on-a-plugged-toilet.18133/

Also see
https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/sometimes-it-goes-sometimes-it-doesnt.33488/
https://terrylove.com/forums/index....three-flushes-to-clear-the-toilet-bowl.33527/

Thanks I'll give those links a look

 

[Jadnashua]

If the drain line is not full and the bowl doesn't drain when you flush, it's probably some obstruction in the toilet itself. A toilet auger doesn't always catch what's there. Common things are toys, hair pins, combs, pens, pencils, crayons, etc. Sometimes, you have to try to remove it from the bottom if it's really wedged in there. The head on toilet augers can vary...the better ones have a much larger head than the cheap ones, and thus, can get more things, but still could have issues.

 

[Danny Wright]

Just an update guys. Bought a new toilet. Installed it and same problem. So old toilet was fine. It has to be my septic line or maybe I need to get my septic pumped...

What gets me... When I pulled the main septic line everything looked cleared in the pipes. Noting was coming out. All other stuff like bedroom toilet, sinks, showers etc. Are all draining fine. Just this one hall toilet giving me grief.

Going to try flushing some got water down the toilet and buy some septic pipe cleaner to flush down after and see if that helps. If not, I suspect I may need to get my septic pumped.

 

[Reach4]

I am sorry to hear that the new toilet did not fix things.

How long has it been since you had your septic tank pumped? You don't want to wait until you get symptoms. When you had it pumped last time, the guy probably told you how full it was. He may have helped forecast how often it needs doing.

Getting the septic pumped before you absolutely need it, is not really a waste. If you were half way into warranting it, you only spent half of the money apparently unnecessarily. But for that extra money, you got to know that the problem was not the septic being full.

For drain cleaning, I would suggest you bring in somebody with a big-enough machine, and pull the toilet first so he can auger through there. You are getting proficient through practice at pulling toilets.

For pipe-blockage testing, you could pull the toilet, and see how much water you can put into the hole with a garden hose. A garden hose should not come close to being able to cause a back up.

 

[MACPLUMB]

Go to Auto Parts Store pick up a small inspection mirror with extended handle, get a good flashlight,
suck the water out of toilet and use the mirror with flashlight to Inspect the inside trap if you don't see anything
pull toilet and look though the bottom take out side set on a couple blocks and using garden hose fill tank and try flushing that way, also what was posted above run water though closet bend this to locate problem

 

[Danny Wright]

Its been 4 years since the Septic was pumped. Had it pumped when I bought the property. Original owner said he never had it pumped for 30 years. Figured it needed to be done!

When I had the toilet off I got into the crawl space and pulled the 5" pvc at the bottom of the vertical drop, before it went into a "T" pvc to feed the main drain. Shined a light up through the pvc and had my wife inside bathroom see the light clearly. Everything looked cleared.

I have a septic company coming out tomorrow to pump the Septic. Hoping that fixes the problem!

I'll post updates. Thanks.

 

[Danny Wright]

Go to Auto Parts Store pick up a small inspection mirror with extended handle, get a good flashlight,
suck the water out of toilet and use the mirror with flashlight to Inspect the inside trap if you don't see anything
pull toilet and look though the bottom take out side set on a couple blocks and using garden hose fill tank and try flushing that way, also what was posted above run water though closet bend this to locate problem

Thanks. But I don't think it's a toilet problem any more. Brand new toilet Installed. Same problem.

 

[Jadnashua]

Has it been raining a lot lately? Septic tanks, except right after they are pumped out, are normally full...so, anything you add, causes some to overflow out into the leach field(s). If the ground is saturated from particularly heavy rains, there's no place for the waste to go, so it can end up backing up into the drain lines in the house. A toilet won't flush if the drain line is full or clogged. Depending on what preceded the flush, if the clog is further down the line, something else, like maybe emptying the tub or running a load of laundry, could have backed things up that wouldn't be apparent later, after the slow clog let enough pass to then give you someplace for the toilet to dump into.

 

[Danny Wright]

Another update.

Just had the Septic guys here. They told me my tank was low and showed me some cracks on the inside septic walls caused by tree roots. They suspect water was leaking out. They went ahead and pumped it out. My septic is a 1000 gal capacity.

Checked toilet and still same problem. Slow flush. This is starting to become an expensive issue! I will need to call a plumber next...

 

[Jadnashua]

When the toilet is draining slowly, once you can clear it, remove it and check the state of the drain line below. Or, if you have a fiber-optic video thing, you might use that to check what's going on beneath the toilet.

Generally, the reasons for a toilet to drain slowly fall into one of the following:
- there's a clog in the toilet
- the drain line is full for some reason (typically, a clog, or it could be s slope issue - might be more of those roots that are affecting your tank also in your drain line(s)