Plumbing experts? Toilet question.

[iamme]

My parent's home seems to have "slow pipes", for lack of a better term. Everytime you flush a toilet, you have to hold down the lever until the water is almost completely down. If not, the water won't go down. It's like that for all the toilets. I helped my father install a new toilet and it's the same, so it's not that the toilets are old.

Any idea what kind of work needs to be done to get a more "powerful" flush? 🙂

 

[BatmanNate]

Flush the pipes if you can get to any of the cleanouts.

 

[ElFenix]

liquid plummer will clear up anything thats built up on the sides.

 

[Armitage]

Could also be a bad vent. Is it just slow, or is there alot of gurgling/gulping noises coming from the system?

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: ElFenix
liquid plummer will clear up anything thats built up on the sides.

i assume i'd have to liquid plummer all the toilet's right?

Originally posted by: ergeorge
Could also be a bad vent. Is it just slow, or is there alot of gurgling/gulping noises coming from the system?

well, if you hold the toilet's lever down until the water completely goes down, it seems to go down normally.

 

[Ornery]

How old is the house? It should have vent stacks even if it's pretty old. Make sure those are not clogged with... God knows what. Dead animals, debris or who knows. Take a hose up on the roof and run water down that stack. It should flow free. That's the only explanation that makes sense for your description... other than the toilet being clogged.

The main line being clogged is possible, but doesn't seem likely. The pipes under the toilet should be able to take a few gallons even if it is clogged farther down the line.

 

[iamme]

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
Flush the pipes if you can get to any of the cleanouts.

where would those be? 😱

 

[Ornery]

• Unblocking a Cleanout

The little snake in that picture won't do squat. You would need to rent a Power Snake at about $40.00 per day. make sure those vents are free before going through that.

 

[BatmanNate]

Originally posted by: iamme

Originally posted by: BatmanNate
Flush the pipes if you can get to any of the cleanouts.

where would those be? 😱

They *should* be at the end of all of your horizontal pipes that are longer than such and such a length according to code. But since the toilet usually is on a 3" drop there should only be 1 or so beneath it. Possilbly in your crawl space if you have one.

 

[Hartford]

that drano foaming snake stuff works miracles

 

[Evadman]

sounds like your vents are clogged.

 

[jdini76]

call a plumber...if you screw something up it will cost you more in the long run ( the fact that you installed the toilet yourselves sounds suspiciouse to me!). Did you install all the toilets yourselves? Just pay the $75 service fee, get a prognosis and then decide from there.

 

[BatmanNate]

Originally posted by: jdini76
call a plumber...if you screw something up it will cost you more in the long run ( the fact that you installed the toilet yourselves sounds suspiciouse to me!). Did you install all the toilets yourselves? Just pay the $75 service fee, get a prognosis and then decide from there.

It's really not that easy to screw things up with the drain plumbing...

 

[Ornery]

"...Just pay the $75 service fee..."

OMG, that just makes me cringe! :Q

Really, how could you screw up the plumbing installing a toilet? If it's not leaking, you did it right!

Here's a thought. Take the toilet back off. Fill a couple five gallon buckets with water and quickly pour them one after another down the drain. If it takes all that water without overflowing, it ain't the pipes. As a double check, run your garden hose full force down the drain for a minute or two, then quickly dump the ten gallons of water down at the same time the hose is running. If it doesn't overflow, it for damn sure isn't the pipes!

 

[RossMAN]

White Castle burgers + Taco Bell + Beer

Call me in the morning

 

[Ronstang]

Try readjusting the floats to allow a higher water level in the tank and also adjusting the lever to pull the flapper valve higher. If this does not help then vents could be an issue, but I doubt they are clogged as they carry no waste but the could be obstructed by damage on the roof hats.

 

[Ornery]

So? WTF is going on with this stinky issue?

 

[NumbaJuan]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
White Castle burgers + Taco Bell + Beer

Call me in the morning

you are a doctor 😉

 

[Analog]

Originally posted by: RossMAN
White Castle burgers + Taco Bell + Beer

Call me in the morning

tums?

 

[slycat]

two nites ago i got a call and went down to garage...there was sh1t floating and toilet paper
swimming in it...

 

[Ornery]

iamme last visited on 04/24/2003 7:39 PM, yet couldn't be bothered to update this. Yep, looks like I have another to add to my sh|t list... :disgust:

 

[OrganizedChaos]

climb up on your roof and poor some drain cleaner down the vent, things will get slow if its plugged up


<----------knows nothing about plumbing