Two Home care questions: How to fix weak flush toilet.

[lokiju]

I don't know what's the deal with my toilet in the master bathroom.

Ever since I bought the house it has seemed to have a weak flush but was always still suck everything down without fail.

Now it won't flush down just water by itself or a single piece of TP. I have to flush it a good 4 or 5 times now just to get it to flush everything down.

Is there a way to improve the flushing power?

Do I need to get a snake in there or something?


Second question, my water in my house taste worse than swimming pool water, it's horrible.

I want to do a sink mount water filter so it pull it direct from the plumbing and I don't have to mess with filling up Brita jugs or anything like that. Does anyone have any suggestions for a good bang for the buck kind? I want the filter to last a long time and not make me broke whenever I have to replace it while taking out the horrible taste.

This is my first time owning a home so I'm a bit inexperienced with doing these sort of things by myself but am up for giving it a shot.

:beer:

 

[Q]

NOS FTW

 

[Safeway]

You bend the rod so more water fills the tank.

 

[Kelemvor]

When you flush what happens? Does water just trickle into the bowl so it never actually flushes?

If so, open the tank and see what's going on when you press the lever. It should be lifting up the flapper which then lets all the water down into the bowl to flush.

Or if there's just not enough water in the tank, then the floating thing is getting too high too soon and cutting off the filling up of the tank and you can bend it as the person above me said...

Or it could be filling up and then slowly draining out but then you'd hear it fill back up every so often...

 

[Capt Caveman]

Originally posted by: Safeway
You bend the rod so more water fills the tank.

Yep, try first adjusting the water level in the tank.

 

[Safeway]

As for the filter, you will probably end up with an activated carbon filter. I think they sell some UV+activated carbon filters, but they are more expensive. As for the operational costs, filters are expensive. If you want clean water, you will pay for the filters.

 

[sdifox]

Try one second plumber. It shoots compressed gas down the pipe and hopefully with a few shots you can clear the pipes.

You have a few choices on under counter water filters, depending on what kind of water you have and water rate, you can pick which one you want to get. Get the water tested first for PH. If you have hard water, maybe you should just bite the bullet and get a water softener.

 

[MagnusTheBrewer]

If water is entering the bowl but the water isn't draining or, draining slowly, your vent may be clogged.

 

[0roo0roo]

does it use very little water or does it just release it way too slow.
the tank is full no?
as said, somethings clogged if its just releasing water too slow.

those screw on the end of your faucet brita/pure filters work. just unscrew aerator and screw it on.
i think they do more than the jugs... more pressure allows for finer filters i think.

 

[alkemyst]

a simple toilet repair kit would be a good starting point...cheap and easy to do.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
does it use very little water or does it just release it way too slow.
the tank is full no?
as said, somethings clogged if its just releasing water too slow.

those screw on the end of your faucet brita/pure filters work. just unscrew aerator and screw it on.
i think they do more than the jugs... more pressure allows for finer filters i think.

I've had the Pur Water filters on the sink like that and it's annoying as hell how it gets in the way when trying to clean pots and pans.

I like the taste of the water though but between how much it gets in my way and how expensive the filters are, I couldn't stand to use it anymore.

I'll try bending the floater in the tank when I get home to see if that does the trick but it almost seems like either the water isn't coming out of the tank fast enough or it's not going down the "drain" fast enough, it's hard to tell where the problem is.

Some times the bowl will fill up like it's plugged but then goes down but most of the time it just seems to flush really weak and doesn't do the trick.

If it is a stopped up drain on it, whats the best bet for clearing it out?

Chemicals, snake, pressurized declogger?

 

[shekondar]

I recommend the under-the-sink type water filter. I installed one last year, think the filter housing & cartridge cost about $20 or so. The advantages of the under-the-sink type are that it doesn't get in the way (like the ones that screw onto the faucet do), and you can get different types of filter cartridge depending on how bad your water is (if you're trying to get rid of chlorine taste, a charcoal filter should do the trick). Also, you don't have to change the cartridge as often as the faucet-mounted ones. It depends on how much you use it, but when I compared them the faucet-mounted ones said to change the cartridge about once a month, where the under-the-sink ones will last up to a year. The cartridges were about the same price (about $10 or so), so in the long run the under-the-sink filter is a lot cheaper.

 

[lokiju]

Originally posted by: shekondar
I recommend the under-the-sink type water filter. I installed one last year, think the filter housing & cartridge cost about $20 or so. The advantages of the under-the-sink type are that it doesn't get in the way (like the ones that screw onto the faucet do), and you can get different types of filter cartridge depending on how bad your water is (if you're trying to get rid of chlorine taste, a charcoal filter should do the trick). Also, you don't have to change the cartridge as often as the faucet-mounted ones. It depends on how much you use it, but when I compared them the faucet-mounted ones said to change the cartridge about once a month, where the under-the-sink ones will last up to a year. The cartridges were about the same price (about $10 or so), so in the long run the under-the-sink filter is a lot cheaper.

Do you recall what model/setup you have?

 

[waffleironhead]

As for the flushing. Fill up a 5 gallon bucket of water~ half way and pour it directly into the bowl. This amount of water will cause it to flush. If flush=slow you have a clog.

Was it always slow? If so it could have been installed improperly. I used to sell plumbing fixtures and whenever some diy person came in a complained about a new toilet flushing poorly the first thing i reccommended was pulling the toilet and looking at the wax ring. 9 out of 10 the wax ring got smashed covering quite a bit of the drain line and thus causing weak flushing.

 

[shekondar]

Originally posted by: lokiju

Originally posted by: shekondar
I recommend the under-the-sink type water filter. I installed one last year, think the filter housing & cartridge cost about $20 or so. The advantages of the under-the-sink type are that it doesn't get in the way (like the ones that screw onto the faucet do), and you can get different types of filter cartridge depending on how bad your water is (if you're trying to get rid of chlorine taste, a charcoal filter should do the trick). Also, you don't have to change the cartridge as often as the faucet-mounted ones. It depends on how much you use it, but when I compared them the faucet-mounted ones said to change the cartridge about once a month, where the under-the-sink ones will last up to a year. The cartridges were about the same price (about $10 or so), so in the long run the under-the-sink filter is a lot cheaper.

Do you recall what model/setup you have?

This one