Help! Son put superball in new TOTO tank!

[sthrelk]

http://www.totousa.com/toto/images/static-content/sm-cutaway.jpg


Picture of Toto Carlyle above.


My 5 year old, being curious as to how the water gets from the tank to the bowl, put an approx 2" superball in the tank of our new Toto Ultramax and flushed. Where the ball is now is a mystery. I only know where it isn't-the tank or the bowl.
I'm hoping it travelled out that nice wide valve and continued to the bowl and out toward the sewer. I'm afraid it is stuck somewhere between the valve opening and the tank.
It seems to be flushing fine at the moment, but has not really been used since this happened.

any ideas?

[hj]

It is probably stuck in the tank's water passage. I don't know if it is a one or two piece toilet, but if it is a two piece one, remove the tank and you should be able to see the ball inside the opening of the bowl. If it is a one piece remove the flush mechanism and the ball should be underneath it somewhere. This is all assuming that is really where he put the ball.

[Terry]

Looking at the picture above, the ball will not go far. All of the openings that go to the bowl are fairly small.

If you remove the toilet, you should be able to shake it out.

[sthrelk]

Based on the diagram (thank you terry!) I can see that my original thought was wrong, it could never get to the bowl! duh!

I am really hoping NOT to have to take the toilet off! what about using a shop vac? If it hasn't gone very far would it work? Would it hurt anything?

BTW, it's still working fine. It really is a great toilet (with or without superballs)! Thank you for you site.

[Terry]

Use the shop vac. One of my favorite tools.

It's certainly worth a try.

I'm sure that if he dropped the ball past the flapper into the flush valve, that's it's still there. The water is going on either side of the ball. It can't be very far from the opening. The biggest hold leading into the bowl area, the siphon jet is maybe 1"x2" and the rim holes are about the diameter of a coat hanger wire.
On the side of the toilet, you can see the outline of the siphon jet passage way.

[jadnashua]

My guess is that if it is working fine, and has been flushed since, it is long gone. The drain pipes are at least 3" diameter, and if it made it through the trap, it's gone.