Bubbling toilet

sounds gross, i know. "poop stew", "stalag-poops", "the incredible poop circus, watch 'em jump", we have 3 daughters and have a hundred more, if you want...
whenever we shower, use the sink, washing machine, dishwasher, whatever, the toilet bubble and loses all of the water in the bowl. the sink water and shower water don't drain, but there is no clog, the toilet doesn't flush, and by this i mean as water slowly leaves the bowl, new water is replaced, but the "bizniss" is still there. just now i flushed for over a half an hour, maybe an hour, i was reading a garden magazine, and everything was still there, but nothing ever overflowed, just never went down. the toilet is about 1 year old and EVERYTHING on the inside has been replaced, TWICE, and i'm about to rip it out and toss it out the window if i can't find a solution!!!!
oh! and we're on septic and well.
PLEASE HELP ME! we just can't take the "snap, crackle and poop" anymore!
thanks

Sounds like you have a clogged, missing, or incorrectly installed vent. My unprofessional opinion.

totally possible. handy? we're not. good at coming up with disgusting phrases on a first grade level to describe something disgusting on ANY level? absolutely!
now that we have that established... what in the heck is a vent? would that make the toilet bubble anytime any water is being used in the house? the toilet has never flushed right, but the bubbling is new.
thanks so much for any help!

vents...

All of your drainage plumbing pipes connect togather and leave the house to go to the city sewage plant or to you septic field. All the waste that goes down to pipes eventually decomposes (which is enhanced at the sewage plant) and breaks down. During this breaking down, the wastes all emit gases (smells). Some of this gas is explosive (methane) and needs to be vented to the atmosphere.

If you have ever run out of gas, and had someone siphone gas out of their tank for you, you know how the siphoning process works. It basically works by a tube (pipe) getting some water flowing through it, and will then continue because of gravity pulling the liquid down.

Your plumbing system works the same way. What is most likely happening is as you pour water down the drain, from a shower, the shower pipe connects to the toilet pipe and the flow of the water begins to pull (suck) water out of the toilet becuase of siphoning. You can stop any siphoning from happening by adding air into the tube (in the above gas situation) or pipe in your home situation. The adding of air is by a vent pipe. The vent pipe does 2 things, it allows the gas build up to release outside and allows air into the pipes to prevent siphoning.

You will have to get a plumber to look your house over, but it sound like you do not have a proper vent for your bathroom. Building codes have changed in recent years to address these type of problems. You will most likely have to run at least 1 pipe from the bathroom area to the roof. This pipe will need to be connected to the piping near the toilet (generally within about 5 feet). There are specific requirements for the connections on how and which way they are orientated. Check with a plumber.

You may be able to add a simply air admitance valve under your sinks to solve your problem, but a plumber can better access the situation and make sure your solution does not create a more serious problem.

Good Luck

on saturday, we tried the "stick the hose down the vent and see if it bubbles up (clogged vent) or goes down (not clogged vent)" and it went down. so we rushed to the toilets, excited to see it flush the first, not the twentieth time. but alas, the toilet did not flush and so sunday morning we had our septic pumped. so we rushed to the toilets, excited to see it flush the first, not the twentieth time. but alas, the toilet did not flush and so here i am monday with NO results.
any ideas?
thanks!!!

this morning i noticed that the toilet doesn't bubble anymore when we shower, wash clothes, etc. granted, it still doesn't flush, but it doesn't bubble and the sinks and tubs now drain. i think it might be time to call a plumber, unless anyone has any other ideas...