Slow Toilet

Yesterday I went into the powder room near the kitchen and found a nice mess that my 3.5 year old had left for me. There was a brown mess in the bottom of the bowl and there was no water in the bowl.

When I flushed it just filled up and would not drain. I assumed that it was just backed up. I got the plunger and was able to get it to all go down. When I was done I did a final flush to get that feeling of satisfaction from a job well done and the water went high in the bowl and drained very slowly.

When I got up this morning I had the same problem. The bowl would fill up very high and drain slowly. I can use it for liquid waste but no solids will go down.

I went to Walmart and got a snake. I took the bowl off and snaked the bowl and did not find any toys. I snaked the pipe and it was a clear as it could be. I put a fresh wax liner in and put the bowl back.

When I flush now I get the same problem. Any suggestions on what to try next? I bought some Liquid Plummer but I haven't uses it yet. I thought that I would try here first.

PS I have never had a problem with the toilets in this 6 year old house in PA.

Dave

DO NOT use chemicals. The problem is a clog. The plunge just shoved it deeper. Chemicals will not work and will in fact create a hazzard. Your drain needs a professional auger to clear it. If you have dumped drain cleaner in, tell the plumber what, how much, and when.

Don't use the liquid plumber...

I think you have a clog, but it is further down the pipe than your snake went, or as likely, the snake was too small, and you may have only bored a hole through what was there.

Sometimes it softens and flushes away eventually, but you may need to get a professional sized snake to clean it out.

Is there a cleanout downstream from the toilet that you can access? You might try running the snake from there.

Could it be that the blockage is actually in the toilets trap? and not in the pipe?

Might wanna check that out.
(Happened to me once with a deodorant stick).

The obstruction may still be in the toilet and you missed it. I don't think you can get a good sturdy closet auger at Walmart. So I don't think you used one. You use an auger with the toilet in place.

Drain Cleaners

Thank you all for the quick comments. I didn't realize that the advice would come in so quickly/.

The snake that I used was 25 feet long and is not real thick. I was say about the thickness of a pencil. Certainly not a professional grade. it only cost me like $7.

You all seem to be against the use of a liquid product. Is there a reason. My wife and I were thinking that if I have to call a pro to handle this then he has to work in the chemicals instead of the natural substances that are already down there. Just guessing though.

I went to Home Depot today and the guy there is a plumber and not just a teenager and he gave me ZEP Commercial Drain Care. He thinks that the problem is in the toilet and not the drain pipe. I tend to agree for the following reason: the pipe that the toilet sits on is like 4" in diameter. I can see down about one foot before the bend. When I took the tank off there was not water in the pipe. It is completely clean.

It seems to me that if the clog was in the pipe and that is what is making the water in the tub drain slowly then there would be some water in the pipe. It seems like it would take more than a gallon of water to fill the part of the pipe that I can see. If there is no water in the pipe then the water is trapped in the toilet.

When I had the toilet off I ran the snake through it from both direction. I wanted to make sure that there was not toy in there. It took a little wrangling but the snake came through clean.

I think you have an object in the toilet.

Closet augers have a hook on them and are should be heaver than the snake you used. Sorry you pulled the toilet. much of the time the object will come back into the bowl when you auger it. Do the paper test and if it stops up again, auger it till you can flush paper and it doesn't back up.

Get a good auger. You may need it again........

Two basic reasons not to use chemical cleaners. One: They don't work on real clogs. They are sometimes effective if a basin drain is clogged with a hair/soap build-up, but that's about it. Two: You and your wife have if figured right about the plumber having to work in hazzardous chemicals. Also, DYI snakes are too small to be effective on most clogs. Frequently they will push the clog deeper and tighter. The small diameter ones will poke through them but not remove them. Makes you think you got the drain snaked. I agree that there is a real possibility that you have something caught in the toilet trap. A toy perhaps? You can sometimes get this kind of clog out with a sturdy hook. It may get turned so that it will pass on into the drain or it may release so you can retrieve it. If that fails, you can always pull the toilet clear the object from the bottom. This requires a new wax ring when you reinstall. Pulling the toilet is more of a nuisance job than a difficult one, just make sure to get all of the water out of the tank as well as the bowl.

Thanks for all of your thoughtful suggestions. I will let you knoe how it turns out.

Dave

Got it fixed.

Having never really dealt with a toilet before I learned a lot. The more I realized that there are three pieces in play here. The top tank that holds the water, the bowl (and trap) and the pipe that the water drains into.

First I should say that the last time I posted that I bought a small snake at Wal-Mart and it didn’t do anything. I now know that I was using the wrong end. I was using the small end. When I got it out to try again today I saw that the other end is bigger. I am embarrassed to admit it but that is what happened.

THE FIX:
This time when I took the bowl off I got the garden hose and put water directly down the pipe in the floor. It went cleanly so I now knew that the problem was in the bowl or tank. I took off the top tank and there was no obstruction. Once I saw it off of the bowl I realized that there was no way it could have been the culprit anyway.

This time I used the snake the right way and still nothing happened. I was sure that I was right and I tried it again. Still nothing! I picked up the bowl to drain out any water that may be left and I was going to sit and rethink.

That is when the little blue ball rolled out.

Thanks again for all of your help.

Now write up the bill and submit it to your 3.5 yr old for payment.
Snakes are an absolute MUST HAVE when you have little guys running around.

I never call a snake an "auger".

You use a snake on a drain and an auger on a toilet........

Plumber 1 is correct. If you had used a real toilet auger, it probably would have pierced the ball and you could have pulled it out without having to pull the whole toilet.

The only thing that little DIY snake is good for is minor plugs in sink or tub drains.