Really SLLOOOOW Draining Toilet...any suggestions/advice?

So i get a call this evening about a choked toilet. when i get there to my surprise its the water from the tank to the bowl that is not flowing like it should, i did a hand plunge (had nothing else with me) from the tank side and saw some debris/water draining down sides of bowl from the rim leading me to beleive that the fault was internal as all other items were functioning as required and toilet flushed ok with bucket, and fill valve works fine.

- if any of you have ever encountered this what remedy has worked? are there chemical applications that may help? (i was thinking some CLR as a start)

thanks!

Many toilets have holes under the rim. These can get clogged with mineral deposits after awhile. Try unwinding a metal coathanger and poking each of the holes out and see what happens. A small mirror often helps seeing what's going on there while you do it.

Some toilets require a good flow of the water from the tank to the bowl to flow through those holes on the under side of the bowl. I use a bent pick to poke the holes clean. Santeen is acidic cleaner that can be used too. It disolves the calcium. Limeaway is too weak. I pour the Santeen down the overflow in the tank and cover the ports that are clean with my fingers as it forces the cleaner to other ports. I once had a little kid spit out his spinach in the stool tank and then flushed it. The spinach clogged the ports.

I have had many old Crane toilets which used the flapper with a styrofoam float. When the tank was replaced without the plastic insert in the gasket, the foam float would fall out when the rubber deteriorated and go into the jet opening slowing the flush down. I once removed FOUR of them from one toilet. In another case, someone poured a blue "gel" into the tank and it filled the area in the bowl under the tank so NO water could leave the tank. So, your problem can be unique, and require some detective work to determine the cause.

Did this happen suddenly or slowly worsen over time? I ask that question a lot.

thats what i asked and didnt get too straight an answer as i think they feared self incrimination. my thoughts are-if your paying rent and have to use a bucket to flush, or wait an abnormally long time for the bowl to drain then youre gonna call with the quickness which has me thinking its a fairly recent occurence vs a build up. they said it was a little slow when they first moved in but still flushing. when folks are busy trying to play it safe with their answers it usually takes a little more detective work and trouble shooting.