Can't get toilet to drain!!

[HemiMoparGuy1981]

I have a toilet that will not drain. I have a GOOD plunger, I can get everything to eventually work through but still flushes slowly and will not go without lots of plunger work. I tried a specific toilet auger and it just loops back around into the bowl. I used a smaller drain snake for my drill, and same thing. I am an electrician by day at this point and tried my steel and fiberglass fishtapes and NOTHING will make it around the hairpin to unclog. I pulled the stool up to check for a toy lodged at or near the flange and there was nothing. I poured buckets of water while running a hose into the drain to see if it'd slow down at all. I tried my fishtapes and drain snake backwards in the stool while I had it out, still got stuck at the hairpin. I placed the stool in the tub and tried to really overflow the thing...filled tank with hose, filled bowl with shower wand, and poured a bucket into the bowl all at the same time, and while plunging. It worked out a bit of TP into the tub, and seemed to do better, so I reinstalled the stool and right back at square one. I get everything worked through with the plunger and a few flushes...Do I really have to replace the toilet just because no snake can make it's way through the hairpin, where the clog must be??

 

[Reach4]

A new toilet would be a good idea if you were keeping a plunger nearby. The new good toilets rarely need a plunger. They have a trapway without hard corners.

Here is a cross section of "this" toilet. This is a real POS but yours is probably not this bad.

You are unlikely to find a toilet that

Here is a cross section of this toilet. It is better, but not really good:

A smoother path helps everything flow better-- not just snakes.

But if you do plunge, see https://terrylove.com/forums/index.php?threads/how-to-unclog-toilet.67075/#post-563093

How much water will the clogged trapway pass? 1 gpm?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Sylvan]

Try this

https://www.google.com/search?q=General+closet+auger&gs_ivs=1#tts=0

 

[Terry]

Some bowls have nice sweeping bends.

Normally I can get an auger like this through most any bowl, however, not with all of them.

 

[Jeff H Young]

I think something is wedged in toilet but if you can't get it out or it won't flush then . Decision spend a lot more time trying to figure why or replace toilet. Unfortunately I don't give up easy and some times my gotta know why costs me too much time. but I'm glad I at least make some attempts
So for it to be the toilet design means its always been that way. didn't just start one day

 

[Jadnashua]

Some toilets are just dogs. Many newer ones have improved. As shown in the diagram Terry posted, some have a very smooth waste path...some are quite torturous, and it's a miracle they flush at all!

It could be something as simple as a crayon, small toy, bobby pin, pen, etc., that a toilet auger may have trouble trying to snag and get out. The indication of the auger not making it through either says the design isn't very good, or there really is something caught in there.

 

[Jeff H Young]

I've gotten an auger through them all. not that I've done tons of service calls and a lot have been new home warranty issues but my Auger always go through. and if it didn't then I would know there is a problem.
If the toilet is just a Dog then its always been that way since new

 

[HemiMoparGuy1981]

Thanks for the replies. My gf has lived here for 10-11 months without much issue. I've been here for 2 months and didn't have an issue until a week ago. We have 2 kids aged 2.5 and 3.75 so a toy is VERY possible...I just can't believe I get tied up in the exact spot with EVERYTHING from both directions. It's not a matter of grasping and pulling out, no snake or anything will make it through. I can feel it hitting the hairpin turn from both directions and won't bend around the corner. It is in a manufactured home built in 1997...if that may indicate the quality (or lack there of) of the toilet itself. Sounds like the consensus is to just replace the toilet...I guess at $100-150 I have HOURS tied up into messing with this off and on, might as well just do it and be done.

 

[Reach4]

I guess at $100-150 I have HOURS tied up into messing with this off and on, might as well just do it and be done.

Yes. One problem with doing a lot of work on something, you feel invested. Yes, do it.

 

[Jeff H Young]

not just a bad design of a toilet. something stuck in there,

 

[Nebojsa]

Can somebody provide which toilets have nice sweeping bends.

 

[Sylvan]

Gerber Avalanche or Viper

 

[Sylvan]

Can somebody provide which toilets have nice sweeping bends.

Gerber Avalanche or Viper

 

[Sylvan]

Some toilets are just dogs. Many newer ones have improved. As shown in the diagram Terry posted, some have a very smooth waste path...some are quite torturous, and it's a miracle they flush at all!

It could be something as simple as a crayon, small toy, bobby pin, pen, etc., that a toilet auger may have trouble trying to snag and get out. The indication of the auger not making it through either says the design isn't very good, or there really is something caught in there.

A drop head Auger usually passes though tight bends and is able to retrieve most objects