plumbers, what's causing this?

got a toilet that flushes great but only about 25% of the time..

the rest of the time is flushes really slow and half the time it wont flush down anything. have plunged with several different plungers on several occasions to no avail.

it wont flush normal twice in a row, goes back to slow flushing (WTF?)

another thing that it is doing is that when you drain the shower or sink the toilet starts gurgling/burping air. that seems indicative of something but I havnt seen this before.

anyone know? doesnt seem to be stopped up and a bath tub full of water drains with no problems.

 

you on a septic system?

have you checked all the internal parts of the tank? float adjusted properly? gasket sealing?

a flush valve is about 9.99 at home depot... if anything looks old and shitty in there just throw a new one on and see if that helps.

 

yes, septic tank. I dont think its the tank components because its getting a fast and full amount of fresh water. its just not flushing it down most of the time.

but the strangest thing is it occasionally flushes great but the very next flush its back to slow.

 

Shitters full!

 

It sounds like the septic line might be partially plugged between the toilet and the septic tank, or street if you're on a city system. A draining bathtub doesn't put out nearly as much water flow as flushing a toilet so that might be why the tub drains ok and the toilet doesn't. When enough water flow is present, and the line stops up, it will try to back up forcing air into places it doesn't normally go creating the bubbles. Maybe you need to snake out the drain line.

Maybe. ???

 

Probably a partial blockage. There is enough flow so that whatever you flush eventually goes down. If you wait long enough between flushes, it will flush properly. Blockage could be in the line or you may need to have the tank pumped.

 

I had a similar issue with one of my bathrooms. It turned out the bathroom is on the other side of the house from the drain and there is a long pipe in the basement from there to the drain pipe. The long pipe didn't have enough drop (too level) for that length so the draining water would just kind of stick there. I didn't really do too much about it, dropped the far side of the pipe a little. We've found if it becomes really bad (usually if there's a bunch of people at the house using it a lot) if we go upstairs to the other bathroom and flush the toilet and run the water in the sink it would flush out the air and everything would drain fine. Don't know if it's applicable to your situation, I thought mine was the septic too until someone that knew what they were looking at checked it out.

 

We had a somewhat similar problem at our house. Cast iron pies, relatively low slope. Get a little scale in the line and paper tends to hang up. House was designed back before the low volume flush toilets. We replaced the old toilets and now the flow is inadequate to properly clear the line. When we flush anything with paper, we run the tub for a few seconds. No problems in over a year.

 

Keep a PLASTIC 32 oz jar full of water on the tank & pour it in the bowl every flush. It's a PITA, but it makes it flush the Browns every time.

Plus, now when my wife bitches at me for leaving the seat up, I can throw it right back & bitch at her for not refilling the jar. :up:

 

cant be full septic tank, its a bathroom in my dads shop/garage that doesnt get used often until now that I am using it. he said that when it was built he had to replace the toilet right away because it wouldnt flush well at all but the replacement seemed to work better. (not now though) I hope its not the pipe slope in the slab!

gonna run a snake in there just to be sure then if that doesnt help pull the toilet out I guess.

thanks

 

How high is the water level in the bowl? does it refill to the same height after each flush? The water level in the bowl has a big impact on how well the toilet will pull a siphon when the water starts to exit the bowl. The job of the fill valve is to fill the storage tank as well as fill the bowl to the proper level. That level should be just below the height of the "cranes neck". look at the side of the toilet and you will see how the water in the bowl has to elevate above the high point before the water can rush out and create the siphon effect. If you think this might be your problem, slowly pour water into the bowl and you will find the max. amount of water the bowl will hold before water starts dribbling out. This should be where the water refills to after a flush. Sometimes when this is out of adjustment half the water in the tank is used up just getting the water level high enough to get the water to exit the bowl.

 

Sounds like a venting issue to me. Someone leave a cap on a stack?

 

I knew I could count on the Beeb! it wasnt a cap but an apparently defective "Oatley in-line valve" that was placed where a cap would be I guess but if you hadnt mentioned it I wouldnt have thought to check there. removed it and works like new!

Thanks!

Fluffa Flav who?

 

I'm glad someone got it

 

That valve you took out is a one-way valve designed to letair into your drain lines without letting sewer gas escape into your interior spaace.

Get a new one (and replace it periodically) or get the drain vented to fresh air. :up:

 

The electrician knows his plumbing.

 

I was laughing hysterically while searching for that picture. The wife didn't see the humor in it

 

Blind old bastard.

 

I give you credit for knowing $hit