Need troubleshooting advice on intermittent blocked toilets

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Mark Gottesman

New User
Mark
Not quite sure where to start.

Have had 2 failures to drain on the upstairs toilet 2x about 3 or 4 weeks apart. The first one was 6 - 8 weeks ago. Today the toilet downstairs from it exhibited the same trouble. First time ever. I was able to clear all of them with a bit of plunger activity and they all seem to work ok, meaning good and quick swirling action, afterwards. Today, I also ran both sinks and the shower for a few minutes and then flushed the toilet. Filled and drained with no problem although I thought I saw a few small bubbles come up from the toilet drain as it started the flush.

We have company coming and I am trying to figure out if a plumber is needed.

We have been in this house since '92. This is the first time we have had any sort of plumbing problem. No plumbing work done in the neighborhood. No kids or pets around. I am fairly sure nothing has been droped in either toilet, but I wouldn't rule it out. The other toilet, washing machine and kitchen on the other side of the house are all draining freely, no hiccups. I don't hear or see any burping or odd gurgling noises. Have not had any problems with the sinks in either bathroom and the tubs don't get used, but I try to fill the traps every now and then.

So, Two toilets on same side of house are occasionaly failing to drain. Clear with a plunger. Work fine for several weeks. What can/should I check?
 

Jeff

New User
Jeff
So, Two toilets on same side of house are occasionaly failing to drain. Clear with a plunger. Work fine for several weeks. What can/should I check?

Get a "closet auger". They're about 3-4' long. Start with the downstairs toilet to make sure that it's clear. Then go upstairs to that toilet and make sure that it's clear. Go back downstairs and clear that one again.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4oyfjKLXwHk

Plungers don't have enough "oomph" to clear obstructions, but work once in awhile as a quick fix.
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
+1 on the auger.. After having raised lots of hungry teenage boys, I became a toilet unplugging subject matter expert and oh... I passed that expertise on to my boys also. You plug it you unplug it :(
 

FredP

Fred
Corporate Member
check the vent stack. most likely if both toilets are on the same side of the house they will share the same vent. if leaves ect.. get in the stack the toilets wont act right.
 

Skymaster

New User
Jack
+1 on check the vents. Also are you on septic? I had these symptoms last year turned out tank needed to be pumped out
 

Mark Gottesman

New User
Mark
Thanks for the leads. i will snag an auger and take it for a spin. If it is the vent, I will need to hire that out. I'm on a regular sewer line. Sign is a nice idea, but ............... I don't think it will be ok with SWMBO.
 

CrealBilly

New User
Jeff
Thanks for the leads. i will snag an auger and take it for a spin. If it is the vent, I will need to hire that out. I'm on a regular sewer line. Sign is a nice idea, but ............... I don't think it will be ok with SWMBO.
You could always build her a outhouse. Nothing but a hole in the ground with a shack around it. Think of the possibilities for new tools here - its a win / win / win. You get to do some wood working and you get new tools, she gets a out house.

Glad i could help you - so what's next on the honeydo?
 

Tarhead

Mark
Corporate Member
If you have a septic system that is 22 y/o you may need to have the line between the house and the tank checked. Roots get in through the smallest opening and can grow a long ways back into the house.

The ultra plush toilet papers (Cottonelle) and "flushable" wipes are not very friendly to your plumbing. If you've recently switched to these you may want to go back to regular TP.
 

Mark Gottesman

New User
Mark
If you have a septic system that is 22 y/o you may need to have the line between the house and the tank checked. Roots get in through the smallest opening and can grow a long ways back into the house.

The ultra plush toilet papers (Cottonelle) and "flushable" wipes are not very friendly to your plumbing. If you've recently switched to these you may want to go back to regular TP.

I'm on a regular sewer line, not septic
We do not use the ultra plush or "flushable" wipes, but I'm not sure about the guest we have had in the last year.
 

petebucy4638

Pete
Corporate Member
Usually if you clear a clog and it does not reoccur for several weeks, it is not the septic system. If you have old cast iron drain lines, you can get roots growing inside the lines and that will cause exactly the problem that you describe. If you have PVC drain lines, then the odds of roots getting inside them are pretty low, although roots can grow into PVC lines where they intersect septic tanks and even from drain-fields.

Vents can cause drain problems, but in most cases a toilet can flush reasonably well even with a compromised vent. Depending on how the system is vented, even toilets can draw the air that the need to flush by wet venting across the top of the drain lines. Generally, vents that are clogged, don't unclog intermittently.

Some toilets are better at flushing under less than ideal drain and vent conditions than others. I have been a big fan of Toto toilets since the government forced us to start installing low-volume-flush toilets back in the 90's.

I think that your best bet is to have one of the Roto-Rooter type companies run a camera though the system and see if they can find an obstruction. They can go from the toilet all the way to the septic tank. If there is anything there, they will see it on the camera.

Early in his career, my dad was a plumber. She said that noting was a difficult to diagnose or correct than when someone tried to flush a partly used bar of Ivory soap. He said that it would get caught in the toilet trap and just spin around when the toilet was flushed. Sometimes the toilet would work, sometimes it wouldn't. You could not clear the soap with a close auger either.

Pete
 

Mark Gottesman

New User
Mark
Pete:

Thanks for the Roto-Rooter camera tip. I will look into that.

Just for the record. We Are Not On a Septic System. City water, City waste. Also, as far as I can see, all Waste plumbing and vents are PVC.

The bit about the soap is an interesting bit of hard earned knowledge.
 

nn4jw

New User
Jim
Having your drain lines cleared professionally is a good idea. Shop around, though. Some of the larger well known names are quite expensive. This is where Angie's List is a good investment. I've saved a lot more money with Angie's List than I've spent on professional services.

Once I had a toilet that flushed well until anything solid was in it. Then it just stopped up completely. Running a closet snake down would free everything up but then the next flush with solid materials it would completely stop up again. Finally, I took up the toilet and upended it in the bathtub. What I found out was that my young (at the time) daughter had flushed down a plastic saucer from her tea set and it was just the right size to catch in the drain channel and act as a butterfly valve. When anything solid tried to go by the saucer rotated and shut off the drain. When I ran a closet snake through it opened the "valve" and it stayed open until the next solid flush. After removing the saucer everything worked normally again.

I don't think that's what's going on in the OP because of the time to failure, but it's an example of the weird things that can happen with toilets.
 

CDPeters

Master of None
Chris
check the vent stack. ... if leaves ect.. get in the stack the toilets wont act right.

Or mud dauber / wasps nests - had that problem on my HE furnace vent once. The vacuum created in the vent stack could cause the slowness.
 

Tom from Clayton

tom
Corporate Member
Amazing, nn4jw. Exactly the same experience experience with my son about 25 years ago except it was a plastic glass. The bottom was slightly smaller then the top and when the little bugger put it in there it was the small end facing out so the snake would slightly deform the glass and slide right thru without any resistance. Couldn't find anything wrong until I lugged it outside and tipped it upside down. It was clear plastic and nearly invisible.
 

Hmerkle

Board of Directors, Development Director
Hank
Staff member
Corporate Member
You could always build her a outhouse. Nothing but a hole in the ground with a shack around it. Think of the possibilities for new tools here - its a win / win / win. You get to do some wood working and you get new tools, she gets a out house.

Glad i could help you - so what's next on the honeydo?
Building an addition onto the outhouse for bed, tools, dog...
 

petebucy4638

Pete
Corporate Member
I had a house in a project that I was building that developed an intermittent toilet flushing problem right after the buyers moved in. Most of the time it would flush fine, then it would clog. After running a closet auger through the clog it would flush, then eventually, clog again. When I had the plumber pull the toilet, what he found was that the plumber who had trimmed the plumbing had cut out the built-in, temporary, closet flange seal and had let it fall into the 4" closet bend. It would not flush through the main building drain and would sometimes stop solid waste from getting past it. After he remove it, the toilet never had another problem.

Pete

Having your drain lines cleared professionally is a good idea. Shop around, though. Some of the larger well known names are quite expensive. This is where Angie's List is a good investment. I've saved a lot more money with Angie's List than I've spent on professional services.

Once I had a toilet that flushed well until anything solid was in it. Then it just stopped up completely. Running a closet snake down would free everything up but then the next flush with solid materials it would completely stop up again. Finally, I took up the toilet and upended it in the bathtub. What I found out was that my young (at the time) daughter had flushed down a plastic saucer from her tea set and it was just the right size to catch in the drain channel and act as a butterfly valve. When anything solid tried to go by the saucer rotated and shut off the drain. When I ran a closet snake through it opened the "valve" and it stayed open until the next solid flush. After removing the saucer everything worked normally again.

I don't think that's what's going on in the OP because of the time to failure, but it's an example of the weird things that can happen with toilets.
 
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