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[fallout]

I guess I'm posting this to anyone with plumbing experience. Here's a quick rundown:

I live in an apartment and one of the toilets has some serious problems. It consistently clogs. We've put in work orders, but all they ever do is unclog it for us (which we can do well enough on our own ... got enough practice at it). I know how a toilet works, but I've basically run out of ideas.

I actually removed a couple of the links to the floater in the tank, which increased the water flow and helped a little, but it still won't flush properly. There's just no drainage. Anything in there (including coloured water) just kind of spins around for awhile and eventually makes it to the bottom. I've considered the possibility of it being a really bad clog, but I can't really think of a solution to that (aside from maybe buying a bottle of Draino and hoping for the best).

Any suggestions?

 

[bjork]

It's probably something in the pipes themselves, not the toilet.

For a fee, a plumber can go in and check to see if there are any blockages anywhere your where you poop to where it exits to the ocean or whatever...

 

[Wellington]

Get a plumber and get him to snake that shit (literally!) out.

 

[SKluck]

Yes, unleash the snake.

 

[fallout]

For a fee, a plumber can go in and check to see if there are any blockages anywhere your where you poop to where it exits to the ocean or whatever...

Hmm ... alright. Is there any good way to get my landlord to do this? Heh.

 

[Groder Mullet]

I'd suggest utilitzing the "mulit-flush" method. Any dump is too big for just one flush.

 

[God's Hand]

http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/13.03/toilet.html

 

[Matlock]

 

[DJ Sl4m]

I had these problems recently and had to ask the plumber why the hell I was always having trouble with just this 1 toilet and this in a nutshell is what he had to say:

Make sure the water level in the tank is at least 1/2" from the top of the white plastic tube in the middle, this makes sure you get the most water possible to flush each time.

Flush the toilet with the lid open 1 time just to make sure when you flush that most of the water is flushing to the bowl and that the rubber thing at the bottom isn't closing too quickly.

NEVER ever use a drain cleaner as the chemicals can react to whats in the trap of the toilet and actually shatter the porcalin bowl.

Try a new toilet paper that breaks down a bit better with water and last but certainly not least........

Forget the plunger, use the snake shown above to remove any debris in the trap.

Only TP goes into a toilet, no qtips, no female items of any kind, and no hand towels either.

 

[God's Hand]

I don't use TP. I use baby wipes.

 

[fallout]

Make sure the water level in the tank is at least 1/2" from the top of the white plastic tube in the middle, this makes sure you get the most water possible to flush each time.

Flush the toilet with the lid open 1 time just to make sure when you flush that most of the water is flushing to the bowl and that the rubber thing at the bottom isn't closing too quickly.

Yeah, I've adjusted the floater to maximize water flow from the tank.

NEVER ever use a drain cleaner as the chemicals can react to whats in the trap of the toilet and actually shatter the porcalin bowl.

Hm ... good to know.

Try a new toilet paper that breaks down a bit better with water

Heh, we've already tried "seperate flushing" methods. This thing has hard time handling urine froth.

Anyway, thanks a lot guys. I completely forgot about the snake. Guess I'll give that a try (or maybe talk to my landlord first).

 

[psycho_snake]

I came into this thread thinking that you had a problem on the toilet or something :lol

 

[xsarien]

No. The one thing you are never, ever supposed to do with Drano (or products like it) is pour it into a toilet.

 

[B'z-chan]

I don't use TP. I use baby wipes.

Thats your problem they dont break down easily in water. Compared to tp which will start to break up quickly, that is if its not that cottenelle/ultra shit. It might feel nice on your ass but if you live in a apt your taking a big risk. With not just your toilet but everyone elses.

Its always a good idea to have a nice 6 foot snake to clean out whatever could be in there. But if your having consistant problems. They need to flush the system, a regular maintanance of a apt should have this done at least 1-2 years. They flush the sytem of everything that you could imagine. Some newer apt's actually have automated system that do it every month. But those are usually for high powered toilets (air assisted, like the ones at restauraunts) but have been modifyed recently for older toilet systems.

Ask your landlord if they have flushed the system recently. If not suggest it.

AND NEVER USE ANY CHEMICAL in your toilet besides bleach and heavy duty powdered soap.

Reciepy for cleaning solution:

Get 2 cups of bleach
1/2 cup of heavy duty powdered soap
1 cup amonia
a few squirts of your vavorite smelly soap

mix and put into a spray bottle, cleans almost better than most of todays drano and stuff. I dont advise you do this on old copper lead based piped. But most of you dont live in houses that old.

Who would have known a litte of my dad would rub off on me. Meh i hate plumbing.

 

[border]

Reciepy for cleaning solution:

Get 2 cups of bleach
1/2 cup of heavy duty powdered soap
1 cup amonia
a few squirts of your vavorite smelly soap

Holy shit dude, do not tell this guy to mix bleach with ammonia. That will result in a fairly slow and quite painful death as chlorine gas fills up your lungs.

There's a reason why the bottle of bleach has warnings on it that say "Good god, don't mix this shit with ammonia you crazy fucker" (or something to that extent).

 

[B'z-chan]

Holy shit dude, do not tell this guy to mix bleach with ammonia. That will result in a fairly slow and quite painful death as chlorine gas fills up your lungs.

There's a reason why the bottle of bleach has warnings on it that say "Good god, don't mix this shit with ammonia you crazy fucker" (or something to that extent).

I've never had any problems, but this might explain why i'm a little slow in the head. But trust me it gets the job done.

 

[aoi tsuki]

Yeah, even bleach with some dishwashing detergents is dangerous. If you're going to use the solution, make sure you have excellent ventilation.

 

[fallout]

Thats your problem they dont break down easily in water. Compared to tp which will start to break up quickly, that is if its not that cottenelle/ultra shit. It might feel nice on your ass but if you live in a apt your taking a big risk. With not just your toilet but everyone elses.

Heh, just for a possible correction, I don't think God's Hand had a toilet problem. I could be wrong though, since he uses baby wipes.

Its always a good idea to have a nice 6 foot snake to clean out whatever could be in there. But if your having consistant problems. They need to flush the system, a regular maintanance of a apt should have this done at least 1-2 years. They flush the sytem of everything that you could imagine. Some newer apt's actually have automated system that do it every month. But those are usually for high powered toilets (air assisted, like the ones at restauraunts) but have been modifyed recently for older toilet systems.

Ask your landlord if they have flushed the system recently. If not suggest it.

Yeah, the other toilet in our apartment works fine. In fact, it works better than fine, it's never had a problem. Although that's probably just because they're on different pipe systems or something. I'll definitely give the snake a try though.

Who would have known a litte of my dad would rub off on me. Meh i hate plumbing.

Yeah, that happens to me a lot too, heh. Cept he's an electronics tech.

 

[Dilbert]

Holy shit dude, do not tell this guy to mix bleach with ammonia. That will result in a fairly slow and quite painful death as chlorine gas fills up your lungs.

There's a reason why the bottle of bleach has warnings on it that say "Good god, don't mix this shit with ammonia you crazy fucker" (or something to that extent).

If I could change this post to make the text be in 48-point flashing red all caps and set off the sound of an air raid siren through your computer speakers, I would.

Do NOT mix bleach and ammonia. Chemical pneumonia is painful, and can be fatal if you inhale too much.

 

[border]

I'm not entirely sure why you would want to run around with a squirt bottle of bleach anyhow. It's not the most precise thing, and any fabric that you accidently spray will be ruined.

To get rid of those rings that form around the waterline in a toilet bowl, just pour in some bleach and let it sit for 15 minutes. No need to be mixing up all manner of chemicals.

 

[fallout]

I became somewhat of a bleach fiend when I worked in a kitchen. Obviously, none of it ever got near any food (not that it would kill you, but the consequences would probably make my ailing toilet keel over), but it's a great cleaning agent if just mixed with some water.

It uh, does have its dangers though. I've suffered from bleach burn a couple times and once had it in my eye. Not fun.