Paul wrote:

On Aug 25, 10:42*pm, "CL \"dnoyeB\" Gilbert" wrote:
Paul wrote:
We live in a row home, built about 60 years ago. The pressure on
the 2nd floor isn't the greatest due to the small (in diameter I
believe) copper pipes they installed when the house was first
built. The pressure isn't bad, you just don't get a real powerful
flush.

Our previous plumber said it might be the... "flap"... I believe?

I don't think it's the ball and chain in the tank, that's just to
keep the toilet from always running and sets the level for the
amount of water to flush with (from what I know).

The ball? *You mean the float? *Thats to tell when to stop filling
the tank. The chain is attached to the flapper. *The plumber was
right as you might expect. *Volume of flush is a function of the
flapper. *You can buy adjustable flappers from a hardware store.
*Adjust it down so that it only does a single flush. *Save yourself
a lot of water that way. *Do extra flush only when needed.

So is this an easy DIY job?

Very.

I'm wondering if the reason the toilet flushes 2 to 3 times is
because the pressure isn't so great, that any.. um.. "leftovers"
that didn't get flushed initially should be the 2nd, 3rd time
around. But this can't be true, i grew up in a row home and never
experienced this, and never experienced this really, ever.

Your basically saying the toilet forms a vortex a few times right?
*So the water empties twice. *This is because the flapper stays
afloat too long.

The toilet flushes the first time, and as the water begins to
immediately fill back up, about halfway i guess, it starts to flush
again. I think I've even seen it do it a 3rd time.

I suspect your vent stack might be plugged, inadequate, or non-existent.

The vent stack is the pipe attached to the toilet drain that runs up
through the roof and lets air out of the system. When you flush, the
water rushing down the drain pushes some air ahead of it. The air is
supposed to go up the vent stack.

If the vent stack is not working properly, you get all sorts of odd
symptoms, one of which is incomplete flush. One way to clean out the
vent stack is to run a garden hose down from the roof.

--
Steve Bell
New Life Home Improvement
Arlington, TX