On Feb 3, 4:29*pm, (Charles Bishop) wrote:
In article , willshak





wrote:
Charles Bishop wrote the following:
In article ,
(Charles Bishop) wrote:

There is a toilet which doesn't flush solid waste fully. It just swirls in
the bowl without much going down the drain. (Thge same thing happens if
there is no solid waste in the bowl-the water swirls and while some goes
down the drain, the bowl doesn't empty as is normal). It worked better
before and is about 20 years old, though I can't find the date inside the
tank. The other drains in the bathroom and kitchen (which is nearby) are
ok. There is about a 5-7 foot run from the toilet drain to the septic
tank.

The small filler hole (I don't know what else to call it) that is at the
bottom of the bowl, right where the drain portion begins, appears to be
"salted up", that is it looks as if it is partially blocked, most likely
by growth of "salts" or other precipitation from the water/waste
combination. Is this the likely cause of poor flow?

I propose to test the main drain line by pulling the toilet, and pouring a
bucket of water down the drain. If this tests ok is it possible there is
something wrong with the vent stack (located in the wall immediately
behind the toilet) that is easily diagnosed? If the bucket of water test
fails I'll snake the drain.

My best guess is the "vent" in the toilet bowl. If this is the case, is
this easily cleaned out, or is getting a new toilet the best plan?

I was able to clean out the jet of whatever solids were there (salts?) and
now it works. *

Thanks for the help.

I suspect that is what's wrong with one of my 26 year old American
Standard Plebe toilets.
It looks kind some kind of dark material has stained the hole and it may
be much worse further in.
How did you clean out that ~1" hole?

I did as someone suggested-

Shut the water off, and flushed the toilet. Removed most of the water from
the bowl.

Then poured a cup or two of vinegar down the fill tube and waited.

An hour or two later, since the bowl was full (leak somewhere) I used a
short blade screwdriver and carefully pushed on the built up salts. I was
able to move the clog away from the opening, and the toilet flushed
normally.

However, a short time later, the clog was back (probably after being
pushed up the space, it came back down) At this time, I used the
screwdriver and broke it up or moved it so that with the next flush, it
flushed away.

I used care not to damage the toilet with the screwdriver, not using a
large amount of force.

Charles- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

use muriatic acid it cleans much better

put some in bowl and some in dip tube overflow.

this will clean out the interior toilet passages and works great.

wait 1/2 hour and flush repeatedly.

may not be good idea with a septic tank