I rent my house out to a tenant who reports the following problem:

The toilet flushes ok when there are no solids in the bowl. But with
solids, he says that he almost always has to use the plunger. Then,
afterwards, he smells sewer gas in the kitchen, and he feels that the
water in the kitchen sink trap has been sucked out. After he runs water
down the kitchen sink, the gas smell goes away.

I went up on the roof and, using a flashlight, looked down the sanitary
vent pipe [after I turned on the water in two bathrooms, so that there
would be water running through the horizontal drain pipe that the
vertical sanitary vent pipe connects to].

I could see water running along the drain pipe, but it looked like the
vertical sanitary vent pipe was, possibly, slight "clogged up" [it
looked like maybe a leaf, or something about the diameter of a 50-cent
piece, was lodged in the vent pipe. However, I could still see the
water running along the drain pipe, so I knew that the air flow wasn't
being totally cut off.]

I then used a snake on the toilet, but maybe the snake wasn't the
proper kind, because it didn't seem flexible enough to easily go
through the trap in the toilet [although I eventually did get it to get
around the trap]. I also used the plunger a number of times.

The fact that the tenant reports sewer gas smells immediately after
plunging/flushing seems to point to a clog in the vent system [I
guess], except for the fact that the toilet flushed well when there is
no solid waster in the toilet.

My next step will be to remove the toilet and make a visual
examination.

A few questions:

1] Given the symptoms, what are the possible causes of the problem?

2] What procedures does one use to clean out the vent system? It's a
one story house, so the height of the vent stack is approximately 15
feet long.

3] Do any of you have any other suggestions about what I should do?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Toilet are not the same anymore. They are design to save water and this give
us problem. Most of the traps are the same size now. A 4 yr old child can
stop-up toilets now days. What you need is toilet auger and it looks like
this..... http://www.plumbingstore.com/toiletaugers.html
Get the heavy duty one because the small one sucks! Also, you may hope to
find a toilet with a bigger trap. Those real old one are the best. Other
than that, the only toilet that I can think of are the commercial ones
Other than that, I like this plunger for small jobs.....
http://www.crsupport.us/items/Plumbi...rs_150765.html
You can buy them anywhere, but most home about 10yrs old or so have toilet
problems and my kids stop'em-up everyday.

The pipe that goes to the roof is for siphoning to give proper draining. You
need that for your sinks. Maybe something is stopped-up somewhere. Plumbers
now day have snakes with a camera on the end of it to see everything. You
may need one of those.

I hope someone else can give more advice for your situation.

Good Luck,
--Al
wrote in message
ups.com...
I rent my house out to a tenant who reports the following problem:

The toilet flushes ok when there are no solids in the bowl. But with
solids, he says that he almost always has to use the plunger. Then,
afterwards, he smells sewer gas in the kitchen, and he feels that the
water in the kitchen sink trap has been sucked out. After he runs water
down the kitchen sink, the gas smell goes away.

I went up on the roof and, using a flashlight, looked down the sanitary
vent pipe [after I turned on the water in two bathrooms, so that there
would be water running through the horizontal drain pipe that the
vertical sanitary vent pipe connects to].

I could see water running along the drain pipe, but it looked like the
vertical sanitary vent pipe was, possibly, slight "clogged up" [it
looked like maybe a leaf, or something about the diameter of a 50-cent
piece, was lodged in the vent pipe. However, I could still see the
water running along the drain pipe, so I knew that the air flow wasn't
being totally cut off.]

I then used a snake on the toilet, but maybe the snake wasn't the
proper kind, because it didn't seem flexible enough to easily go
through the trap in the toilet [although I eventually did get it to get
around the trap]. I also used the plunger a number of times.

The fact that the tenant reports sewer gas smells immediately after
plunging/flushing seems to point to a clog in the vent system [I
guess], except for the fact that the toilet flushed well when there is
no solid waster in the toilet.

My next step will be to remove the toilet and make a visual
examination.

A few questions:

1] Given the symptoms, what are the possible causes of the problem?

2] What procedures does one use to clean out the vent system? It's a
one story house, so the height of the vent stack is approximately 15
feet long.

3] Do any of you have any other suggestions about what I should do?

Thanks in advance for your help.

Al,

Thanks for your response. I neglected to provide the following
additional information:

1] This toilet is at least 45 years old.

2] The tank is full at the start of the flush cycle, and there are no
water saver devices.

3] The tenant reports that the problem with flushing started abruptly
one day, after flushing an especially large amount of toilet paper and
solid matter.

I'll try to find a toilet auger like the one you pointed to. I was
using a real old snake that wasn't like that at all.

I will definitely try to get the more expensive toilet auger, as you
suggest [the one with the "drop head"] but I'm curious to know what the
difference is between the "regular head" on the cheaper toilet auger
and the "drop head" on the more expensive model.

Pointing me to those URLs was *very* useful, Al. Thanks again.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Al,

Thanks for your response. I neglected to provide the following
additional information:

1] This toilet is at least 45 years old.

2] The tank is full at the start of the flush cycle, and there are no
water saver devices.

3] The tenant reports that the problem with flushing started abruptly
one day, after flushing an especially large amount of toilet paper and
solid matter.

I'll try to find a toilet auger like the one you pointed to. I was
using a real old snake that wasn't like that at all.

I will definitely try to get the more expensive toilet auger, as you
suggest [the one with the "drop head"] but I'm curious to know what the
difference is between the "regular head" on the cheaper toilet auger
and the "drop head" on the more expensive model.

Pointing me to those URLs was *very* useful, Al. Thanks again.

I had the same problem where water would flush, but, if you flushed anymore
than 3 or 4 squares of paper the toilet would clog. Closet auger didn't
work. Pulled the toilet and found a pen lodged across the bottom of the
opening.

Must have hurt, passing that pen !

)