Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

Thanks a lot!

On Oct 20, 10:54 am, wrote:
Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

I don't know what you mean by "older toilet" but if
it's anything like the conventional home toilet, you
obviously have a leaking rubber stopper. The refill
valve/float assembly is also very likely in need of
replacement since it does not respond to the drop
in water level as the water seeps out.

You can get all this stuff for under $10 probably
and install it yourself.

wrote:
Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

Thanks a lot!



from
http://www.askthebuilder.com/B332_To... lems_.shtml:

You flush the toilet and all is well. After a period of time, a
significant amount of water has left the bowl. Two things may be wrong.
Water could be slowly siphoned from the bowl by a partial clog of toilet
paper up in the colon of the bowl. You can demonstrate this phenomenon
by filling a small soup bowl with water and putting it in the center of
a cooking jelly pan. Drape a strip of paper towel from the bottom of the
bowl, over the bowl edge and into the jelly pan. Watch what gravity and
capillary attraction does in several hours. The bowl will be nearly
empty. To see if your toilet has a rag, toilet paper, or something else
causing the drainage, empty the bowl of water and then use a flashlight
and a mirror to look up inside the colon of the toilet.

In rare cases, the bowl may actually have a crack in the interior colon
or piping of the bowl. This problem can only be solved by installing a
new bowl.

On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:54:46 -0700, wrote:

Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

Thanks a lot!

One reason could be high winds effecting the vent pipe
which causes waves to lower the level.

Or could be a blocked outlet that given time will lower its level
but in doing so will influence the bowl by a siphoning action.

Make sure there are no obstructions in your vent stack, dead squirrel,
blob of leaves etc.
Other than physical damage to the bowl the only thing removing water
besides a flush would be a vent problem or dogs drinking.
If the vent is clogged then a suction can be applied to the bowl by
other parts of the plumbing/sewer system.
Sometimes in very high winds you can see the water in the bowl move as
the wind passing over the stack changes pressure inside.

On Sat, 20 Oct 2007 07:54:46 -0700, wrote:

Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

Thanks a lot!


Or a blocked vent that causes a siphoning action.

wrote:
On Oct 20, 10:54 am, wrote:

Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?


I don't know what you mean by "older toilet" but if
it's anything like the conventional home toilet, you
obviously have a leaking rubber stopper. The refill
valve/float assembly is also very likely in need of
replacement since it does not respond to the drop
in water level as the water seeps out.

You can get all this stuff for under $10 probably
and install it yourself.




He said BOWL, fella, NOT tank.....(Do you know the difference?)

Because you say it's intermittant, I'm skeptical about others'
suggestions that it's a wet strip of "something" syphoning the bowl, or
a crack bypassing the trap.

I'd think more likely it's a clogged vent stack and draining something
elsewhere in the house is "sucking" the water out of that toilet bowl.

HTH,

Jeff

--
Jeffry Wisnia
(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight.

On Oct 20, 11:20 am, Jeff Wisnia wrote:
wrote:
On Oct 20, 10:54 am, wrote:

Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

I don't know what you mean by "older toilet" but if
it's anything like the conventional home toilet, you
obviously have a leaking rubber stopper. The refill
valve/float assembly is also very likely in need of
replacement since it does not respond to the drop
in water level as the water seeps out.

You can get all this stuff for under $10 probably
and install it yourself.

He said BOWL, fella, NOT tank.....(Do you know the difference?)

Sheesh fella, speaking of bowl, who ****ed in your corn flakes this
morning? Believe it or not, I am not perfect.

(W1BSV + Brass Rat '57 EE)
The speed of light is 1.98*10^14 fathoms per fortnight

So, I'm 1.778*10^10 angstroms tall. Looky, I have a calculator too!

wrote:
I flush the toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
[...]
Then I come back next time. And the bowl is almost empty!

Sounds like you have a clogged vent stack somewhere in the house. When
something else in the house drains (eg, a washing machine), it acts as
a venturi pump. Normally it would pull air down the vent stack into the
drain system but if that is blocked instead it pulls the standing water
out of your toilet.

Una

wrote:
Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be causing this,

You stuffed up the replacement of the parts.

and the solution?

Get someone else to do a better job, or work out what you stuffed up.

Looks like you managed to stuff up two different areas, the main stopper
clearly allows the water to leak away, and for some reason the valve that
is supposed to refill it when that happened isnt working properly either.

In article says...
I'd think more likely it's a clogged vent stack and draining something
elsewhere in the house is "sucking" the water out of that toilet bowl.

I had this happen but the vent stack wasn't clogged, rather the vent
stack was being used as a roof drain. During heavy rains so much water
went down the vent stack through the poop pipe that it would suck the
water out of all toilets in the building. I fixed this by raising the
vent stack so that rain water would drain through it any more.

On Sat, 20 Oct 2007, wrote:

Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

I'd question your dog.

wrote in message
oups.com...
Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

Thanks a lot!

We have the same problem here... Mine is caused by a crack in teh bowl that
allows water to seep through to teh drain (but not the floor thank God!) and
go out slowly over the course of 4-6 hours... Sometimes it disappears but
whenever we do a good cleaning, it reappears. We presume it is the "stuff"
that either gets stuck in the crack or grows there...

My neighbor had the same problem. theirs turned out to be a small piece of
dental floss caught in the bowl drain that would not come loose (???) and
acted like a candle wick allowing water to drip down the drain all day...

I'm guessing that yours might be caused by item #1 above and that you shoudl
pull the bowl to look for water leaking into the floor below the bowl ASAP
lest you have rotting problems.
--


Joe in Northern, NJ - V#8013-R

Currently Riding The "Mother Ship"
http://yunx.com/valk.htm

Ride a motorcycle in or near NJ?
http://tinyurl.com/5apkg

Political Video:
http://tinyurl.com/2v4avg

On Oct 20, 10:48?pm, "Joe" wrote:
wrote in message

oups.com...





Hello,

I have an older toilet. A few years ago, I
changed all the parts inside the tank. It
has worked fine since then. Until now.

Lately, it has an odd pattern. I flush the
toilet. The tank and bowl refill fine.
I've watched them.

Then I come back next time. And the bowl is
almost empty!

And, it only seems to happen intermittently.

It's really bizarre.

Does anyone have any idea what might be
causing this, and the solution?

Thanks a lot!

We have the same problem here... Mine is caused by a crack in teh bowl that
allows water to seep through to teh drain (but not the floor thank God!) and
go out slowly over the course of 4-6 hours... Sometimes it disappears but
whenever we do a good cleaning, it reappears. We presume it is the "stuff"
that either gets stuck in the crack or grows there...

My neighbor had the same problem. theirs turned out to be a small piece of
dental floss caught in the bowl drain that would not come loose (???) and
acted like a candle wick allowing water to drip down the drain all day...

I'm guessing that yours might be caused by item #1 above and that you shoudl
pull the bowl to look for water leaking into the floor below the bowl ASAP
lest you have rotting problems.
--

Joe in Northern, NJ - V#8013-R

Currently Riding The "Mother Ship"http://yunx.com/valk.htm

Ride a motorcycle in or near NJ?http://tinyurl.com/5apkg

Political Video:http://tinyurl.com/2v4avg- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I have a unvented basement toliet here that started doing this, a week
or so later found main drain clogged.

my theory, up till total clog things would back up then flow violently
sucking water out of bowl......

I put rocksalt in washtub by next day things were moving again

Do you have a dog?

Ok, here is an update.
I closed the intake valve and went away for a few days.

When I came back the water in the bowl was down once again.
But, the water in the tank had not moved.

Here's another piece of info.I live in a townhouse with a flat roof,
and the roofers are replacing the roof at the moment.

Does it make sense that it would be vent pressure
sucking the water out?

Thanks a lot!

wrote...
I closed the intake valve and went away for a few days.

When I came back the water in the bowl was down once again.
But, the water in the tank had not moved.

I live in a townhouse with a flat roof,

Does it make sense that it would be vent pressure
sucking the water out?


Yes, wind across the vent could do that.