The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with water
and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and I'd
prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

From the back of the pan the pipe turns right, goes through a side wall,
then turns right again and goes into the side of a vertical soil stack
(total distance so far about 1 metre). The soil stack is only about a
metre long, being capped just above the junction. This unusual (and
possibly illegal) arrangement hasn't given any trouble before in the 15
years we've lived here.

--
Mike Barnes

In an earlier contribution to this discussion,
Mike Barnes wrote:

The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with
water and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and
I'd prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

From the back of the pan the pipe turns right, goes through a side
wall, then turns right again and goes into the side of a vertical
soil stack (total distance so far about 1 metre). The soil stack is
only about a metre long, being capped just above the junction. This
unusual (and possibly illegal) arrangement hasn't given any trouble
before in the 15 years we've lived here.


You need to isolate the blockage. Do you have other toilets? What happens
when you flush them? How are they connected into the sewer?

If other toilets exhibit the same problem, the blockage is downstream
somewhere, and you need to look in any outside manholes you may have. If
they don't, you need to concentrate on the pipework which serves only this
single downstairs toilet.

Does the 'cap' on the short stack unscrew? If so, it's probably a rodding
point for just such occasions as this. Nothing unusual - or illegal - about
that as far as I'm aware.
--
Cheers,
Roger
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Mike Barnes wrote:
The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with water
and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and I'd
prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

From the back of the pan the pipe turns right, goes through a side wall,
then turns right again and goes into the side of a vertical soil stack
(total distance so far about 1 metre). The soil stack is only about a
metre long, being capped just above the junction. This unusual (and
possibly illegal) arrangement hasn't given any trouble before in the 15
years we've lived here.


You need to lift the nearest inspection cover in the garden to see if
you can see "water" backing up there.

I suggest you only open this after leaving it to drain for a good few
hours, as otherwise you may end up with "water" exiting the inspection
cover!

(Replace "water" with anything you have flushed down the toilet!!!)

Toby...

On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:36:43 +0100, Mike Barnes
had this to say:

The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with water
and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and I'd
prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

Angle grinder of course.

And more roughage in your food.

--
Frank Erskine

Toby wrote:
Mike Barnes wrote:
The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with water
and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and I'd
prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

From the back of the pan the pipe turns right, goes through a side wall,
then turns right again and goes into the side of a vertical soil stack
(total distance so far about 1 metre). The soil stack is only about a
metre long, being capped just above the junction. This unusual (and
possibly illegal) arrangement hasn't given any trouble before in the 15
years we've lived here.


You need to lift the nearest inspection cover in the garden to see if
you can see "water" backing up there.

I suggest you only open this after leaving it to drain for a good few
hours, as otherwise you may end up with "water" exiting the inspection
cover!

(Replace "water" with anything you have flushed down the toilet!!!)

Toby...

We're on the end of a shared drain so we get the symptoms first, and
often the neighbours' toilets are still flushing normally.
The water company do ours for free as we're pre 1935, or whatever the
year is, but most of the street doesn't seem to be aware of this. I
still see DynoRod vans from time to time.

Frank Erskine wrote:
On Fri, 10 Jul 2009 08:36:43 +0100, Mike Barnes
had this to say:

The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with water
and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and I'd
prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

Angle grinder of course.

And more roughage in your food.

Caustic soda and a kettle of hot.

Mike Barnes wrote:
The downstairs toilet used to flush OK but now the bowl fills with
water and then takes about five seconds to drain away, the water level
dropping about 3 cm below normal and slowly rising again to about 1 cm
below normal.

It seems to me that there must be a partial blockage somewhere, and
I'd prefer to sort it out before it becomes a total blockage. Any
suggestions?

Assuming its in the 1 metre run to the soil pipe;

Top of the 'blame' list are females flushing sanitary products, toddlers
flushing anything & those pesky plastic bowl fresheners.

A drain snake might shift it
http://www.wickes.co.uk/Drain-Cleaner/invt/500594 if not often easier to
remove the toilet so you can get to the pipe. Wet vac is a help.

Hard water area? Could well be a build up of limescale, thats what happened
to ours - same symptoms.


--
Dave - The Medway Handyman
www.medwayhandyman.co.uk