Toliet won't flush and tried EVERYTHING!

11 years ago

My toliet won't flush and I think I just about tried everything that I read up on this forum. The problem is that the upstairs guest room toliet won't flush but instead just fills up the bowl and swirls around a bit before going back down to its original level. All of the other toliets, sinks, tubs, etc all work just fine. Here are the things that I tried:

- replaced the fluidmaster water control assembly & flapper since my original water control assembly was leaking from the top. No more leaking but I tried flushing afterwards without success.
- initially tried plunging it but it didn't work.
- tried snaking it but didn't uncover anything.
- poured in a 5-gallon bucket of water and it flushes good on its own. I tried four more 5-gallon buckets of water to see if that would help dislodge whatever could be causing a blockage but again it won't flush afterwards when trying to do it just from the water in the tank.
- used a wire coat hanger and my wife's small make-up mirror to poke the hanger into each of the small holes inside the inner rim of the toliet but that didn't help.
- purchased two gallons of muriatic acid (31%) from Ace Hardware and poured about a half-gallon of it at a time down the overflow tube in the tank in order to break up any minerals or deposits that the coat hanger may not have gotten. After I used the full two gallons, I let it sit for a couple of hours and used a scrub brush on the areas around the inner rim just to make sure I got it through. Again, the same thing happens when I flushed aftewards.

I didn't go on my roof to check and see if the vent line was clogged since I don't feel comfortable walking on my roof being that it's a bit slanted and high up. I also didn't remove the toliet and look underneath at all. I replaced the floor in the bathroom with tile many years ago so I am comfortable with removing the toliet but I rather not if there's another suggestion for me to try first. Any ideas out there????

r/
Bryan

Comments (10)

bus_driver
11 years ago
The principles involved have not yet been understood. If it flushes well consistently with a bucket of water poured into the bowl, there is nothing wrong with the bowl trapway nor the drain away from the bowl. So nothing will be gained by additional efforts there.
Do you use the toilet "cleaner" tablets in the tank? This is an important question.
Probably replacing the toilet is your best bet.
stash-hdy
11 years ago
Only other suggestion is to remove the tank from the bowl and see if there is an obstruction.
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couchonbp
Original Author
11 years ago
bus_driver, I actually do use cleaner tablets! I just checked my other toliets and the tablets are still in there but it's not in the one that I am having issues with. If I have to remove the tank from the bowl, how do I go about doing that?
hendricus
11 years ago
This is probably too easy, when you flush the toilet hold the handle down 'till it's out of water. Still doesn't work? There are two hold down bolts in a standard tank that you can see when the water is out. They are midway between the flapper and the side of the tank, one on the right and one on the left. Depending how old the toilet is they could be real fun in trying to remove them. My vote is for a new toilet. Complete toilet in a box $69.00
bus_driver
11 years ago
If I was President, the tablets would be outlawed. I found one case where the user had put the plastic outer wrapper in the tank as well as the tablet. The wrapper got flushed and stuck in the bowl rim passage above the small holes. All the symptoms described above. I did fish out the wrapper after the user confessed.
stash-hdy
11 years ago
Remove the flapper and see if you can see anything before you remove the tank.
couchonbp
Original Author
11 years ago
I really didn't want to remove the tank just yet thinking that eventually the tablet would disintegrate and thought to use some vinegar instead. I removed the water from the tank, removed the flapper, duct taped up all the holes under the rim, and poured a gallon of white vinegar down the hole so it could settle around the bowl for about two hours. I tried some flushes but it still didn't work though I did notice little bits of pieces of the tablet coming out. So, I held down the water control assembly so the water would fill up to the top of the tube and continued filling up the bowl for about twenty seconds, and then quickly flushed it. More pieces came out and it flushed! I used my mirror and saw where there were bigger chunks near the jet stream hole in the front of the toliet and was able to fish out those chunks with a screwdriver. After a few more flushes as described above, the rest of it came out. Success!!!! Thanks for all the help everyone. Never using tablets AGAIN!
stash-hdy
11 years ago
Great
jackfre
11 years ago
Two gallons of Muriatic can wreak havoc with a septic system. If you have a septic system, check with your septic company and see what they recommend. We used to use yeast cakes to get the process running but there are other products that they recommend.
couchonbp
Original Author
11 years ago
I don't have a septic system and wouldn't have tried the muratic acid if I did have one.