Sometimes it will work normally for a few days, and then return to the water level dropping. Sometimes it won't flush. If I plunge it the water level usually goes down gradually, but still doesn't flush. Leave it for 20 to 30 minutes and the level will drop again - sometimes taking the muck with it, but usually just leaving a mess. Sometimes pouring water in to raise the level before flushing will work, other times it is just random when it will flush again. We started having issues when our system backed up a few years ago. We had a leach field put in, we have had the tank pumped every year since then, installed a new toilet and had the vents checked resulting in having the main vent moved from behind the toilet to several feet in front with an upward rise instead of the straight 90 degree that it had. Nothing seems to work long term. We also have a basement toilet (which never has a problem flushing) This system has an in-ground tank with a pump that comes on at a certain level. There is a water softener and a torpedo-looking-filter that has some kind of automatic back flush system (daily). We seldom use the downstairs bathroom, but sometimes running the water and flushing the toilet downstairs results in the upstairs toilet draining (and sometimes working normally for a day or two after). Sometimes it also causes the bowl contents to splash up out. The backflush sometimes generates a fountain in the upstairs toilet - less often since we had the other work done. I suspect now it happens mainly because there is too little water remaining in the bowl. There is no visible leak around the toilet or in the ceiling below the toilet. The bowl used to fill several inches higher when flushed, and randomly still does. I removed the cover and flushed the toilet. The water ran until the float reached the top. The tube was properly placed in the overflow with water running out of it until the water reached the top and it stopped filling. The bowl did not reach the normal level. We have had several plumbers here and spent several thousand dollars only to be stuck again with the same problem!
Water is not draining completely from the toilet line to the sewage tank. If there is a 'low/little slope' section anywhere in that drain line, solids WILL settle and collect there and cause water to back-up in the toilet drain line. Then the toilet will not flush completely or at all until the 'soft blockage' is cleared out and the drain line emptied. Al 'gravity drain' toilets require a free draining/empty drain line that allows flush water to drain unrestricted. A basement toilet has a pump that 'forces' flush water up and out with enough pressure to sometimes force out the 'soft clog.'
Thank you. This makes more sense than anything I have heard from the plumbers that have been here to “fix” the problem. I noticed that there is a short section of pipe that has less of a slope than the rest. I still don’t understand why it works great for months and then suddenly has issues for weeks? (This time it has been having issues since mid-February!) Yesterday I flushed the downstairs toilet several times. (We rarely use the downstairs bathroom because we don’t get much company these days) We went to town and when we returned home, it was like nothing had ever been wrong – it had the proper volume of water in the bowl and it flushed properly for the rest of the night. Last night it apparently ran the backflush and it sprayed water up out of the toilet even though it had the proper water level. First time this morning it did not flush. Second flush was normal. Watched the third flush and it flushed right out and immediately filled up the bowl. For days it just sat in the lower bowl and never filled to normal. Just baffling to me! Waiting to see how the rest of the day goes.
We had no problems with flushing or water spraying up out of the toilet for the first 18 months or so that we lived here. Then the system backed up and the toilet wouldn’t flush. We discovered the toilet was leaking and destroyed the laminate floor because it was leaking between the laminate and the pad beneath it. We had the septic tank pumped and installed a leach field (We were told our dry well was saturated and we needed a leach field). I pulled the toilet and put in a new floor. I had to reseat the toilet because it was leaking – apparently the spacer was warped and it didn’t seal properly. Re-did that mess and reseated the toilet and it worked great for months – then it started doing weird things and we have been having issues since then.
After spending over a thousand dollars on plumbers last year, and getting nowhere…. We had it dug up from the septic tank to the distribution box and everything appeared normal except for the replacement pipe they put in between the septic and dry well when they did the leach field. The guy replaced that and said if it didn’t fix the problem he would return and figure out what was wrong and not charge more. It didn’t and he dropped off the face of the earth! Then the downstairs system went awry. Turned out the float broke so the pump just kept running. I went through the history with the plumber that fixed that and he decide we needed a new toilet – which he would gladly install for over $400. I purchased my own toilet and installed it… I am thinking now that a water-saver toilet was not a good idea for this system. We began having issues again in the fall and got another plumber in here to check it out. He noticed that the vent was about 8 inches behind the toilet where the line ended, and it went straight out through the wall from there – no up angle, just a straight 90 degrees out through the wall. Easy to imagine that getting clogged with the force of the back flush. He capped it behind the toilet and moved the vent to about six feet in front of the toilet with a proper top Y and then out through the wall. Worked great until February. Called the same guy to come in to check things out again. Didn’t show and hasn’t called. Set up another guy – didn’t show and hasn’t called. Everyone else either doesn’t come out this far or is too busy. Guess it is a great area to be a plumber… not to need a plumber though!
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SOURCE: blocked bathroom vent
try climbing on to your roof with the hose and give it a good flushing, otherwise you'll want to locate the cleanout and snake it out
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