Our toilet started backing up for no known cause…just happened out of the blue. Three different style plungers and a few doses of toilet-safe dran-o made little difference. But, at least the bowl will now empty in a very slow, lazy fashion. I was wondering…any chance the air vent is partly clogged, such as by a bird or something? Personally, I doubt it because no other toilet or drain is affected. (Aren’t the drains tied to the same vent?) And, plunging did make a slight improvement.
Oh, we did attempt to snake the drain, but either I am not quire doing something right, or my snaking device is not quite up to par.
No known cause eh? Sounds like someone’s laid a pipe choker and is refusing to take responsibility - have you confronted your missus / gf on this issue? Often the source of sinister blockages in the toilet.
That aside, it sounds like you’ve tried everything you can and it might need a plumber to inspect the drain. You’ve used chemicals, plunging, a snaking device and I assume you’ve also lashed a few buckets of water down there and there’s nothing doing. Have you tried a snaking device down the toilet itself? You can get them from DIY stores and I’ve had these work before.
Specifically get a toilet auger. Probably a toy or small bottle/etc of makeup is lodged in the toilet. I don’t know what kind of snake you used, but a toilet auger will probably be more suited to your job.
a toilet especially on the upper floor is affected by venting action a lot. other drains drain slower and lower toilets can compress air in the vent system and so a vent blockage on the roof doesn’t have as much affect.
though a partial blockage lodged in the toilet siphon drain or in the T connecting the toilet to the drain system can be the problem. a snake can move past a hard object and not dislodge it.
There are several possible reasons. When the toilet in our little bathroom started blocking up (which it never does) I eventually took it off and looked directly into the drain.
Wife" “Oh that’s where those car keys went.”
In other cases a slow toilet is an indicator of pipe blockage down stream. Eventually other things will start to back up (like the shower :eek: ). I’ve learned how to use a rented electric snake from a few outside traps to clean things out - much cheaper than getting someone to do it, and you can do it right.
We once had a pot scraper fall into our toilet, and act as a valve… sometimes.
It got lodged, and would flap closed sometimes, and cause a slow drain/overflow. A snake was not enough to fix it, but a toilet auger, weilded by my BIL took care of it easy enough.
We did not put the scraper back into service. No amount of boiling/cleaning/sanding would have made it mentally acceptable.