# Peculiar toilet
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [November 13, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178 "2006-11-13T01:27:34Z")
**Posts on this page:** 6
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2006, 1:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178/1 "2006-11-13T01:27:34Z")
Right now, when I looked at my daughter’s toilet, the water level in the bowel was very low. I flushed and it did not fill enough to self siphon. When I flushed the second time it flushed normally, but then I could hear gurgling and the level slowly drained down to a very low level. What could be causing this problem, and how do I fix it?
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### Author:  [@SkiDemon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SkiDemon)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2006, 1:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178/2 "2006-11-13T01:34:35Z")
Peculiar Toilet would be the PERFECT name for a band!
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2006, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178/3 "2006-11-13T03:25:21Z")
Assuming the tank fills all the way, and drains fully and quickly. I’d guess there’s a clog in the drain, before the vent (or before any other drain get’s to it, so probably pretty nearby). The water get’s to the clog and fills the pipe creating a air tight blockage. As it passes through it creates a siphon and pulls the water out of the bowl.
But IANAP so I could be way off base. Either way, I’d probably go at with a plunger or snake.
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### Author:  [@Analogue\_Skywalker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Analogue_Skywalker)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2006, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178/4 "2006-11-13T04:18:12Z")
[QUOTE=dauerbach]
Right now, when I looked at my daughter’s toilet, the water level in the bowel was very low.
[/QUOTE]
I hope this is a typo
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### Author:  [@Rhubarb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhubarb)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2006, 7:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178/5 "2006-11-13T07:06:23Z")
You have a partial obstruction in the drain, most likely in the toilet trap. Plunge the toilet until it flushes normally, otherwise it will likely overflow next time you flush any solids through it.
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### Author:  [@dauerbach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dauerbach)
#### Post date: [November 13, 2006, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/peculiar-toilet/380178/6 "2006-11-13T17:54:03Z")
Correct, I looked in the toilet BOWL, not my daughter’s bowel. Yikes, with typo’s like that I will soon find myself on TV.
The problem was very strange. The adjustment to the float had somehow worked itself to the very bottom, so that the resevoir did not fill enough. Once I adjusted that so that the toilet filled to the fill line on the overflow tube the problem was solved.