I live in a rental, and the landlord is supposed to fix this. But I don’t have a lot of faith in that. On another note, what recourses do I have if the landlord refuses to fix things?
So here is the situation. When I flush the water doesn’t go down, it rises to the top of the bowl (but doesn’t spill over). Over the course of a minute or so it will drain, but it’ll drain to a lower level than the water is supposed to be. So the toilet overfills when I flush, then over the course of a minute drains until the bowl is underfilled. Flush again and the same thing happens. It can take 4+ flushes to clear the bowl after a number 2.
Occasionally it’ll flush properly, but not really anymore. The drain in the shower and sink both seem to be working fine. I really started noticing this problem a couple days ago.
I’ve tried both a plunger (one of the accordion shaped ones) and a snake auger (3 foot). Neither does anything to help fix the problem, it still isn’t flushing properly.
Any idea what could be wrong? I"m wary about using draino because in the past when the sink would get clogged, the drano wouldn’t drain and I’d have a sink full of caustic water. I eventually fixed the sink by buying a small sink plunger, ever since doing that the sink has worked fine.
Sounds like a problem for a plunger or a snake, and if those don’t work, a professional. (Since you did A and B, I’d say wait for C!) I bet something is stuck down there.
That sounds exactly like a clogged pipe. Best bet, if a 3 foot snake and plunger aren’t working, is to call a plumber. If you haven’t talked to your landlord, get on it right away. The sooner it’s brought to their attention, the sooner you can get the ball rolling. Recourse depends on your state - in Minnesota, with proper notice, you can pay your rent into an escrow account until things are sorted, but it’s a hassle.
If your landlord isn’t getting it fixed in a timely manner (which, considering it’s a toilet that doesn’t flush, it’s rather important), look up the rental protections in your state.
Heck no. This is entirely the landlord’s responsibility. That’s why renters pay more in rent than just the cost of a mortgage.
Tell them that your toilet is backing up. Leave out the part about it not overflowing. That should get their attention. An overflowing toilet can cause water damage, as well as a big mess. The landlord isn’t going to want to deal with dirty water dripping into the apartment below, or rotting out the floors.
Try a real toilet plunger, those accordion ones are almost useless.
Secondly, are you using the plunger properly? No joke, I’ve seen many people who actually use a plunger backwards and attempt to push the blockage through. This can causes more problems as you can lodge the blockage more securely or worse… push it past the air vent in your plumbing stack. The proper procedure is to create suction and pull the blockage back up thereby dislodging it, breaking it up, etc…
If a plunger does not work, you will need a proper plumbing auger, 3’ is not long enough in most cases. You can buy or rent one from Home Depot.
Depending on your building you may need 25-50’.
You’re right about the Drano, do not use it. Depending on your pipes it could cause damage, leaks, etc… Secondly, if a plumber is required he would prefer not to have to work in the stuff?
It sounds like there is a significant blockage down there of something which isn’t dissolving. Did this problem happen suddenly or has it slowly gotten worse and worse? If it happened suddenly, it may mean something fell into the drain and is blocking it. If it happened slowly, it may mean the clog is building up over time.
Do you use any things like flushable wipes? Although they can be flushed, they do not dissolve and will cause clogs if they get caught on anything along the way.
Do you have a tub in that bathroom? If so, fill it up and see how well it drains. It could be that the shower flow is low enough to not cause a backup.
I had the same problem and was unable to resolve it so I replaced the toilet. I took a hammer to the old toilet to see what was going on. I had lime deposits that built up on the top side of the toilet s shaped drain. It was soft and I am surprised the snake wasn’t able to remove more of it. I guess because of the large hole it just went around it.
There’s too much water down there for Draino to work. It’s not your responsibility to fix, but unfortunately your problem. A 3 foot snake isn’t going to get very far, more than a foot of can still be in the toilet. If you wanted to try Draino again, turn off the water, flush the toilet to drain the tank, use a plunger to force the water out of the trap, wait for hours for the water in the pipes to drain out, and then you’ll still need at least a gallon of it so some makes it out of the trap in the toilet. And even then it may not help depending on what’s clogging things up. IOW, not worth the trouble and unlikely to help. You need a longer snake, and preferably a plumber, which means making the owner’s life miserable until he takes care of it. You might consider hiring a plumber, and deducting the cost from your rent.
If the landlord is not responsive, I would just call a plumber myself, and either have him send the bill to the landlord, or pay it myself and deduct it from the next month’s rent (with a copy of the invoice and receipt attached).
There are two possiblities, the drain is clogged as mentioned earlier. But there is a second possibility.
The Vent stack could also be blocked. Home drains have a vent pipe that leads to the roof so that the drain properly. This works like the vent in a gasoline can, as you pour liquid out, the liquid will come out better if there is a opening where air can come in and replace the liquid. If this gets blocked, then the liquid can’t leave as easily.
You’ve got a bird nest, wasp nest or something in the vent pipe on the roof blocking it and preventing the water from leaving your toilet.
…
…at least you might have it blocked.
Good point. This sometimes is evident from gurgling in the drains as low pressure pulls water through the traps, but there’s only one way to find out. The clog isn’t necessarily at the top of the vent either. Any backup in the drains could force crap up into the vent pipe from the bottom.
I don’t know much about plumbing, but the kitchen sink, bathroom sink and shower are all draining fine. So if it were the vent pipe wouldn’t all the drains be not functioning?
There are typically multiple vent pipes in a house according to the plumbing layout. If the vent pipe which served your toilet drain was plugged, you might see the water in your bowl bubble or slosh as the water flowed. The draining water would be causing a vacuum. However, I wouldn’t think that would cause the bowl to fill up as you describe. Since the bowl is open to the air, a blocked vent pipe wouldn’t cause a backup. The air would be sucked in through the bowl when you flushed.
Every time I have experienced the action you mention, it has been a clogged toilet.
And not sure if it is the crappy (no pun intended) plumbing in my house, or our family diet, but this happens to all three of our toilets and at least once a month (I think my daughters use too much toilet paper).
Sometimes the 3’ auger will do the job (I gave up using plungers long ago as they are not that great). But my auger will extend to 6’, sometimes, I have to extend to the 6’, but I have never had a clog that the 6’ will not solve.
But it is not just spinning the auger along the toilet and pipes, but I pull back and ram it back down multiple times until the clog is gone and the water drains down to normal levels (I usually flush and let the water be high while I am augering it). This helps by spinning through the clog but also pushing it forcefully and using that action to get the pipes clear.
I purchased the 3’-6’ auger at HD years ago and it has more than paid for itself in saved plumber’s visits.