Suddenly having a problem with my toilet. The bowl fills way more than it should - right up to the bottom of the rim. Then when it “flushes” down, it’s very weak-sounding.
I live in an apartment, so could call in maintenance, but I have no idea what they’ll do on a weekend, and my bathroom is kinda filthy at the moment. I am not handy in the slightest, nor do I know my way around toilet parts at all. Is this something I could investigate/fix myself?
Yes. Check out this diagram.
Sounds like you have a problem with your float and flapper. Lift the lid to your resevoir and flush watch the mechanics of it and watch what happens. It sounds like your floater is loose, not attached etc. Lift it up, if you can lift it right out of the resevoir that’s your problem. Get a screwdriver and tighten where it’s attached.
For the weak flush sounds like your flapper isn’t forming a seal after being released. “open”. or it’s because your bowl is too full due to the high level of water because of the floater.
I thought the standard fix for any toilet problem was “jiggle the handle.”
I can’t imagine apt maintenance ignoring something like this - it’s not like you need them to tighten the handles on the kitchen drawers. Toilet problems can lead to lots bigger problems. So if you can’t fix it with Ibanez’ suggestion, make the call - what’s the worst they can do - say “We’ll be there Wednesday between 8 and 4” ??
From your description it sounds like a blockage in the waste pipe - the pipe from the back of the toilet that connects to the sewer. A blockage here will cause the bowl to overfill because water is entering the bowl faster than it can drain away.
Have you tried using a rubber plunger to free any blockage? If you have, then don’t waste your time any longer - call in the apartment maintenance service. That’s what they are there for.
Yeah that could be it too, if the floater is working properly.
No question your problem is a blockage in the toilet or in the line below it. Usually, the problem is in the toilet itself. My grandson flushed two pieces of watermelon rind that perfectly closed off the point where the toilet dumps into the stack, and, combined with a weak flapper valve, the bathroom and adjacent bedrooms were flooded, then the kitchen below. $10000 damage.
Believe it or not, it is not hard to remove most toilets from the floor and to remove something badly clogging the pipe. And, not costly at all, maybe $5 for a new wax ring and hold down bolts.
find a DYI video about it and proceed with confidence.
Or, get a snake to try to push the blockage out.
Or, use a plumber’s helper to try to pull the blockage back into the bowl to remove it.
Whatever you do, SHUT OFF THE WATER SUPPLY except when you need it, and don’t flood the floor
Maybe 2 more quick tips, not to fix it, but just to help out -
Perhaps obvious, but use other facilities if available. Sinks don’t mind being used for urine. I don’t think there’s a law that says not to pee in the sink.
Until the problems fixed, I’d flush with a bucket of water. That would hopefully stop any chance of an accidental overflow. I’ve had a toilet get blocked and the water just backed up, filled the bowl, and cascaded all over the floor. It’s good to avoid that.
Apartment maintenance man checking in.
Call them and let them do it. While its true there are excellent videos out there and it’s not that hard to do, there are also many things at can go wrong that he videos don’t address such as supply line handles breaking or toilet bolts being rusted to the point of breaking or being non functional.
Given that you stated you are not that handy and given you are not a homeowner, call them. They would rather fix it from this point rather than a worse position you might possibly create.
And I will promise you this, no matter what the condition your bathroom is in, they have seen much, much worse.
Moved to our advice forum, IMHO, from MPSIMS.
The OP’s problem is one that I have faced many times.
The only problem here is a blocked drain. A load of shit and toilet paper can easily do this not to mention a pad .
Ninety percent of the time a vigorous use of the plunger will dislodge the jam.
Agreed.
Doesn’t hurt to buy a good plunger (they are really cheap at Home Depot or even Walmart or wherever) and usually this will fix it right up - pronto.
We bought this one - and it works great! (Better than those old style versions.)
As an FYI, I did call the maintenance department. Turns out it was a line thing that affected the apartment below me (they even got some flooding, though I don’t know if that was just them still persisting in using it or not), so all is well now. Still need to get a decent toilet plunger, though; I have the bathtub kind everyone thinks of when they think of plungers, and I understand it’s not so good for the toilet use.
If you are a homeowner and you get a blockage, you might call a plumber, who, for $100 and up, will run a mechanical snake down your roof vent to try to clean out your line going to the sewer.
You can often avoid the cost by using a garden hose with a concentrating nozzle.
the main line is probably plugged if both the bathtub and the toilet are not draining right. OP didn’t say anything about the bathtub, so I assumed the problem was concentrated in a blockage internal the toilet.
yes, it all depends on your level of confidence that you can actually handle a pair of pliers with permanently maiming yourself.
After 16 years in our house, I know way too much about toilets. In general I agree with White SIFL. In an apartment, try a plunger, but if that doesn’t work call maintenance, because as the case here, it might be a more subtle problem than you think.
When you own a home you can go further. Our problem is that we have a spur sewer line running into the main one which connects to the city line across the street. The spur line is not the same size as the main line and things get stuck there. When our toilet backs up it is almost never simple. We’ve rented electric snakes, and we know where all our clean out traps are, but sometimes it takes professionals.
Anyhow, watching the maintenance guy work is a good education.
That wouldn’t have done a damn bit of good in our case. But you can rent an electric snake for less than $50 and do it yourself if you know where your traps are. Assuming the problem isn’t too big for it.
