Help! My toilet doesn’t flush right. This morning the water level in my toilet was very low. When I flush it the bowl fills almost completely, then drains very slowly to almost empty. I’ve plunged it pretty well several times and that didn’t help. That’s pretty much the extent of my plumbing knowledge. Where should I look next?
Closet augers is more aggressive than a plunger. Hot water?
I am of no help but my toilet had the tiniest leak where the top meets the bottom. I swear the plumber said someone mated an 80s top to a 20s bottom. It is a little old building. 
In reply to Wally :
Roots in the line?
Any issues with the other drains in the house?
Pete Gossett said:In reply to Wally :
Roots in the line?
That’s what it sounds like to me. Call a plumber. I know that’s not a fun way to spend money, but you’ve got a blockage of some kind. It wouldn’t be easy to clear yourself... and definitely not with a busted wing.
It shouldn’t be roots as there’s nothing between the house and septic tank but I will have to call someone . I’ve done all I can one handed.
Wally said:It shouldn’t be roots as there’s nothing between the house and septic tank but I will have to call someone . I’ve done all I can one handed.
There's a crude joke in there somewhere.
Just survived this.
Go to the rental store and get a power snake. 50 foot or longer reach. Ran $50 for half a day. They cone with a spiral end for collecting stringy matter and a cutter tip for roots or such.
If you know where the clean-out is, you can run the snake down that way. Else you gotta pull the throne off the perch and go in that way.
The power snakes self feed so that makes them easy to use.
You can try one of the smaller manual snakes down the toilet as it will take care of an obstinate clock if it local to the toilet flange. They tend to be 15- 25" long.
I would first remove the toilet. This is not hard. You can find "how to's" on line. If there's nothing in the toilet bowl causing the problem it will be way easier to "snake" the drain pipe with the toilet bowl out of the way.
Inspect vent stack.
Is toilet higher or lower elevation in the house?
I resolved similar on an infrequent basis from low tank level on a low flow toilet not being sufficient to clear tp down the line, a snake may solve, but inspect water level setting in tank. It wasn't all the time.
Sounds like a venting issue to me, if it was clogged it wouldn't really flush, or the water would come back up somewhere.
Also.....if at all possible, forget the auger and go with a hydrojet. Way better when you can get away with it
I was afraid it was the vent because I fell off a roof cleaning on and didn’t want to do it again but I’m going with clog of some sort because when I flushed it last night it filled and didn’t drain. I tried angrily plunging once more and something seems to have broken free and it’s working fine this morning. Hopefully it’s at least cured well enough until I get my left arm back.
Angrily plunging is almost always the answer. I find a little bit of Samuel L Jackson channeling helps as well.
"Flush right now or I will get medieval on your motherberkeleying porcelain!"
Jeese Wally, you just can’t catch a break. But yeah, partial clog will cause the exact problem you were having. One of the problems with plumbing it that “stuff” sits in the drain lines and only moves a little way along with each flush or sink running. Sometimes it’s good to give a few extra flushes just to help clear the pipes so things don’t pile up.
..sometimes it helps to run water in a sink (that drains downhill toward the toilet in the drain pipe) before, during and after an especially challenging flush. 1.6 gallons of modern toilets ain’t much water to push it all down the old E36 M3 pipe.
Wo stop! Is the toilet on first floor or second floor? If its on second floor, ignore everything these other wannabe plumbers are telling you. If it was roots or a clog in the main drain leaving house, water would back up into a lower fixture like laundry drain in basement,kitchen sink, bathtub, etc. More than likely its a clogged toilet. Get water level high in toilet, plunge it up and down, up and down, up and down a dozen times or so. Try it again if it doesn't work the first time. After it clears, flush a couple of times and then try and flush a couple of balls of paper. If it keeps clogging with paper, then there is something stuck in the toilet catching paper. Trick is to have a good plunger. The ones with the black end with the skirt that extends down are great. You also need to plunge slowly the first couple of times to push the air that was in the plunger out and fill the bell of the plunger with water. Its the hydraulic pressure from the plunger moving back and forth as you plunge that clears the blockage. One push or even a coupe don't always work. Work it up and down. You will feel the force of the water moving in and out of the bell end. Carry on.
All I can envision is "Wally, the one armed Turd Wrangler"
Like todd said, also:
i’ve found that when it’s clogged barely enough to let water by slowly the plunger can’t effect its full force on the clog, so i throw a decent sized wad of TP down it too to fully stop things so the plunger has a solid “plug” to shove pressure against. Works every time.
I learned recently to put a big squirt of Dawn dish soap in the bowl, then pour in a bunch of hot water (not boiling, don't want to crack the porcelain). Let it sit for a few minutes, then plunge.
Keep repeating until full drainage is restored.
John Welsh said:All I can envision is "Wally, the one armed Turd Wrangler"
Boy, what did you eat?
Start at the septic tank not the house
Has it stayed clear? I have had similar partial blockages from a bar of soap and later a small bottle of contact solution falling in the toilet.
bearmtnmartin said:Start at the septic tank not the house
This.....when have you had the tank/s pumped out last? I hate to say this, but what do you know about your field lines????
My cat likes to play with pipe cleaners. He likes to drop them in the toilet and splash around fishing them out. Sometimes they sink too deep. So I just flush them. They are pipe cleaners after all.
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