[ckphilli]

Greetings. Here's the short story:
1) I think I have a toy in my toilet. It's flushing very slowly and we have to plunge it most of the time. All other drains in the house are fine.
2) I purchased a toilet snake. I can't get past the curve in the toilet drain(about 6-8in in). I've done searches and can find no one else with this problem.

Please give any advice you have. I'm very close to pulling the toilet, and I don't really want to.

Is this snake just outsmarting me?

[wacor]

What kind of toy is it??

Depending upon what it is I could see it preventing a snake from going past it.

I would be careful how aggressive you are with the snake. Or you might end up buying some new porcelain. If you twist around the snake and still no luck i would bite the bullets and take the toilet apart.

[ckphilli]

Originally Posted by wacor

What kind of toy is it??

Depending upon what it is I could see it preventing a snake from going past it.

I would be careful how aggressive you are with the snake. Or you might end up buying some new porcelain. If you twist around the snake and still no luck i would bite the bullets and take the toilet apart.

I have no idea. My 2 year old niece and nephew were here a week ago, so it could be anything from a car to a stuffed animal

I think I may have to bite the bullet. I've twisted until I'm actually worn out, no dice.

Thanks for the help.

[wacor]

Good luck

I really is not that difficult of a job.

[muppy03]

flushing very slowly? do you mean going down the s bend or the water coming from the cistern?

[kiwiguy]

If there is a toy or other blockage, its probably past the S bend and blocking the outlet before it gets to the main sewer lateral (hence the other drains still work).

If it is big enough to do that, the problem is unlikely to be fixed with a snake, all you may end up doing with the snake is forcing the blockage further into the drain where it may cause a problem with all the drains, not just the toilet.

There is often an inspection point beyond the toilet, in the point just after where the drain go underground. If not you might end up with one.

How old are the drains? Older clay pipes get blocked with tree-roots, plastic are much better in that regard.

[hewee]

Sounds like your have to take the toilet up to get to it.

[Knotbored]

Pulling up a toilet isn't as hard as it looks.
Buy a new wax gasket and a pair of new hold-down bolts. The bolts seem to almost always break, and they are cheap.
Turn off and disconnect the water supply line at the wall, flush to get rid of as much water as you can, dip out with a sponge whatever else you can (but be prepared for about a pint of water you cannot reach spilling on the floor.) Remove the caps over the hold-down bolts and rock the toilet looks from the floor (it might be glued down loosely with calk.)
If you are lucky the whole unit can be lifted clear, try to lift from the bottom half so the upper half gaskets aren't damaged.
Replace the wax gasket when reinstalling-don't reuse the old one-almost a guarantee it would leak.
Instructions are on the wax gasket-follow them closely.
I have replaced about 4 toilets and it wasn't difficult-about a half hour operation.

[ckphilli]

Thanks for all of your inputs. I feel better now. I'm going to pull the toilet this weekend, and hopefully get this taken care of. I'm going with the assumption that the blockage is in the lower portion of the S. Hopefully, there are no root issues. I don't think there are, as this happened recently and not gradually.

Thanks for the tip on the wax seal and bolts also, I wouldn't have thought to buy those before removing the toilet.

I'll let you folks know how it goes, thanks again.

[ckphilli]

Originally Posted by muppy03

flushing very slowly? do you mean going down the s bend or the water coming from the cistern?

The S bend.

[wacor]

be careful when you bolt down the toilet

it is not that hard to break the flange the bolt hooks under or crack the toilet

[kiwiguy]

Root issues do tend to happen suddenly, the root mass adheres to the inner surface of the clay pipes but when the mass gets big enough it dislodges and forms an almost impenetrable (to water) flap in the pipe.

But a rotary snake with a cutter tip fixes these real quick, lasts a few years.

We ended up renewing all drains with plastic for these exact reasons. Lots of trees and shrubs.

[wacor]

doubt it would be roots if there is only one toilet acting up. unless there are two leads that Y together into the mainline leaving the house out to the sewer main.

[kiwiguy]

We had the exact issue a few years ago, the roots were in the line before the join to the rest of the drains, about 4' of pipe involved.

[ckphilli]

Originally Posted by kiwiguy

We had the exact issue a few years ago, the roots were in the line before the join to the rest of the drains, about 4' of pipe involved.

The problem: one strategically wedged tinker toy. I found this out after I removed the toilet and looked into the snake drain. Fun fun.

This really wasn't a hard project. I do wish I wouldn't have cracked it on the reinstall. I feel like such an idiot right now. Oh well, it's a slow leak at least. Slow enough for me to try some caulk first...and eventually buy a new toilet I'm sure.

Take care.