Slow flushing/non-draining toilet...

[pooky85]

Ever since I bought my house my toilet has flushed very slowly. About 50% of the time it flushes all of the waste/water down the trap, but the other 50% it fills the bowl up about 2" above the water line and swirls like it's going to flush, but only takes part of the waste/water down and leaves the rest. I already ran a coat hanger through the rim holes, but was unable to even find the siphon jet to clean it out.

If I fill up a bucket with 1+ gallons of water and pour it directly into the bowl it drains as fast as I dump it in.
I also just replaced all of the guts in the tank and there was really no improvement. I was thinking about replacing the bowl with one of the 20$ bowls from menards. Does this sound like something on the right track? The p/o's used those ti-d-bowl cakes in the tank and I think they've finally taken their toll on the bowl.

The tank I have is a pretty standard looking 2 bolt tank so I'm thinking a generic 20$ bowl would work just fine. The current toilet is most likely a post-94' 1.6 gallon flusher, but how far from 94' is unknown unless they made 1.6 flushers prior to 94. It's definitelly less than 3 gallons either way, but can't be more than 2. When I pulled the tank off it looked a little rusty down the hole and I wouldn't be surprised if the siphon is completely calcified.

Does this sound right or am I off my rocker trying to find a solution to this poor flushing toilet?.....

 

[johnjh2o]

Mixing different brand tanks and bowls doesn't always work. But you could get lucky. The best solution would of course be to replace the entire toilet.

John

 

[pooky85]

I'm going to take the risk if it means even a marginally better flush. Does it sound like I'm on the right track, though?

 

[pooky85]

Well, I went to home depot and bought a bowl and tank just to be on the safe side, with the idea that if the old tank worked I would return the new tank...the old tank had all new guts and everything so I wasn't ready to part with it yet. I bolted the new bowl down and set the oold tank on and it fit perfectly! Then it was time for the real test, does it flush better or not?

First flush sucked right down instantly, and all subsequent flushes have done the same!

All I had to do is adjust the water in the tank to be about 4" lower than it was. I thought I had a post 1994 toilet, but what I had was a 3 gal flusher from 1979. I set the new flush valve as low as it would go and it still flushes great!

The 19$ bowls from home depot are GREAT!

 

[johnjh2o]

The cheep fix did work.. I'm glad it worked out for you .

John

 

[pooky85]

I'm glad it worked too!

99% of the time, in my world, it would've never worked. That's my typical luck. If I would've just bought the bowl there's no way the old tank would've fit, then I would've had to go back to the store, that would be closed with my luck, and try to buy the tank, which they would've somehow sold out of in the 3 hours between buying the bowl, and going back. Then when I would go to hook up the tank I'm sure the water line would break or the valve would fail just as I'm trying to hook it up.....

Except that stuff didn't happen.....

I got lucky, this time....knock on wood!