Hello. I am hoping you could help me diagnose a slow draining toilet. first i thought it was the toilet itself so I went ahead and replaced it. but the problem still persists. the flush is weak and sometimes i could see it gurgling at the very end of the flush. the nearby sink and shower drain just fine. I checked the flood (or whatever it's called) pipe in front of my house and looked down, i can see water flowing just fine when i flush the toilet. could this be a venting issue or partially clogged main line? I don't see water backing up in the flood pipe .. looking for an advice! thanks in advance.
slow toilet flush - no obvious sign of a clog
- Thread starter abouhaid
- Start date
Help Support Plumbing Forums:
Rushplbg_10
Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2025
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
It sounds like a venting issue to me. I see many "plumbers" bring the bathroom together as a group vent and put the vent in the wrong location by not having the vent downstream of the water closet. The way I usually do it is by venting the group off the lavatory it is a wet vent but by keeping it all 2" there should be no issue. As long as they are within a close distance, like not putting the toilet on the other side on the bathroom away from everything, then for sure you would need to have another vent just for the toilet. I think we neglect that toilets release a lot of water almost all at once, requiring a vent just for itself is required by code. Hope this helps. It not message me and ill see what else could be happening.
my toilet is located between the sink and the shower.. another piece of information that might help diagnose the problem is that I tend to have this problem always during Winter. I am in northern Nevada, we get freezing temps at night ..
do you recommend I start by snaking the vent sticking out of the roof ? are these vents usually chase-covered somehow so no debris or pigeon poop get into it? I see two vents right above the bathroom ..
do you recommend I start by snaking the vent sticking out of the roof ? are these vents usually chase-covered somehow so no debris or pigeon poop get into it? I see two vents right above the bathroom ..
Last edited:
Rushplbg_10
Member
- Joined
- Feb 6, 2025
- Messages
- 5
- Reaction score
- 0
You could start there with a cleaning of the vent roofs. If you have never done it then wouldn't hurt anything. There shouldn't be anything covering them so the pipes are wide open to catch anything willing to go down there. The winter shouldn't effect it since the warmth from the entire system can melt most of the ice away. I live in Nebraska. We get cold stretches with snow lasting months sometimes, and it's not the vents that freeze over its the drains in mobile homes without heat type. In fact talking about open sewer pipes on the roof I once was cleaning a line out in winter, and couldn't get through it from the roof so went inside pulled a toilet and a dam squirrel came rushing out of there like a mad man of course covered in the "black grease" traveling all over this woman's nice white carpet. So yea something can be clogging your vent lol. Are those the only 2 vents you having going through the roof?
Thats a funny story LOL .. i didnt see any squirrels when i replaced the toilet LOL .. yeah those are the only two pipes i see .. i flew my drone up there to snap the photo
Waiting for the damn rain to stop so i can climb up there ..thanks again.
