Toilet losing water from the bowl

[lemmon]

Hey all,
Losing water INTERMITTENLY from the bowl. Sometimes after a flush and I can actually see the water in the bowl going down...its very slow but I can see it. Other times after flush it stays at right level for hours....
As I understand it there are 2 things that can cause losing water from the bowl. 1. crack in bottom of toilet 2. insufficient venting either due to clog or obstruction. This a new problem. The Intermittent part is what is confusing me. I've never heard it "burp" to vent and it does seem to flush a little slower but other than that?? Its an American Standard toilet the type that flushes forward.
Thanks for any and all help ... it seems I never have a simple problem. Always something way out

 

[phishfood]

I am guessing that there is a partial clog in the drain line.

 

[lemmon]

phishfood, thanks for the reply
how would that cause the bowl water to decrease especially intermittenly
thanks

 

[stevemachine]

Siphonage. If you have a plugged drain its starving for air so to speak and instead of having equal pressure in the system, an unequal pressure is created because of the partial blockage when water is flushed. Your toilet bowl is probably siphoning. You may want to hire someone with the proper set up and know how. Drain cleaning with the big machines can be dangerous and if you don't know what you're doing you can end up missing some limbs. Plus usually they'll have a camera which I don't think most places rent them out. That way a camera can prove the line is clear, or what may have caused the issue

 

[stevemachine]

And as far as it being intermittent it's hard to say but if I had to guess, it's possible that when you flush the toilet some stuff gets hung up more so on that partial blockage which makes it more blocked off. That's my best guess

 

[lemmon]

Thank you. I'll hire someone. Thanks for the help

 

[stevemachine]

No problem best of luck!

 

[GapPowerWilly]

Lemmon........chances are you're not located here in PA but even so you should be able to rent a sewer camera like ours. Use my website contact form if you need any help in finding one near you. You might also contact Electric Eel and ask them who near you rents one of their sewer cameras. Ridgid sells nice ones for a few grand if you want to buy one at places like HD.