Here are some general do’s and don’t for toilet plumbing:
Do not use chemicals in your toilet. Chemicals may clear that clogged toilet, but those same chemicals will harm your plumbing and eat away at your toilet seal (wax ring) that is hidden underneath your toilet. It is especially bad to pour chemicals into the tank, this could harm your plumbing seals and make your toilet continuously run or leak. Also, the chemicals are bad for our environment.
NEVER pour grease or any other hardening compounds like drywall compound or wax down the toilet. These chemicals will simply harden within the plumbing lines and restrict water flow until the lines are cleared using a rooter machine.
If you have small children, avoid leaving the lid open as you will be amazed what the plumber or drain professional will pull out the the toilet plumbing. 🙂
Many toilet issues occur inside the tank which contain the moving parts. Certain repairs are simple enough to do by the home owner. Other problems may require an experienced professional to come perform the toilet repair.
How does a toilet work?
Toilet Side Shot
In order to diagnose issues and have a fighting chance to perform toilet repair, you need to have a basic knowledge of how the toilet operates.
1. Pressing the level on the outside of the tank causes the arm with the chain connected (see below) to lift the flapper, which happens to be red in the photo below.
Toilet Flapper, lever and chain
2. The flapper remains lifted to allow water to flow from the tank into the bowl until there is no more water in the tank, then the flapper closes, stopping the water.
3. At the same time water is draining, water flows into the tank from an intake valve that comes through the filler tube.
4. When the flap closes and water begins rising in the tank, the float (a ball looking item), begins to rise and once the float rises to a certain point, the water flow is cut off.
Most common toilet problems:
First off, before any work is performed on a toilet, you should turn the water off at the valve located below the tank.
The tank fills but water continues to run: Remove the cover and check the float arm. The ball and float arm could be connected by a collar which allows your to raise and lower the float. The ball should be about submerged about halfway under water in order to shut off the water.
Tank Doesn’t Fill, Water Still Runs:
This usually indicates that your flapper is stuck in the upright position, allowing water to flow freely into the bowl. Odds are that something is preventing the flapper from going back into the down position.
Water constantly runs into the toilet bowl:
When the flapper does not make a good seal with the bowl, the water will “trickle” into the bowl and you will hear the toilet routinely making noise. This is a sign that you need to replace the flapper and seal at the bottom of the bowl.
Water is appearing from the bottom of the toilet at the floor:
This is a sure sign that you need to call someone. There are wax rings hidden underneath your toilet. Over time and by use of chemical cleaners in your toilet, these wax rings disintegrate and begin to fail. Water coming out of the bottom of the toilet is a sure sign that the seal is going to go bad or is already bad.
Most clogged toilets can be fixed very easily in minutes by the average homeowner. If you are in St. Petersburg, Clearwater, Palm Harbor and unable to unclog your drains, please call and I can come help you with your toilet drain problems. You can accomplish this without the toilet overflowing on to the bathroom floor and making a mess.
This brief article will will show you some simple steps to get your toilet back up and running properly.
Grab that plunger
Using a plunger with the rubber flange pointed outward for the best seal. Push the plunger in and out rigorously while keeping enough water in the bowl to keep the plunger under water. You may want to keep some rags nearby to cleanup any spilled or splashed water.
Flange plunger
Nearly all clogged toilets can be fixed by using that special tool called a “plunger.” 🙂 When you purchase a plunger, purchase one that has a flange end and bell shaped top. Consider purchasing an additional plunger for sinks and tub drains too.
A bad flush means that your toilet drain is either slightly or completely plugged. A completely plugged toilet is obvious. The toilet bowl will simply fill with water and may even overflow. Allow the water some time to flow through the toilet drain and then attempt to plunge the toilet.
Most toilets that are clogged simply drain slowly. This allows the water to drain but the waste remains in the toilet bowl. You may also hear a gurgling noise which is an indication of an improperly functioning toilet drain. If you have these problems, grab that plunger.
Plunge your toilet rigoursly with the plunger from 5 to 10 times making sure that you are forcing water in and out of the drain. Make sure there is no air in your plunger. If your plunger has air inside of it, you will not provide enough pressure to free debris from your toilet drain.
Make sure that you have enough water within the bowl to keep the plunger mostly submerged.
Generally the plunger will clear up the clog.
Drain Snake
Drain Snake
If the plunger fails to open your drain, then you might have a more serious blockage. You might be forced to snake out your toilet drain. A snake looks like a long spring with a cork screw type head. The head is larger than the spring wire portion. The idea of the snake is to basically “push” or “grab” the debris and either make it move along to your sewer or pull it back up your drain. Using the snake, you turn the head using the handle at the end of the snake and feed more line down your drain grabbing the spring portion, pulling the wire out of the holder and pushing the wire down the drain. Many small snakes have a thumb screw that you need to losen prior to pulling the snake out of the holder.
Toilet Auger
Toilet Auger
In some cases a snake may not be the best tool to use to clear your toilet clog. A standard snake may scratch the bowl of the toilet since it is metal on porcelean. An auger is designed for toilets and makes the first bend for you and helps prevent scratching. An auger does have limited length as opposed to the standard snake. A snake may reach 20′ or longer. An auger may have a 3′ length. However most toilet clogs are right near the toilet drain.
About the only step left is to remove the toilet from the floor. At this point, you probably want to call someone. If you are located in Pinellas County, FLÂ , please give me a call (727) 265-1911.
by Dennis
Phone: (727) 265-1911
Serving St. Petersburg, Largo, Dunedin, Pinellas County Florida.
Preventing Drain Clogs
Clogged drains are avoided by creating routines that prevent the chance for drain clogging and performing drain cleaning at routine intervals.
Avoid putting food debris, coffee grounds in your drain plumbing. It is always a good idea to perform the suggestions at routine intervals. There is a number of things you can do in order to avoid clogged drain pipes.
Preventing clogged drain pipes:
Daily:
After use of your shower and sinks, make sure you remove any noticeable hair or other debris that might be around the drain plug.
Do not ever pour grease into your drain plumbing pipes. Never pour cooking grease down the drain plumbing. Grease will harden just as it does when it sits in the pan. However grease will buildup in your pipes over time and prevent water from flowing properly in your drain line, it can also lead to objects becoming hung up in your drain line.
Weekly:
Fill up the sink all the way to the top, then remove the stopper. This will perform a simple flush of the drain line with the sheer weight and volume of the water mass
Monthly:
Check your drain stoppers to make sure that hair or other buildup is remove and water is free to flow down the drain.
Semi-annually:
Turn on the sinks, showers and flush the toilets to allow maximum flow through the main sewer line to move debris out of your sewer line into the main sewer.
What happens if I still get a clogged drain?
Sometimes clogged drains cannot be prevented by the homeowner. You can try the plunger or the drain auger, but if these tools are not successful, then you should call a drain professional to come clean your drain plumbing. Tree roots, rust in the sewer main line and other objects may prevent proper water flow to the sewer. These types of problems cannot typically be handled with hand tools and requires a rooter machine or hydro jetting machine. If you are located in Pinellas County, St. Pete, Dunedin Florida, by all means, please give me a call (727) 265-1911.
Our discounted pricing will beat most other plumbing companies pricing. Many companies will advertise $74 dollars, only to end up charging you hundreds!
You should not use Liquid Plumber in your toilet to remove toilet clogs. While liquid plumber might be able to dissolve hair, it will not dissolve waste. Liquid plumber will also likely eat through your wax ring under your toilet, which will cause your toilet to leak.
A residential sewer clean out is an access hole to get into your sewer main line. The hole is typically closed so that debris does not get into your sewer pipe. If you have a basement, your clean out may be located within the basement. The clean out allows the sewer drain professional to get easy access to your sewer main line which sometimes is necessary to remove large debris.
Before you get that outrageous water bill, you should make sure your toilet is not leaking. It is not uncommon that your toilet could run your water bill hundreds of dollars more than you are paying now.
Many toilets leak without obvious signs. Here are a few tips you can use to see if your toilet is leaking:
If your toilet is not in use and it is making sounds, that is almost a sure sign of a toilet leak.
If you have to jiggle the handle to make the toilet stop running.
If you see water running trickling in the bowl when the toilet is not in use, that is an obvious leak.
