Help! My toilet is creating a messy situation
March 22, 2018 11:56 AM Subscribe
My question is two-pronged: Why, in general, is my toilet so terrible? And two, more urgently, what the hell do I do now that it's on the precipice of creating a disgusting mess in my bathroom? Details below:
I moved into a new apartment about a month ago and my toilet has caused me constant problems. When I moved in, I immediately noticed sometimes it won't flush – like, I press the flush button, and it makes a half-hearted attempt to flush, but no water and no tissue are pulled through the hole in the back. Typically I let it sit and then try again later and it flushes. Sometimes it does successfully flush, but bits of toilet paper or poop, as the case may be, are left behind.
But this morning the situation has become dire. I pooped, because that's what I do after I wake up, and again it didn't flush properly. So I waited and tried again and it just filled with a bit of water. I lifted off the back of it and noticed the tank hadn't filled up with water. I figured maybe it got stuck and that's why it didn't flush. So I manually lifted the little lever on the valve to cause the tank to fill with water and then once it was full, I tried to flush again. Instead, the bowl just filled even more to the point where I had to stop it from overflowing – I held the lever and then poured a cup of water in the tank to stop it from running.
Now I am stuck with a toilet full of poop and water. (I'm sorry to be gross, but this is real life.) I am afraid if I attempt to plunge it, the nastiness will spill out because there's not a lot of room at the top.
So I have two questions:
1) What the hell do I do now?! My toilet is full of water, poop and toilet paper. I guess maybe it does need to plunged? This exact situation already happened to me within my first week of living here – poop-filled toilet gets stuck, I plunge it and it clears out – but I stupidly let the toilet bowl get really full this time. If I wait will the water level go down? Can I force the water level down somehow? The water level is too high to plunge without it spilling!
2) What do I do going forward? There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. I did not poop anymore today than I do everyday and I certainly didn't use more paper than I normally do. Is there anything I can keep an eye on to figure out what the problem is? Is there anything I can do differently? (I still have yet to figure any difference between pressing the "half flush" button and the full flush button.) I can't live with a toilet that keeps doing this.
The toilet itself is Niagara "Stealth" dual flush toilet and the valve it has is called a Fluidmaster 400a valve. Here are pictures of the toilet itself if it helps. (No gross pictures of the bowl, don't worry.)
I moved into a new apartment about a month ago and my toilet has caused me constant problems. When I moved in, I immediately noticed sometimes it won't flush – like, I press the flush button, and it makes a half-hearted attempt to flush, but no water and no tissue are pulled through the hole in the back. Typically I let it sit and then try again later and it flushes. Sometimes it does successfully flush, but bits of toilet paper or poop, as the case may be, are left behind.
But this morning the situation has become dire. I pooped, because that's what I do after I wake up, and again it didn't flush properly. So I waited and tried again and it just filled with a bit of water. I lifted off the back of it and noticed the tank hadn't filled up with water. I figured maybe it got stuck and that's why it didn't flush. So I manually lifted the little lever on the valve to cause the tank to fill with water and then once it was full, I tried to flush again. Instead, the bowl just filled even more to the point where I had to stop it from overflowing – I held the lever and then poured a cup of water in the tank to stop it from running.
Now I am stuck with a toilet full of poop and water. (I'm sorry to be gross, but this is real life.) I am afraid if I attempt to plunge it, the nastiness will spill out because there's not a lot of room at the top.
So I have two questions:
1) What the hell do I do now?! My toilet is full of water, poop and toilet paper. I guess maybe it does need to plunged? This exact situation already happened to me within my first week of living here – poop-filled toilet gets stuck, I plunge it and it clears out – but I stupidly let the toilet bowl get really full this time. If I wait will the water level go down? Can I force the water level down somehow? The water level is too high to plunge without it spilling!
2) What do I do going forward? There seems to be no rhyme or reason to this. I did not poop anymore today than I do everyday and I certainly didn't use more paper than I normally do. Is there anything I can keep an eye on to figure out what the problem is? Is there anything I can do differently? (I still have yet to figure any difference between pressing the "half flush" button and the full flush button.) I can't live with a toilet that keeps doing this.
The toilet itself is Niagara "Stealth" dual flush toilet and the valve it has is called a Fluidmaster 400a valve. Here are pictures of the toilet itself if it helps. (No gross pictures of the bowl, don't worry.)
If you wait a few hours, the water level will definitely go down to a plunger-safe level.
posted by Tiny Bungalow at 12:20 PM on March 22, 2018 [12 favorites]
posted by Tiny Bungalow at 12:20 PM on March 22, 2018 [12 favorites]
Yeah, it definitely sounds like you’re going to have to plunge. Don’t worry, we’ve all been there. The plunger itself won’t displace a ton of water, so you can get a towel you don’t care about, wrap it around the toilet bowl and then plunge very gently. Don’t try flushing again until you actually see most/all of the water go down. Throw the towel away.
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:22 PM on March 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
posted by Weeping_angel at 12:22 PM on March 22, 2018 [3 favorites]
Like blueberrypuffin says, you need advanced snaking (your landlord is responsible for this) and you also need your flush mechanism repaired (also your landlord's responsibility) Also, like she says, I'd attempt a non-splashing plunge.
In our case it wasn't tampons but wipes.
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:22 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
In our case it wasn't tampons but wipes.
posted by Obscure Reference at 12:22 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
I would get this on occasion. I would also plunge, and that would clear the initial clog. But I also had another issue that I didn't like - sometimes the toilet would flush, but it would be kind of anemic about it, and the water wouldn't clear all the way.
So once - after some googling - I tried plunging after a flush, and then plunging and flushing again, and then repeating the whole process a good five minutes. And I made sure I plunged really, really well; the advice I tried to keep in mind was that you don't think of the plunging action like you pushing something down, but more like you're trying to use the plunge to suction stuff up. The upstroke on the plunge should also be doing some work. I think there were one or two more instances of "anemic flush" after that, and I did the same thing. I also got this organic drain cleaner stuff, the kind that uses enzymes to eat the clog away, and gave the toilet a couple of treatments of that.
It's been just about a year now, and the problem hasn't recurred, so I think that may have done the trick.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:28 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
So once - after some googling - I tried plunging after a flush, and then plunging and flushing again, and then repeating the whole process a good five minutes. And I made sure I plunged really, really well; the advice I tried to keep in mind was that you don't think of the plunging action like you pushing something down, but more like you're trying to use the plunge to suction stuff up. The upstroke on the plunge should also be doing some work. I think there were one or two more instances of "anemic flush" after that, and I did the same thing. I also got this organic drain cleaner stuff, the kind that uses enzymes to eat the clog away, and gave the toilet a couple of treatments of that.
It's been just about a year now, and the problem hasn't recurred, so I think that may have done the trick.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:28 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
You just moved in, this is an issue caused by the previous tenants + your landlord maybe (maybe not) being lazy about plumbing maintenance. Call them to report the issue. Servicing the drain isn't uncommon. It's also common for deferred maintenance issues like this to crop up the first few months of tenancy. No big deal unless the landlord is unresponsive.
Call them. You can plunge in an hour when the water level subsides. Make sure a plumber services the drain. The end.
posted by jbenben at 12:28 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Call them. You can plunge in an hour when the water level subsides. Make sure a plumber services the drain. The end.
posted by jbenben at 12:28 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Response by poster: Major update! I decided to very gently plunge it and see what I could do without making a mess. It needed about two solid "plunges" and it immediately started to drain right out and flushed without me having to try to flush it again. It was very strange and automatic. Thanks for giving me the courage to try.
So... question #2 stands: what's up with this dumb toilet? I guess the next course of action is to ask my landlord to see if something is stuck inside of it that's causing it to clog easily? I will send an email now.
I should note, they replaced my valve within my first week of living here because it made a very loud banging sound every time I flushed. I thought it could be a "water hammer" but the guy said it was just the valve getting stuck or something. So, the valve itself should be fine.
posted by peachpie at 12:30 PM on March 22, 2018
So... question #2 stands: what's up with this dumb toilet? I guess the next course of action is to ask my landlord to see if something is stuck inside of it that's causing it to clog easily? I will send an email now.
I should note, they replaced my valve within my first week of living here because it made a very loud banging sound every time I flushed. I thought it could be a "water hammer" but the guy said it was just the valve getting stuck or something. So, the valve itself should be fine.
posted by peachpie at 12:30 PM on March 22, 2018
For posterity, I once had a toilet in a similar situation and even leaving it for hours had no effect. I read online that pouring a bunch of dish soap in would help... and it did!
posted by papayaninja at 12:51 PM on March 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
posted by papayaninja at 12:51 PM on March 22, 2018 [4 favorites]
Oh! Dish soap is another thing I tried - dish soap and hot water. I would fill a kettle all the way, then bring it to the boil. Then I'd squirt some dish soap in the toilet and pour the entire boiling kettle of water into the toilet - I was told it helps if you hold it up kind of high. That also cleared some slow-flushing issues.
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:57 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by EmpressCallipygos at 12:57 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
It could be the design of the toilet. In the 90s, a lot of toilets were manufactured with "low flush" water volume, but no redesign of the bowl and exit path to make flushing with less water feasible. I had a couple of these in my house, and the only way to avoid clogging it and plunging was to (a) poop, (b) flush, (c) wipe, (d) flush the paper. Exceptions for very small poops (one flush OK), or a lot of paper usage (flush one more time in the middle of wiping). This reduced clogs to very rarely. Now, since I installed new, properly design toilets, I have had to plunge only once in three years. So, if that is your problem, it could be fixed if the landlord agrees to replace the toilet with a modern low-flush model. If they won't, use the multi-flush method above.
posted by beagle at 12:58 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by beagle at 12:58 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I did boiling water last time. It did seem to help, but it wasn't an option this time because the water level got so high. I will keep dish soap in mind though.
And this apartment building was built in 2014 so everything is new. That said, everything is designed to be energy efficient and I know this toilet is designed not to waste water. I think that's why it has this stupid "half flush" button - to use less water (although I am still very unclear which circumstances call for a half flush since I am a lady and I use tissue paper everytime I go). I linked to the model at the bottom of my original post. But seriously, if anyone can explain the use case of half flush vs. full flush for me, that'd be great.
posted by peachpie at 1:03 PM on March 22, 2018
And this apartment building was built in 2014 so everything is new. That said, everything is designed to be energy efficient and I know this toilet is designed not to waste water. I think that's why it has this stupid "half flush" button - to use less water (although I am still very unclear which circumstances call for a half flush since I am a lady and I use tissue paper everytime I go). I linked to the model at the bottom of my original post. But seriously, if anyone can explain the use case of half flush vs. full flush for me, that'd be great.
posted by peachpie at 1:03 PM on March 22, 2018
Don't forget that you have the option to fill a bucket in the bathtub and flush it with that. The water can be poured in as slowly, or as hard as is required by the fullness in the bowl or the blockage. If the toilet is draining slowly but plunging doesn't work the bucket method will often clear things given several buckets of water. If you pour from high up the flush is harder.
Water saving toilets are the worst. I have encountered several situations where a water-saving toilet was installed and immediately had to have the tank replaced because it just wasn't up to the usage. A water saving toilet works best when it is only used by one guy pissing, and not wiping. As soon as the usage is higher than that you're gonna get blockages.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:08 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Water saving toilets are the worst. I have encountered several situations where a water-saving toilet was installed and immediately had to have the tank replaced because it just wasn't up to the usage. A water saving toilet works best when it is only used by one guy pissing, and not wiping. As soon as the usage is higher than that you're gonna get blockages.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:08 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yep, you would never use the half-flush. That's only for guys who give it a shake instead of blotting with a square of paper.
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:09 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by Jane the Brown at 1:09 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Hello, Australian here, land of dual-flush toilets (and low flow shower heads, and drought.)
Yes, the two flushes are there to help conserve water. Ironically they don't always work out that way. Poop gets the full flush. Pee gets the half flush. If you use paper, use the full flush. (I sometimes get away with 2 squares of TP and risk the half flush.)
posted by freethefeet at 1:12 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Yes, the two flushes are there to help conserve water. Ironically they don't always work out that way. Poop gets the full flush. Pee gets the half flush. If you use paper, use the full flush. (I sometimes get away with 2 squares of TP and risk the half flush.)
posted by freethefeet at 1:12 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: Not to thread-sit, but could accidentally pressing the "half flush" button be the source of any of my troubles with this stupid-ass toilet? Or do these issues still sound symptomatic of a potential partial clog inside of the toilet somewhere? It's driving me up a fucking wall here that it just doesn't flush sometimes.
posted by peachpie at 1:26 PM on March 22, 2018
posted by peachpie at 1:26 PM on March 22, 2018
Four years would be a short time for this to happen, but the trapway can get coated with scale, which is bumpy (impeding flow) and can significantly narrow the trapway's diameter. Hardware stores will stock "build-up remover" liquid, which is exactly what it sounds like (I've got some from Zep). Worth a shot.
posted by adamrice at 1:28 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by adamrice at 1:28 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
No matter which button you push, hold it down until you see the flushing start to happen. A press-and-release is sometimes enough to drop the tank level just a bit (and now you have to wait for it to refill) but not enough to actually raise the bowl water level over the threshold to flush.
posted by aimedwander at 2:11 PM on March 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
posted by aimedwander at 2:11 PM on March 22, 2018 [5 favorites]
Agreeing with adamrice. The little passageways within the toilet bowl can get mineral build-up over time, especially for cheap toilets with less-smooth porcelain. Some scale remover may help make your flushes more robust.
posted by Midnight Skulker at 2:25 PM on March 22, 2018
posted by Midnight Skulker at 2:25 PM on March 22, 2018
I had a recalcitrant toilet in the past and finally discovered somebody had thrown a fork down it and it was stuck in such a way that stuff wouldn't always go down. I think it's time to get your landlord to replace the whole toilet.
posted by mareli at 3:58 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
posted by mareli at 3:58 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
A 2014 toilet should not be doing that. There is either a partial blockage in your drain or the drain is improperly vented or the vents are (possibly partially) blocked.
I suspect that if you fill the bathtub up with water, assuming there is one next to the toilet, and then pull stopper that you will see some weirdness with how it drains. (It may speed up and slow down or make the sink or toilet gurgle, etc) If so, it's almost certainly a venting problem.
That said, in the meantime you can take steps to reduce the chance of trouble like one or more courtesy flushes during the movement, flushing before TP, and either reducing your TP usage or using a wastebasket for used TP instead of flushing it.
Since you haven't had regular problems with other toilets, it's not likely that you're grossly overloading things or are otherwise doomed to a life of constant plunging. Just in case, though, don't try to flush several wads of 5+ sheets apiece all at once, especially if there are other solids in the bowl.
Oh, also consider less posh TP. The super thick Charmin tends to clog things up more than something like Angel Soft where the individual plys are less dense and are not bonded together as firmly. The cheaper stuff disintegrates much more quickly after hitting water.
posted by wierdo at 4:22 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
I suspect that if you fill the bathtub up with water, assuming there is one next to the toilet, and then pull stopper that you will see some weirdness with how it drains. (It may speed up and slow down or make the sink or toilet gurgle, etc) If so, it's almost certainly a venting problem.
That said, in the meantime you can take steps to reduce the chance of trouble like one or more courtesy flushes during the movement, flushing before TP, and either reducing your TP usage or using a wastebasket for used TP instead of flushing it.
Since you haven't had regular problems with other toilets, it's not likely that you're grossly overloading things or are otherwise doomed to a life of constant plunging. Just in case, though, don't try to flush several wads of 5+ sheets apiece all at once, especially if there are other solids in the bowl.
Oh, also consider less posh TP. The super thick Charmin tends to clog things up more than something like Angel Soft where the individual plys are less dense and are not bonded together as firmly. The cheaper stuff disintegrates much more quickly after hitting water.
posted by wierdo at 4:22 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]
Oh, and for future reference, just in case the water level doesn't go down: You can usually force some water out the drain by plunging "down" gently a few times, which then gets you enough room to do several full force upstrokes, which should clear it if the plunger is sealing properly.
Also, it's kinda gross, but leaving it a day or so can also give the water enough time to soupify things enough they'll go down with a normal flush, assuming the bowl isn't still full of water.
Just be glad you haven't yet had to don gloves and remove waste to a trash bag to clear it up. That was a very bad day. (Not really, just a bad 15 minutes that I'd completely forgotten about until just now) It really would have been a bad day had it been someone else's doing! ;)
posted by wierdo at 4:30 PM on March 22, 2018
Also, it's kinda gross, but leaving it a day or so can also give the water enough time to soupify things enough they'll go down with a normal flush, assuming the bowl isn't still full of water.
Just be glad you haven't yet had to don gloves and remove waste to a trash bag to clear it up. That was a very bad day. (Not really, just a bad 15 minutes that I'd completely forgotten about until just now) It really would have been a bad day had it been someone else's doing! ;)
posted by wierdo at 4:30 PM on March 22, 2018
You have two problems: your fill valve, and your bowl drainage.
The way a toilet works is the flush valve sends most of the tank water down into the bowl. How much depends on the specifics of the flush valve, and half vs. full, and anyway, a big amount of water goes to the bowl. Then the fill valve lets water back into the tank, and lets some water into the bowl at the same time to re-fill the bowl up to the line.
The bowl is a siphon. There are no valves or anything in it; it will operate entirely on its own. If the water level rises to a certain point, it fills up the siphon and automatically "flushes" itself out. The water level, and everything in the bowl, gets sucked down into the sewer line. You can gradually pour water into the bowl and watch to see what level causes the bowl to flush. If at any point in the future, the bowl level goes over that line, there's a blockage in the toilet and/or sewer line. This blockage is unrelated to any issue with the tank valves. Plunging will break up the blockage and allow the pressure of the water in the bowl (water is heavy!) to work. Time will often soften the blockage, since there's water sitting on it.
Also, as mentioned above, you can "flush" the bowl by adding water to it, from any source; it doesn't have to come from the tank. All the tank does is provide a handy source of lots of water, and a mechanism to refill the bowl back up to the previous level.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:30 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
The way a toilet works is the flush valve sends most of the tank water down into the bowl. How much depends on the specifics of the flush valve, and half vs. full, and anyway, a big amount of water goes to the bowl. Then the fill valve lets water back into the tank, and lets some water into the bowl at the same time to re-fill the bowl up to the line.
The bowl is a siphon. There are no valves or anything in it; it will operate entirely on its own. If the water level rises to a certain point, it fills up the siphon and automatically "flushes" itself out. The water level, and everything in the bowl, gets sucked down into the sewer line. You can gradually pour water into the bowl and watch to see what level causes the bowl to flush. If at any point in the future, the bowl level goes over that line, there's a blockage in the toilet and/or sewer line. This blockage is unrelated to any issue with the tank valves. Plunging will break up the blockage and allow the pressure of the water in the bowl (water is heavy!) to work. Time will often soften the blockage, since there's water sitting on it.
Also, as mentioned above, you can "flush" the bowl by adding water to it, from any source; it doesn't have to come from the tank. All the tank does is provide a handy source of lots of water, and a mechanism to refill the bowl back up to the previous level.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 4:30 PM on March 22, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I don't see how the valve is the problem? As I said, they just put in a new one recently.
posted by peachpie at 5:44 PM on March 22, 2018
posted by peachpie at 5:44 PM on March 22, 2018
If the tank is empty, the fill valve is not working. But if the water is at the level of the black float cylinder (on the fill valve, which is the skinny thing on the left side of your first picture), then that’s where it’s supposed to be.
This is separate from the bowl issue though.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:26 PM on March 22, 2018
This is separate from the bowl issue though.
posted by Huffy Puffy at 6:26 PM on March 22, 2018
Response by poster: The tank wasn't empty today - it just wasn't up to the line where it should be normally. Maybe the clogged toilet had something to do with it pausing. I will keep an eye on the tank and the valve to make sure it's filling properly. I've taken the top off and I'm gonna keep it that way so I can monitor.
But are we at a consensus I should ask my landlord to make sure there's nothing partially blocking the toilet? I hate being a pest and removing the toilet to look seems like a big job. But tonight already it didn't completely flush some toilet paper all the way out. I did a "full flush" and not a "half flush" too. My email is written I just haven't sent it yet to the landlord.
posted by peachpie at 6:48 PM on March 22, 2018
But are we at a consensus I should ask my landlord to make sure there's nothing partially blocking the toilet? I hate being a pest and removing the toilet to look seems like a big job. But tonight already it didn't completely flush some toilet paper all the way out. I did a "full flush" and not a "half flush" too. My email is written I just haven't sent it yet to the landlord.
posted by peachpie at 6:48 PM on March 22, 2018
Maybe the clogged toilet had something to do with it pausing.
I don't think this is possible with a normal toilet design. The cistern and the bowl are entirely independent of each other. The cistern is just a way of dumping a controlled amount of water into the bowl in a regulated way. It doesn't respond to the amount of water in the bowl or the state of the drain at all (hence the possibility of bowl overflow). It seems more likely that, when you added more water to the cistern, the extra power of the flush compacted and exacerbated (or at least revealed) an existing blockage in the drain. If the cistern isn't filling sufficiently it is, pretty much by definition, demonstrative of a problem with the fill-valve. It's possible that you just have two different problems. The fact that the valve is only a few years old doesn't mean it wasn't defective when it was installed. So, yeah, keep an eye on the fill level, because you might well have a fill-valve problem, but get your landlord out, because you definitely have a problem with the drain.
posted by howfar at 2:40 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
I don't think this is possible with a normal toilet design. The cistern and the bowl are entirely independent of each other. The cistern is just a way of dumping a controlled amount of water into the bowl in a regulated way. It doesn't respond to the amount of water in the bowl or the state of the drain at all (hence the possibility of bowl overflow). It seems more likely that, when you added more water to the cistern, the extra power of the flush compacted and exacerbated (or at least revealed) an existing blockage in the drain. If the cistern isn't filling sufficiently it is, pretty much by definition, demonstrative of a problem with the fill-valve. It's possible that you just have two different problems. The fact that the valve is only a few years old doesn't mean it wasn't defective when it was installed. So, yeah, keep an eye on the fill level, because you might well have a fill-valve problem, but get your landlord out, because you definitely have a problem with the drain.
posted by howfar at 2:40 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
If the problem persists, you've either got a blockage within the toilet, or within the drain pipe. Plunging is one way to push a blockage down, but a toilet auger does a much better job of breaking up blockages. You just insert the auger end into the bottom of the bowl and turn the crank, moving the auger through the toilet and breaking up the blockage. Your landlord or super should have one.
If it continues to block, you can try switching to a thinner toilet paper that dissolves more easily. The super thick quilted stuff is notorious for being so much likely to form blockages, because it doesn't dissolve and break up fast enough.
But if it continues to be an issue, it's most likely a blockage within the building's drain pipes, and you'll have to keep after the landlord to deal with it.
posted by Lunaloon at 5:33 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
If it continues to block, you can try switching to a thinner toilet paper that dissolves more easily. The super thick quilted stuff is notorious for being so much likely to form blockages, because it doesn't dissolve and break up fast enough.
But if it continues to be an issue, it's most likely a blockage within the building's drain pipes, and you'll have to keep after the landlord to deal with it.
posted by Lunaloon at 5:33 AM on March 23, 2018 [1 favorite]
Response by poster: I use plain Scott toilet paper. I hate quilted or "soft" toilet paper. I wrap around my hand about three times before I use it. I haven't had an issue with toilets before and I've lived in a dozen different apartments in my lifetime. I don't flush tampons or anything other than toilet paper either.
I'll keep an eye on it and then contact the landlord once I've been able to gather more data on the situation.
posted by peachpie at 1:36 PM on March 23, 2018
I'll keep an eye on it and then contact the landlord once I've been able to gather more data on the situation.
posted by peachpie at 1:36 PM on March 23, 2018
Response by poster: As an update, if anyone cares, I think the "half flush" was causing an accumulation over time that eventually would pile up. I opened up my toilet and removed a piece so it can't half-flush anymore and can only do a "full flush." That ended up solving the issue because I haven't had any trouble since. They should rename half-flush to "male flush." As a lady, I use toilet paper everytime I go and I didn't realize that alone meant I couldn't use half-flush.
posted by peachpie at 2:54 PM on May 31, 2018
posted by peachpie at 2:54 PM on May 31, 2018
This thread is closed to new comments.
1. Toilet is getting clogged easily. Are you flushing tampons? In my situation, snaking the toilet itself didn't help, and my landlord had to snake the sewage pipe in the back of my apartment building (?) and removed a huge clot of tampons/hair that had accumulated from previous tenants. gross.
2. I, too, am currently having issues with the fill valve assembly! The arm in mine will get slightly stuck and won't depress all the way post-flushing sometimes to trigger a tank refill. Super annoying, and I will be watching this thread to see what others suggest for this. I've thought about tying a small weight/fishing sink to the top of the arm to encourage it to push down more, but I feel like there should be better solutions.
Uhhhhhh as for right now, plunge very gently to see if you can get the water level to go down? Turn off the water source to the toilet for now too just in case.
posted by blueberrypuffin at 12:04 PM on March 22, 2018 [2 favorites]