# Toilet Challenge



## Vermaraj (Mar 6, 2007)

Toilet model is K4530
I took the toilet off and augered it from top and bottom. Then I pulled rags in from the bottom. Started with a small rag and worked progressively up. They all came out with a problem. But nothing was attached.

Finally tried to pull a small kitchen towel through the trap. Fortunately it can jammed up on the flange before I could get it stuck in the trap and really F&*^& things up. Auger is stretched out as a result and now useless. 

The good news is I re-installed the toilet without any leaks. It worked great for about a week and now I am back to square one. 

How much is one of those seesnakes?

I'm guessing whatever is in the trap floats when the trap is full of water and can be pushed aside by the auger. But how can 3 or 4 rags not push this thing out and a little toilet paper can completely close the trap? Whatever it is it seems to move around enough that a plunger will temporarily clear the problem. 

I was thinking of trying to fish the trap with a brass rod fashioned into a hook?


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## boman47k (Oct 13, 2006)

Be tempting to bust it and see what was causing problem at this point.


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## Grumpyplumber (May 6, 2007)

*There's something wedged in the trap, had this exact problem with a customer who finally called me a few years back.*
*He'd plunge it...would work fine for a day, then happen again...toilet paper & solid waste would build up around something solid inside the trap.*
*I pulled the bowl...put in on it's side and reverse augered.*
*Turned out it was a pill bottle...I literally had to hammer it out from the bottom of the bowl with my auger.*

*Also...don't try putting any metal from the top...you'll scratch that bowl somethin' fierce.*


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## Vermaraj (Mar 6, 2007)

What kind of auger did you use?

I have been using a Rigid K3. I can auger from the top or bottom all the way through without really hitting anything. This is the frustrating part.


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## MechanicalDVR (Jun 23, 2007)

Played around with one of the toilets at my mom's house for hours the other day, finally I couldn't take it anymore. Took the bowl outside smacked it with a hammer and found one of my nephews had tried to flush an apple.
Never had anything come back on the auger tip, even though it kept getting jammed in the neck of the bowl.


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## Grumpyplumber (May 6, 2007)

*Thats one for the books...an apple.*


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## MechanicalDVR (Jun 23, 2007)

Grumpyplumber said:


> *Thats one for the books...an apple.*


Ticked me off, I pulled it off three times, everytime it would flush nice with paper once, then stop up.


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## BigMikeB (Aug 1, 2007)

Gotta love kids..............and toilets.


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## rhinoguy (Feb 8, 2007)

*Another approach*

I just had the same backup problem with an American Standard one piece. I reamed with a piece of romex (Works!) and followed with a new cheap tool from Lowes. It's a piece of plastic about half an inch wide, sixteen long. It's not as stiff as wire but stiff enough. It has sharp, nasty points sticking off the sides. It should be more like twenty-four inches, but with enough digging it got the job done. Cost less than two bucks.
The "solids" were paper and the usual. Older people generate different waste products... The final trick was to push all the water out of the bowl. I then boiled a gallon of water and added laundry detergent until saturated. I poured this down and the bowl suddenly emptied. That detergent is powerful stuff! And a whole cup of it is only fifty cents.
Of course LEARNING all of this took several hours of trial and error.
BTW: these low water use toilets seem to have a very large opening in the drain. A typical plunger is mostly useless. Is anyone selling a new and improved model?


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## The plumber (Jul 5, 2007)

First off the plumber that came out should have been able to diagnose this problem very easily. Here's how it works. I walk in you tell me you had people over and the toilet was used heavily and now it has problems flushing. I start to assume someone dropped something down it. I grab a handful of toilet paper and get it to back up, I run the sink or tub to see if the toilet gurgles, if not I dump a 5 gallon bucket of water in the bowl trying to fill it to the rim quickly. If it does not drain correctly I know there is something in the trap. Sometimes you can auger right past the blockage. Toilet paper holders and toothbrushes are a pain in the #[email protected] I've pulled out phones, light bulbs, skoal lids. If I can't get it out I pull the toilet and roll it end to end running auger from every angle. Gravity is the best weapon if you have a tricky blockage in the trap.


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

I've had a lot of toilets like this. The camera should find the problem. I use a hand mirror and flashlight and can often see what's causing the problem. Often, it's an internal baffle in the toilet that has been broken loose. And if you're running augers and rags and whatnot through the toilet, it really isn't that hard to break - it's just china, after all.

And it can fool you - looking at it, it may look fine, but with water in it, you can often see a piece move as the water surface fluctuates.


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## gitnerdun (Nov 1, 2006)

Who dug this up, it is from August:blink:


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## PrecisionFloors (Jan 24, 2006)

I'm glad someone did...I'm having the same problems with one of mine. Once, when my son was 3 he decided to flush 8 bars of soap one afternoon. We stopped keeping the soap supply under the vanity after that incident.


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

PrecisionFloors said:


> when my son was 3 he decided to flush 8 bars of soap one afternoon


I once had a bar of soap in a toilet. I augered it several times and got nowhere. I pulled it and turned it over and there it was - a bar of Ivory across the opening. It was soft enough that the auger went right through it, but wouldn't move it.


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## KillerToiletSpider (May 27, 2007)

Herk said:


> I once had a bar of soap in a toilet. I augered it several times and got nowhere. I pulled it and turned it over and there it was - a bar of Ivory across the opening. It was soft enough that the auger went right through it, but wouldn't move it.


Run hot water through the toilet for an hour, you'll dissolve the soap.


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## smellslike$tome (Jan 22, 2006)

Replace that piece of junk Kohler with a Toto and tell your wife that if she doesn't like it she can keep her Kohler but she is the one who is going to be cleaning up the mess every time it overflows because one of her guests tries to reflush too fast so that no one will see that they actually produced a big stinky but they can't get rid of the evidence.


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## The plumber (Jul 5, 2007)

PrecisionFloors said:


> I'm glad someone did...I'm having the same problems with one of mine. Once, when my son was 3 he decided to flush 8 bars of soap one afternoon. We stopped keeping the soap supply under the vanity after that incident.


I dropped a bar of soap in a girls toilet a couple of years ago. Try explaining how you stopped up her toilet on a first date.


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## Putty Truck (Oct 6, 2007)

smellslike$tome said:


> Replace that piece of junk Kohler with a Toto and tell your wife that if she doesn't like it she can keep her Kohler but she is the one who is going to be cleaning up the mess every time it overflows because one of her guests tries to reflush too fast so that no one will see that they actually produced a big stinky but they can't get rid of the evidence.


I've had three call backs on the Kohler tank-to-bowl kits in the last month...not a good thing at all.

I installed two TooToos, too, for a customer (he brought them from Oregone) and I liked the engineering. The flush was odd because there wasn't much of a rim wash at all. The bowl water didn't rise when flushed, either.

TooToos do stop up because we get calls for that.


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## pipepimp (Nov 8, 2007)

Try adding a lot of toilet paper to the bowl imean alot kinda wad it up and try forcing the paper down with the snake kind like reaming out the toilet trap could be soap or a sticky bm,


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## Herk (Aug 1, 2007)

One of the oddest things I've discovered when breaking a toilet with a hammer is that you sometimes still cannot find out why it wouldn't flush, but often will find pennies that have found places to stick themselves. Kids love to flush coins.


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## neolitic (Apr 20, 2006)

What the heck ever happened with the OP?
I hate when I miss the end of the movie.


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