Plumbing Question 83
Question:
My basement toilet drains very slowly. My plumber did the closet auger thing, but it didn’t help. He says we may have to lift the toilet. All other toilets upstairs drain fine. What do we do if we lift the toilet? Any other suggestions?
Answer:
Sometimes the closet auger can not dislodge the debris and we need to remove the toilet. I wish I knew more details though. Were you present when he did the augering? Was he able to get the auger down the toilet with no problem but it still flushed slow? Or did the cable bind up and would NOT go down the toilet trap? If the auger would not go down, I would pull the toilet and take it outside and using an inspection mirror, look up the trapways to see if something is lodged in the trap.
Sometimes a garden hose placed in the toilet shoe and flushed backwards will float the blockage backwards out of the bowl. (Also, have the plumber dump two 5 gallon buckets of water down the closet bend to make sure the water is draining down the main). If water is standing in the trap or starts to come up, the main sewer is blocked and that would be why the toilet is not flushing.
If the auger went down with no problem but it just wouldn’t clear, check the date on the toilet, (which is stamped inside the tank). If it is more than 15 years old it may just be full of mineral deposits and would probably be cheaper to replace it instead of trying to have it acid washed and the tank rebuilt.