Flushing Problems

[tnokie]

When I flush our toilet the water swirls around and around and sometimes doesn't even all go out before the tank is filled and shuts off. What can I do to make it stop swirling and drain out?

[oneokie]

Has the water always swirled as it is doing now? Are you seeing a whirlpool effect down into the suction? Could be air in the whirlpool causing a delay/preventing the suction to start.

To stop the swirling, you could try to plug some of the holes under the rim of the bowl.

[pheasantplucker]

I replaced my fairly new Jacuzzi toilet (maybe three years old) when it flushed about 50% of the time on the first try...and the rest of the time, taking between two and four flushes. I first took the whole thing apart. Cleaned it out, including the tiny holes under the rim that fill the bowl. I put it in place with a new wax seal, and still performed "crappily". I then went to Lowe's and bought a champion 4 toilet. This thing is amazing...commercials show flushing a bucket of golf balls down the thing, and a 20 lb. bag of dogfood. Maybe it's time to just invest in a new toilet.

[rambler]

Always been this way, or just cropped up as a new problem?

Toilets rely upon the water 'sucking' down the waste tube below them. If there is any bloackage in the waste pipes, it'll slow down. Any kids in the house? Many, many, many parents have found a toy or pen or something in the bend of the toilet pipe slowing down flow......

--->Paul

[fetch33]

Originally Posted by rambler

Always been this way, or just cropped up as a new problem?

Toilets rely upon the water 'sucking' down the waste tube below them. If there is any bloackage in the waste pipes, it'll slow down. Any kids in the house? Many, many, many parents have found a toy or pen or something in the bend of the toilet pipe slowing down flow......

--->Paul

This applies to vacuum cleaners as well, LOL. My kids told me the vac wasn't working. I took it apart only to find a pen, a fold up nail file and lots of used gerbil bedding. We had to have a discussion on what was appropriate to try to vacuum up. Oh, my kids are 18 and 16.

[carasel]

not being a plumber. i just throw this out. is your vent pipe clear? it would seem like a plugged vent may make the water flow slower.

[uncle Will in In.]

If your leach bed it full of water from all the rain, the water in the stool don't have anywhere to go until the water soaks away enough for another flush. Worse yet is having the leach bed full of "stuff" that should have stayed in the septic tank.

[Ken Scharabok]

It is a fairly simply job to take a toilet off. First go to the hardware store and get a new wax seal and a toilet wire snake. Fill a 5-gallon bucket with water. Shut off water and unhook toilet from supply line. Flush and remove any excess water from holding tank. Take off two bolts on bottom sides and rock a bit to break wax seal. Lift off (be prepared for urine smell). Using disposable gloves feel up inside hole in bottom of toilet and from inside the bowl. If clear, use the wire snake through the floor opening. If that also seems to be clear see how fast you can pour the 5-gallons of water down the floor openng. That should tell you if your problem is elsewhere and you need to call in a professional plumber.

[Marcia in MT]

Our toilet wasn't flushing well and I called the plumber. Turned out that there were hard water deposits in all the holes -- the ones under the rim and the big one in the bottom. He drained out the water, put in some chemical to dissolve the deposits, and voila! It flushed like it was new.

I have used a similar product from the plumber store, but now I use Koolade lemonade (no sugar), leave it sit overnight if possible, brush, and flush. The citric acid is easier on the septic system, and a whole lot cheaper than the other stuff.

[motdaugrnds]

Interesting Marcia. Do you know whether or not that citric acid destroys the live bacteria in the ceptic tank that eats up the solids?

I have been using Rid-X to do this; however, I have also used Chlorex to clean the toilet well and the Chlorex kills the good bacteria.

If the Loolade lemonade (no sugar) does a good job cleaning and does not kill the good bacteria, I would like to know.

[ronbre]

build up in the back of the toilet and pipes..Draino prevention worked for us..you treat the toilets for 3 days..and other pipes too if you want.

ours worked well after the first treatment.

[Ken Scharabok]

OK, getting on my soap box. Rid-Ex does just about absolutely nothing for you, and even worsens the problem.

The septic tank is designed to be a settling pool. Objects and whatever are flushed into it where there are digested by the bacterial in the tank or settle on their own. Bacterial poop, if you will, then settles down to the bottom. Rix-Ex on the other hand works to keep what's flushed in into suspension to where it is flushed out the outlet of the tank to settle in your drain line.

Try this: Put the amount of Rid-Ex you normally use in a glass cut, add water and stir. Let settle. You will find out Rid-Ex is mostly extremely fine sand (which itself builds up on the bottom) and very little suspended material. Say one to two ounces in a 1,000 gallon tank. Probably no more than a single good old human poop. I don't know it for a fact, but have read Rid-Ex is even banned in some states since it only makes the problem worse. Yes, it will reduce the amount of setiment in the tank, but at the expense of the drain lines. The old pay me later (replacing your drain field) or pay me now (cleaning out the tank).

The main problem with sludge on the bottom of the tank is what is put into it. The human body doesn't digest things like fruit or vegetable seeds or skins. Probably the worse offender for a septic tank is the kitchen garbage disposal. People tend to put things down it such as grease, egg shells, coffee ground, chicken bones, fruit peels and vegetable trimmings. It, and the commode, gets it share of cigarette filters. The commode gets it share of thngs like sanitany napkins, facial tissee and condums, which the tank doesn't digest. How many people flush down kitty litter and dog droppings? The droppings aren't probably as bad as the litter, which has a high percentage of sand or other absorbent material.

An old rule of thumb: Nothing should be flushed (or pot into) a septic tank which hasn't passed through the human body.

Well, what about toilet paper? Some are better than others. It's probably not an absolute rule, but the cheaper the tissue, the more likely it is to be digested by the bacterial. Seeing the note, "Septic tank safe" doesn't really mean anything.

If you have extremely hard water then periodic cleaning of the vents in the toilet may be required. Personaly I take off the commode, turn it upside down and let thoroughly dry. Then put tape over the holes and pour in a lime solvent from the bottom. Let set for a couple of hours.

[fellini123]

Ken, I have a question. We have a dog kennel. We are thinking of having a septic system put in. With a tank, and two pipes coming out of the sides of the kennel. The septic system will have only dog hair and poop and grey water in it. Grey water coming from sinks, tubs (dog baths) and washing machine. Will this work???

Alice

[Ken Scharabok]

This is way out of any area of my experties so I will only make comments for what they are worth.

The gray water shouldn't be a problem as long as you have traps to catch the dog hair.

In the kennel, I assume you are going to use to hose to flush out the floor (seems to be standard procedure). Can you use one of the rubber toilet plumbers and adapt it to your hose end, perhaps with a piece of stiff pipe? Once the floor is clean put the dome over the floor drain and give it a good flush-out?

[fellini123]

Yes we are going to have traps, two on each pipe going into the tank.
Yes we are going to use a hose to clean the outside part of the kennels. Inside is just regular mop and elbow grease. LOL
But the outside will be hosed out and eithe scooped into a covered "hole" which is the beginning of the pipe. I like the idea of using a "plunger." I will make sure the pipe cover will fit a standard sized plunger. The pipe is supposed to be 4 inches.
the tank is going to be 1000 gallons, does that sound about right?>?

Alice in Virginia

Oh wanted to ad the pipe and tank will be about 75 to 100 feet from the kennel, will that be ok?? thanks

[Ken Scharabok]

I don't know what the human to dog poop ratio is. Say a house had a septic tank rated as three bedrooms (say 5-7 people). How does that convert to a kennel? Is dog poop, with its higher content of processed feed, different than regular human poop?

I suspect there are kennel waste disposal experts who can size your system.