Bubble, bubble = toilet trouble?

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

What does it mean when your toilet makes blorping sounds and fills partially from below with clear water, then goes soundlessly down to its normal level?  Is that a city water thing, or is my toilet possessed?  It's not a happy toilet at the best of times, and needs to be babied (minimize paper, feed Drain Care enzyme treatment regularly, etc.) but until now it's only done that during one of its "episodes."  It had a minor, easily cleared blockage 2 days ago - that seems a bit remote to be prompting the Toilet Gods to speak, but as you can tell, I don't know guess what about plumbing.

Comments

[bikergeek.livejournal.com]

sounds like maybe the vent pipe has a blockage.

[prunesnprisms.livejournal.com]

My dad would tell you it would have something to do with the air intake, I think.

[cityofbeige.livejournal.com]

Never seen this happen before, but the gurgling and surging water makes me agree with the other two comments: poor ventilation.

[skexy.livejournal.com]

have you prayed to your porcelain god recently?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

That sounds definitively like a slow drain pipe. The water can't go down the drain as quickly as the toilet flushes, so rather than *flushing* (and thus clearing the bowl the way you'd expect it to), the clean water coming out of the tank fills the bowl (from the bottom, since that's where the fill hole is) and then the water levels off as the trap gradually empties back to its nominal level (the usual toilet bowl level).

But to dispense with the technical details, the short of the problem is that you've got a clog of some kind. I recommend giving it several good shoves with a toilet plunger, and then giving it a try with a roto-rooter of some kind. If that doesn't work, you may have to get more creative and start looking things up online or even call a professional.

Good luck!

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

Ugh. So it's basically an early warning. It didn't happen right after I flushed - it just started doing it randomly - so I think I have a bit of leeway. OK - I'll give it a few shoves with the plunger now and then and keep feeding it enzyme when I leave for work, and tell the landlord if it happens again. Thanks for the cogent, useful answer!

[m00n.livejournal.com]

If it suddenly started happening on its own without anyone flushing it in the mean time, you may *additionally* have a leaking drain plug in the tank. This is no big deal and only costs about $3 to replace. To test for that problem you can put some food coloring in the tank and wait to see if it colors the toilet bowl water without anyone flushing the toilet. Probably it would be a good idea to do it right before you leave for work for a while since it may take several hours to seep through.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

I know for a fact that that happens, since it'll occasionally spontaneously flush, and then trickle quietly, and I'll look to find the plug not seated properly because of a kink in the chain.

So could that mean that Clogzilla might not be marshaling its forces down in the outflow pipe? (Not that I'm going to skip the trip to the hardware fror more enzyme or anything!)

[m00n.livejournal.com]

The chain may just be kinked because it is twisted. Simply untwisting that may actually save quite a bit of water.

It should not, however, change the effectiveness of the drain cleaner since toilets are mostly gravity operated and all water flows basically downward from the drain spigot.

If, however, you are allowing the cleaner to sit in the toilet for long periods of time in the hopes that it will gradually eat away at the clog, the continuous flow of water into the toilet bowl from the leaking plug would serve to dilute the cleaner over time.

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

OK - it only happens occasionally, so I'll occasionally untwist the chain. But the cleaner I use needs to be flushed anyway, so that's not an issue.

I appreciate your being so clear and helpful! What the hell are you doing on the Internet?

[m00n.livejournal.com]

I appreciate your being so clear and helpful!

You're very welcome! I'm glad I could help.

What the hell are you doing on the Internet?

Helping people like yourself!

[redcolumbine.livejournal.com]

The valve in the main pipe going out of the house was an old rubber one. It had stiffened up and wouldn't open all the way. It's since been replaced with a hinged plastic valve, and I haven't had any trouble since.