Toilet issue :(

[stevie1976]

Hi Chaps,

Wonder if you kind souls can help me.

I believe my toilet was blocked as when flushing the water rose towards the rim of the bowl (I'm not sure if the kids have stuck something down there).

I tried a plunger with no joy and also bleach, hot water etc - over a period of two hours the toilet returned to it's normal level by itself - however if I flush it goes back to the overfilled level.

Once at a low level I used a pressure washer and the water level immedately reduced despite the volume of water I was pumping at the base of the toilet and I could hear the water gushing through the pipe atthe back.

Thought I sorted it and now when flushing the toilet still overfills?

Any advice - guessing it must still be blocked?

Edited to add - when I did flush it I also noticed quite a few air bubbles...I hope I haven't created an air lock!

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[GreenArmy]

Blocked drain mate, lift manhole cover and rod.

 

[stevie1976]

Blocked drain mate, lift manhole cover and rod.

Thanks Mark, I noticed when I went into the garden the area near the man hole was a tad smelly (!) - does that also point to the blocked drain?

 

[Dannypipe]

Def blocked drain....you poor bugger!

 

[oldplumber]

....you poor bugger![/QUOTe

Customers present old son, dont curse in front of them normally do you??

 

[stevie1976]

Lol, so how much is this going to cost and why are the other 3 toilets in the house not affected? (guessing it's localised piping to the one toilet?)

 

[Dannypipe]

The toilet that is affected is probably the one closest to the manhole and on the ground floor. Which in turn means that it has the shortest run of pipe.

In laymens terms, all the toilets are being affected, but, the others probably have enough pipe to discharge into so the level in the pan drops.

I hope that's clear?

As for cost, I don't know. The last man hole I rodded was ours, after the wife tried to flush a load of baby wipes. (New baby, lack of sleep). I wasn't amused!

 

[oldplumber]

dont you believe it, leave it long enough and youll have brown waste backing up and overflowing everywhere. bet the problem loo is on the ground floor and others upstair or on another drain downstream of the blockage. Good news is when you lift the manhole cover youll soon see where the blockage starts, work back to the road and hope one of the drains is clear and work back from there. ps dont stand in a manhole and rod the blocked drain or the missus wont be letting you back in her bed for a week or 2

 

[stevie1976]

Thanks Danny / oldplumber, the toilet is indeed on the ground floor!

Sounds like it's only a matter of time before the other toilets start to get blocked too.

PS As the water level does drop over a couple of hours, I wonder if there is any liquid that could help loosen the blockage (outside of bleach)?

 

[oldplumber]

bleach is a cleaner not an unblocker. get your gloves on , buy some rods and start learning about how drains work, or call out a plumber (£150 min for me to come out, dont like looking at other peoples pooh)

 

[Dannypipe]

Those liquids are a waste of money to be honest. Grit your teeth, buy/hire some rods, lift that man hole and get involved!

Or if it's just not your bag, call a professional. If I had to rod a manhole, I guess I'd just charge my normal rate of £45 call out and £35 per hour there after. If I got covered in (you know) I'd charge a full day, as I'd have to go home a get cleaned up.

In short, don't waste time and money on stupid fluids, and forget bleach! Grasp the nettle and sort it properly.

You can buy rods for around £30, I'd use the screwed end and feel for the blockage, twist and try and retrieve it.

The bigger specialist firms have jets, cameras, and all the experience. So if all else fails, I'm afraid its Dyno Rod or the like.

Good luck, and don't get too smelly!!

 

[stevie1976]

bleach is a cleaner not an unblocker. get your gloves on , buy some rods and start learning about how drains work, or call out a plumber (£150 min for me to come out, dont like looking at other peoples pooh)

Lol, I don't blame you for not wanting to come out!

I'll track a local drain unblocker to see if they can sort it as I'll know I'll end up falling down the man hole or something!

Those liquids are a waste of money to be honest. Grit your teeth, buy/hire some rods, lift that man hole and get involved!

Or if it's just not your bag, call a professional. If I had to rod a manhole, I guess I'd just charge my normal rate of £45 call out and £35 per hour there after. If I got covered in (you know) I'd charge a full day, as I'd have to go home a get cleaned up.

In short, don't waste time and money on stupid fluids, and forget bleach! Grasp the nettle and sort it properly.

You can buy rods for around £30, I'd use the screwed end and feel for the blockage, twist and try and retrieve it.

The bigger specialist firms have jets, cameras, and all the experience. So if all else fails, I'm afraid its Dyno Rod or the like.

Good luck, and don't get too smelly!!

Thanks for all the help chap (and to you oldplumber)- if you ever have a question about cars or financial matters let me know and I'll return the favour !

PS One last thing, all the water in the toilet is clean, would that be reflective of a blocked drain ?

PS One last thing, all the water in the toilet is relatively clean, would that be reflective of a blocked drain ?

 

[Dannypipe]

The water in the toilet is from the cistern....so that would be clean.


Toilets have an inbuilt trap, the swoop you can see, it's to stop foul smells coming up. So no it's no indication of, well anything really!!


Just a few inches behind it is where it gets really messy!! As for the manhole, it's going to be full to the brim with brown smelly liquid!!

Hope you get it sorted, and thanks for the thanks!

 

[stevie1976]

Cheers Danny

 

[stevie1976]

Hello - just a quick update.

I stuck a whole heap of fairy liquid into the blocked toilet a couple of days ago, and every day in the morning, afternoon and evening poured hot water into the toilet (wife's at home so no big hassle).

Anyhow today the toilet absolute stunk (no one used it!) but the blockage seems to have cleared?

Is that the end of the matter? Also why would the toilet pong, I would have thought the water would have restricted the smell?

TIA.

 

[emerald]

i would still open the manhole and check, you never know someone may have just dropped half a loo roll down and it got stuck in the multiquick behind, and it has taken this long to desolve, how old are your children, i only ask as i have had to do mine 3 times now grrr.. my kids are 5 and 3