[TOPEC]

So the toilet in my living room is backin up. It never flushed smoothly, but today takes the cake. I was washing some towels in the sink with the water running, then i noticed the air pockets coming out of the toilet, followed by what looked like water gushing out, then shit water starting coming back into the toilet. I got confused and stopped the tap in the sink and the toilet stopped backin up. I turn the tap on again and very quickly shit water started coming back up. I tried a plunger and it didnt work.

I hope its not the main sewage thats clogged, as all the other toilets/sinks drain fine. Whats my next best option? Pour drano down the toilet or the sink? Use an auger?

[320icar]

1. Washing towels in the sink?
2. Toilet in the living room?
3. I have no useful information
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[subordinate]

You have a toilet in your living room?

[TOPEC]

1. Washing towels in the sink?
2. Toilet in the living room?
3. I have no useful information
Posted via RS Mobile

1. powder room is the correct term
2. washing a microfiber towel, can i not do that with a tap n sink?
3. if u have nth to post then y bother posting...?

[subordinate]

Microfibre cloth is perfectly fine. It sounds like a bigger issue at hand if your toilet is backing up when you use the sink. I really..really don't think drano will do the trick.

Call the property manager?

[seekerbeta]

the sink and the toilet probably go to a common main before joining the sewer line, if you feel inclined, pull the trap under the sink and see if its full, but otherwise, probably best to call in a plumber to check on it.

[GLOW]

had a similar problem with my washroom. had to use an an auger. either rent one from HD for like $50 or hire a plumber for like $150. i don't like deal with shitty situations so i hired a plumber.

[Soundy]

Depending on whether your powder room is plumbed properly, you might want to start simple by checking for a blocked vent stack. I've seen drainage fucked up by a bird building a nest on top of a stack...

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/images/ID-142.fig5.gif

[nabs]

Improper venting is the first thing I thought of when I read your first post. But best to call a plumber, trust me you don't want to deal with it if shits gonna come back your way.

[Soundy]

Shit's gettin' real yo.

[BrRsn]

this may be a terrible idea but,

we had an older house we were renting out a couple years back, similar problem.
Our plumber was out of town (when I say our plumber I mean my dad's friend who doesn't charge us $150 for just coming out to the house) but he suggested putting a garden hose into the stack and letting it run for a little bit to help clear out the vent stack.

It worked but obviously YMMV and there's always the potential of things getting worse.

[!Yaminashi]

Depending on whether your powder room is plumbed properly, you might want to start simple by checking for a blocked vent stack. I've seen drainage fucked up by a bird building a nest on top of a stack...

http://www.extension.purdue.edu/extmedia/ID/images/ID-142.fig5.gif

This. If there is no ventilation going through your piping the pressure differentials get all fucked up and that's probably what's causing the shit water to flow back into your toilet.

Call a professional

[TOPEC]

thanks for the suggestions, i guess ill find a way to go up the roof and check the vent stack first

[Soundy]

thanks for the suggestions, i guess ill find a way to go up the roof and check the vent stack first

This is your first step - simple things you can do yourself. Get up there and take a deep sniff of the pipe :troll: :ilied:

[saucywoman]

I just had this with my sink. When one of the washers drained water would fill up my sink, plumber came and installed some stoppage in one of the pipes. I can't remember what he explained to me but its fixed :thumbsup: this might be the same thing you're suffering from. Does it do it all the time when you're in your sink or just this one time?
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[TOPEC]

it just started doing this (the backing up part) very recently, but this toilet has never flushed smoothly since a long time ago

[Soundy]

it just started doing this (the backing up part) very recently, but this toilet has never flushed smoothly since a long time ago

That just screams poor venting. Saw this at a store we worked on recently - toilet would flush very slowly and never completely go down, and would gurgle through the sink... turned out a roofer had put a box of something on top of the stack and blocked it off.

Imagine it like you're pouring out a bottle of pop or something - it kind of goes in surges until the level gets low enough for air to get in consistently through the neck. If you stab a hole in the back of the bottle to let air in though, it will flow out smoothly (actually, I guess a better analogy would be shotgunning a beer).

[TOPEC]

Ok, now to find a ladder thatll reach the roof 2 stories high
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[HKS PWR]

Sounds like a blockage in the waste pipe, causing water to back up when using the lavatory in that powder room. Also, there might be a possible partial blockage of the wet vent, causing this particular toilet to "have never flush smoothly" (I'm assuming all the other toilets in the house flushes properly)

Before you climb on the roof, start by running some Drano through the lavatory first and then the toilet.

[Lomac]

had a similar problem with my washroom. had to use an an auger. either rent one from HD for like $50 or hire a plumber for like $150. i don't like deal with shitty situations so i hired a plumber.

I see what you did there... :suspicious:

Edit just to stay on topic... If you'd like, I can put you in touch with a couple different plumbers who don't charge an arm and a leg (and, yes, they're properly certified and all that jazz :lol)

[TOPEC]

yes can u pls pm me some contacts?
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[Doubl3_H]

is your problem fixed?

reading your first post, its not a vent problem.

pm me if you need more help

[Doubl3_H]

Sounds like a blockage in the waste pipe, causing water to back up when using the lavatory in that powder room. Also, there might be a possible partial blockage of the wet vent, causing this particular toilet to "have never flush smoothly" (I'm assuming all the other toilets in the house flushes properly)

Before you climb on the roof, start by running some Drano through the lavatory first and then the toilet.

unlikely that the wet vent is blocked, if the wet vent was blocked, then the SINK will not drain properly.
Hopefully is something in your 3" pipe serving your wc, not something further down the stack.

[TOPEC]

quick update, poured 3/4 bottle of drano into the toilet, let it sat for abt an hour, and with the help of a plunger, managed to unclog the toilet

problem solved

thx everyone

[T4RAWR]

For future reference drano is terrible for plumbing.

A drain snake is preferred.

[Speed2K]

this may be a terrible idea but,

we had an older house we were renting out a couple years back, similar problem.
Our plumber was out of town (when I say our plumber I mean my dad's friend who doesn't charge us $150 for just coming out to the house) but he suggested putting a garden hose into the stack and letting it run for a little bit to help clear out the vent stack.

It worked but obviously YMMV and there's always the potential of things getting worse.

We had a blocked vent stack before. Flushing it with a garden hose is exactly what we did to solve our problem.

[GLOW]

For future reference drano is terrible for plumbing.

A drain snake is preferred.

forget draino, i used 2 cans of coke when i was renting a basement while i was in college. kind of sad though being a poor student i had to waste 2 cans of coke to do it but it worked :lawl:

[TOPEC]

care to elaborate y drano is bad?

[Acura604]

I had the same problem yesterday!!!... the toilet would NOT unclog at all... this was the powder room. Soo.. I decided to run the associated sink with hot water at full blast.. wait a bit... plunged some more .. and bam, it was unclogged... no idea how or why?!!!

[T4RAWR]

care to elaborate y drano is bad?

iirc drano and other liquid plumbing chemicals can damage to plastic piping (i.e. eat away at it) and also corrode metal pipes over an extended period of use.

generally they're recommended for "quick fixes" and shouldnt be used on a regular basis.

like others have mentioned, garden hose with high pressure water or a drain snake is the "safer" way to unclog.

[meme405]

iirc drano and other liquid plumbing chemicals can damage to plastic piping (i.e. eat away at it) and also corrode metal pipes over an extended period of use.

generally they're recommended for "quick fixes" and shouldnt be used on a regular basis.

like others have mentioned, garden hose with high pressure water or a drain snake is the "safer" way to unclog.

This.

Drano can basically eat holes or degrade your pipe.

Be very careful using it in older homes, as it could be the proverbial nail in the coffin for your plumbing.

[TOPEC]

really? funny how it advertises wont "damage" pvc, plastic, bras etc.

[yray]

If you flush it out quickly it won't :troll:

Just compressor oil and water can rot metal pipes in sprinkler systems.

[T4RAWR]

Would you buy the product if it stated that it could melt/eat through your pipes?

:troll:

Honestly you should just invest in a drain snake or a drain bladder. You buy them once and use for a lifetime.

[Lomac]

really? funny how it advertises wont "damage" pvc, plastic, bras etc.

As far as I understand it, Drano isn't necessarily bad for pvc pipes (though obviously any corrosive liquid will eventually be bad if used long and often enough), but the glue that's used to piece the different pipes together.

The other thing that might make people think Drano is the cause of leaks is that there may be a clog that's blocked up so hard it's actually preventing a seal from leaking. However, as soon as that shot of Drano is used and cleans out that rather convenient clog, it'll start leaking. Sure, indirectly it may be the cause of the leak, but it's not the actual reason.

[GLOW]

i heard a similar reason why i heard you don't get your system "flushed" with pressure (a service a mid sized plumbing company offered to me once). in an older house the pressure could cause leaks in pipes.

[T4RAWR]

drano also generates heat when it reacts with water, thus it can cause the glue to soften and cause a leak