Toilet bowl nearly overflows during flush/dripping sound heard after

[Rhaine86]

I recently noticed a regular slow dripping sound coming from my bathroom toilet. It is constant, steady & it sounds as if it's coming from the bowl itself, or directly below it. After reading some threads here I'm wondering if the fill valve is off somehow, but I'm not sure what correction needs to take place. I noticed when I first moved in to this house that this particular toilet nearly overflows every time it's flushed- the bowl fills up with water almost to the rim- it flushes as usual, so I never really gave it much thought, but I'm wondering if that is somehow related to the strange dripping sound I'm now hearing?

Any help would be greatly appreciated (and would likely save me $$ having to call a plumber!). Thanks in advance. :-)

[HayZee518]

run a closet auger through it. sounds like there is a clog in the toilet trap or just beyond it.

[Rhaine86]

I realized I forgot to add that immediately after the toilet has stopped filling you can hear a steady trickling that eventually slows down to the steady dripping sound I'm hearing.

Also- would a clog not slow down the toilet flush like I'm used to seeing? What I mean is, when a (clogged) toilet flushes, the swirling water tends to slow down and then rise up to the top, but the flush here appears totally normal, just with a very high rise of water.

[HayZee518]

do you have any idea how your main waste line is constructed? go outside and look at your roof. do you see a large diameter pipe coming through the roof? this is your vent line that runs from here [open to atmosphere] straight down past your second floor and first floor and eventually makes it to your [septic tank] or [public sewer line]. ok - back up to the second floor. in the space between your first and second floor in the ceiling is a T-Y, an eighth bend, maybe a 45 and an elbow connected to your toilet floor flange. the toilet bowl fastens here. when you flush the toilet, there's a rush of water through the toilet's trap and with the help of gravity goes down the drain. this slug of waste and water creates a vacuum which also sucks in air from the vent pipe. IF the vent line is clogged in ANY way the waste and water will take its sweet time to drain. your toilet is plugged, either in its trap OR the vent line going up through the roof. I had a bird stuck in mine a few years back.

[Rhaine86]

Okay- bear with me here (I'm clearly a novice at all things plumbing which is why this forum has been so helpful!) - I don't mean to sound argumentative, I'm only hoping to post as clear as I can and I've found maybe some clarification was in order (above post was edited slightly).

So- I did use the auger and while it didn't appear to change anything, after flushing the toilet I watched again closely at the bowl filling- what I noticed is that after the bowl is done filling (and while I'm hearing the steady trickle still) the water level in the bowl goes down about a half inch at which point the trickle slows considerably to a drip, and the water level remains the same. Does this mean anything?? Should I still consider a clogged vent pipe?

And again, I appreciate all the help-

[HayZee518]

take the top off of your tank. you will see a chain connected to an arm and a small hook at the flapper valve. stick your hand into the tank and press down on the flapper - see if the dripping stops. if it does, then you need to make an adjustment to the flapper. if it is one of those that slips over the overflow pipe, push the round rubber down a touch so the flapper isn't angled against the 2 inch valve seat [brass or plastic] next try to adjust the tank float down a touch so it shuts off just before the level reaches the overflow pipe. when the ballcock operates, besides filling the tank, that small diameter tubing feeds water into the overflow tube to refill the toilet proper to just above the internal toilet trap. this trap was formed when the toilet was cast at the factory and is made of vitreous china.

[Redwood]

It sounds like your toilet is older and the internal water passages are plugged up. Have a good read at the following link...

Why My Toilet Flushes Slowly

[Rhaine86]

I did both as you suggested, Hayzee. The water in the tank would fill very nearly to the top of the overflow tube so I adjusted that so it stops about a half inch below it. Flapper appears fine and the dripping sound remains, although I did lift it up just a tad to hear what the water trickling from there sounds like, and it sounds like the consistent drip I'm hearing is coming from lower in the toilet. I will try the auger again just in case there's something I missed the first time around.

I'm assuming the toilet is original with the building of the home in 1993.

ETA: No change with a second use of the auger. Should I be concerned that this is a leaking pipe issue? My home has a crawlspace- no basement.

[HayZee518]

ok, last ditch effort. shut off the water to the tank and flush the toilet, now listen for your drip, drip, drip. if you hear it still, problem is not the toilet.
have you checked to see if the tank outside is sweating and dripping somewhere on the floor?

[Rhaine86]

Yep- still hear the drip drip drip- although the steady trickling I hear after the water is done filling the tank didn't happen with the same intensity, the drip was definitely still more frequent and then slowing (with the water turned off).

My husband went under the house tonight and while the pipe was on the other side of the duct work and not very easily accessible from where he was, he said there was no sign of water - and when the toilet was flushed, he could hear the trickle and drip, but it still sounded muffled - and from what he said, it definitely wasn't hitting the vapor barrier or duct work.

In related (possibly?) news - I discovered one of our 2nd floor bathrooms has a problem - the toilet intermittandtly runs, and it could be a problem with the flapper; the chain has virtually no slack so I'm wondering if it may be slowly leaking.

So my next thought, naturally, is that I'm wondering now if the two problems are somehow related? Remember I'm a beginner when it comes to plumbing! ;-) I have no idea if the two toilets share pipes or if it's possible for them to be somehow interconnected.

Thanks for checking in again with me Hayzee! I have appreciated it. I'm still stumped though and it's driving me crazy!

[HayZee518]

I told you to shut off the water valve to the toilet tank - you opened it and allowed the water to refill the tank. SHUT IT OFF PLEASE and don't turn it on! Flush the toilet and when it's empty listen!

[Redwood]

Okay, The dripping noise is probably water leaking from the tank to the bowl.

To verify pour some blue food coloring into the tank and do not flush the toilet.
The blue should not appear in the bowl, if it does you have a tank to bowl leak going on.

In that link I posed earlier did you try the "Bucket Test" to see if it made the toilet flush properly?

[Rhaine86]

Hayzee - I *did* turn the water off and listen! Sorry if that didn't come across clearly enough when I replied:

"Yep- still hear the drip drip drip- although the steady trickling I hear after the water is done filling the tank didn't happen with the same intensity, the drip was definitely still more frequent and then slowing (with the water turned off)."

I just did it a second time, and left the water off for a good 10 minutes, returned and listened and the dripping had stopped. Turned the water back on, let the tank fill, and it's back. I really am following instructions here! ;-)

Redwood- did the bucket test, toilet drained/flushed great! Everything went right down. Curiously though- the dripping has stopped again immediately following the test.

[Redwood]

Okay, The toilet flushed great with the bucket, but I imagine still does poorly with the lever.

Do you use in tank bowl cleaners for instance the blue smurf glop that sits in the corner of the tank? If you do discontinue use immediately and remove it fron the tank. A wet vac will do that but will be forever stained...

Take a piece of coat hanger wire and poke it into all the holes up under the rim of the bowl. Also there is a hole about 1/2" in diameter in bottom of the bowl in the front, this is the siphon jet and take a longer piece of coat hanger wire and stick it up in there wiggling it all around. This hole extends all the way up to the rim but you may not be able to get the wire to go all the way it seldom does. Hopefully this will clear out the water passages enough that the toilet starts flushing properly. If it doesn't you may need a new toilet.

Do this first before we worry about the tank to bowl leak as there is no sense in fixing a toilets that will not flush right.

[Rhaine86]

Did the dye test - no blue dye enters the bowl from the tank.

Did use a wire hanger (lucky I found one!) in all the holes in the rim and when I mentioned using the coat hanger in the siphon jet hole, my husband decided to poke his finger around there first and discovered what feels like really jagged sediment. You can't get the hanger in there easily at all and I'm afraid if we do get it in there, we'll not be able to get it out.

We don't use any toilet bowl cleaner/inserts.... but I am going to pick up some CLR tomorrow to see if that is indeed a deposit that needs to be cleared.

In other news- still no dripping. Strange.