TOILET FLUSHING PROBLEM

[Musicatlover]

When flushing my toilet, the water in the bowl just keeps going "around & around & around" for what seems to be an eternity... 99% of the time, the water will only go completely down & out only after I use the "plunger" to get the waters momemtum going.

I DO NOT flush ANY toilet paper down,(or anything else), so I don't think its plugged up. It seems to be wasting/using a lot of water though...just going in circles....

Can anyone help me fix this?

FYI: (The toilet has a "floatcup ballcock"),and, I already made
the chain length shorter,(it didn't help)(strike 1),I raised the"water level"in the tank(strike 2),& finally,I replaced the "rubber flapper",(strike 3). Now what? I don't know what else to do to get the toilet to flush without having to use the plunger every time.....

THANKS in advance for any help coming my way.....

[LazyPup]

It appears as if you have already taken the basic steps to resolve your problem, so let us now consider the physics of how a toilet flushes, and see if we can find the problem.



As you can see in the illustration, the tank simply holds a premeasured charge of water, which is then quickly discharged to the bowl by means of the flapper valve. As the water enters the bowl it first goes into a chamber that surrounds the top of the bowl, where it then enters the bowl through a ring of small inlet holes under the rim of the bowl.

As the liquid level in the bowl quickly rises it forces a large slug of water up into the trap displacing the air in the trap as it rises.



Once the air in the top of the trap has been displaced, the atmospheric air pressing down on the surface of the water in the bowl causes a "Syphon" to occur in the trap. The syphon continues until the water level in the bowl is below the bowl outlet, where air can now enter the outlet and rise up to the top of the trap. Once the air from the bowl meets the vent air from the drain line the air pressure in the trap equalizes, breaking the syphon and the little bit of water in the trap riser now flows back to the bowl. During this operation the fill valve float control has already opened the water supply and begun refilling the tank. A small portion of the fill water is also sent down the tank standpipe by the trap primer line from the fill valve. This insures that the trap will be once again filled to the proper level to insure there is a good air tight seal in the trap.



Assuming for the moment that this is the original tank for your toilet and you have already checked the water level in the tank, we can then futher assume that the volume of water discharged to the bowl is correct for this trap.

You have already checked the chain lenght and replaced the flapper, so the rate of discharge should be correct, however, due to the recent changes in tank volumes they are now making different flapper valves which are rated for GPF (Gallon per flush). It is possible that you have an older 5gpf or 3.5gpf toilet and have a 1.6gpf flapper valve. (Fluidmaster is now making an adjustable flapper that has a rigid plastic mount arm and you can rotate the rubber ball to adjust for a greater or lesser discharge rate.)

Assuming for the moment that you have the correct flapper valve for you toilet, the next point to check are the water inlet holes under the bowl rim. If some of those holes are obstructed by water scale or debris it would retard the rate of fill. If the rate of fill is sluggish the water rises slowly in the trap, spilling over and not filling the trap sufficiently to start the syphon effect. Solution: Use a piece of stiff wire such as a bit of an old coat hanger to probe the holes and insure they are all open.

When a horizontal drain line is sized correctly it should only be 1/2 full under full load. This provides a sufficient amount of liquid to carry any solids present in the waste, while leaving the top half of the pipe open for the transfer of vent air.

If there happens to be a partial clog in the line the water level must rise to go over the obstrustion. As the water rises it traps the vent air in the line and compresses it, which increases the pressure slightly above atmospheric pressure. That bit of compressed air can then be forced back to the trap, which would go to the top of the trap and break the syphon action.

There is a simple method to test whether the problem is associated with the tank & bowl or whether it is a line problem. Take an odinary water pail which holds about 3.5 gallon and quickly pour a bucket of water into the bowl. If the toilet flushes correctly, you know the problem is either the wrong flapper of the inlet holes are obstructed. If it does't flush correctly the problem is a partial clog in the line and will require cleaning the drain line.