kohler wellworth, toilet problem or drainage issue

[gregthomas]

I've got a kohler wellworth toilet which has been great since its been installed. I noticed the other day that if the toilet is flushed 1 time it seems to flush OK. However, if it is flushed again right after the tank fills up then the bowl fills up and drains very slowly. I removed the toilet this evening and used a snake in an attempt to clear out the clog. At first, when the toilet was removed, I used the tank fill hose to fill up the drain pipe and it filled rather quickly and then slowly drained. After the snake, I ran quite a bit of water down the drain pipe and it didn't fill up again. After reinstalling the toilet and flushing it, the bowl filled up on the 1st flush and drained very, very slowly. I tried to plunge it without any success. Any ideas? Could I have possibly gotten 1 clog but maybe there is another on down the line? Just FYI. The city has been putting in a new water line and has had heavy equipment in our front yard. But, this is not a household occurence. It is isolated to just this one toilet.

One more thing, will I need to remove the toilet again to use the snake or can I feed the snake through the toilet? My 1st shot at trying to unclog such a stubborn mess. Any info. appreciated. Thanks, Greg

[dan8drum]

kohler wellworth, toilet problem or drainage issue

Do you have a sewer system or city sewer?
If you have a sewer system you might have to have it pumped out.

[dan8drum]

kohler wellworth, toilet problem or drainage issue

I ment septic tank vs. city sewer.
If you have a septic tank then the drain field could be clogged or, it has to be pumped out. I had the same problem with a septic tank that was too full.

Hope this helps.

[gregthomas]

I've got city sewer. I live in a small town and they are currently replacing a water line throughout town. They just recently went through our yard with heavy equipment and put in a new line. The reason I'm not leaning towards this is that this one toilet is the only thing affected. Our other toilet as well as all other drains in the house are OK. Let me know. Thanks, Greg

[LazyPup]

First of all let me say this, I have been working in the Plumbing trade for nearly 4 decades and I just learned a neat trick from this post, thank you.

Generally when we lift a water closet we normally disconnect the water supply line at the angle stop and leave the line attached to the water closet. After reading this post it appears that simple common sense should have told me to use the water closet supply line to rinse and test the drain line in the manner you described.

Having said that, the results of your test present the key evidence to resolving your problem.

The drain line from the watercloset is a 3" line which is the same size as your house main drain and house sewer line. A 3" line should be sufficient to handle the full water supply from your entire structure without hesitation, yet the line backed up momentarily, which is indicating there must be a partial clog in the line.

You stated that you snaked the line, but i would suspect the snake you used was one of the light wire snakes or perhaps one of the light homeowner type handheld power snakes with a 1" or at best an 1-1/2" cutter head.

Any time we rod out a line with a power snake we must use a cutter equal to the diameter of the line, otherwise the cutter will just cut a small hole through the obstruction allowing the free standing water to quickly pass and leaving the impression the line has been cleaned.

The solution here would be to once again lift the watercloset and use a floor mounted power snake fitted with a 3" cutter head.

These type of machines are very expensive to buy, typically in the $600 to $2000 range, but fortunately you can usually rent one at the local big box home supply (Lowes, Home Depot, Menards, etc) or you can rent them from a local tool rental company. The rentals are typically about $30 for 4 hours or $45 for a full day. The alternative is to call a professional drain cleaning service.

To answer your second question, no, you can not effectively run a snake through a water closet bowl due to the shape of the trapway. Any attempt to do so will at a minimum result in serious scratching and discoloration of the bowl and can result in cracking the bowl redering the water closet unservicable.

[gregthomas]

You're right. I've just got the typical, 1/4" auger line with a small tip on it. Maybe its designed more for sinks or showers versus what I'm trying to use it for. I've got some time Monday so I'll either call our local plumber or go rent a larger auger to fix the problem.

I don't think the clog is in the trap itself because it seems to flush easily after it has been allowed to drain for a while. I guess I'll plan on removing the toilet again and reseating it after I'm done.

Any idea on how I'll know for sure that the clog is clear? I don't really want to reseat this toilet time after time. Thanks, Greg

[LazyPup]

In your previous post you stated that you tested the line by filling it with the watercloset supply tube and it filled up,,,that indicates the clog is in the line downstream from the closet flange so you will have to lift the toilet.

Running a 3" cutter through that line should resolve your problem.

Running the supply line into the closet flange after you snake it will aid the cleaning process by rinsing down and solids that the snake loosens up and it will prove the line is open, but i have no doubt that once you run a 3" cutter the problem will be solved.