I'm on public sewer, and I have a toilet that has started bubbling occasionally. The toilet has never had any drainage issues prior to this. I read online that a blockage in the air vent was a likely culprit. I tried snaking out the vent on the roof with a garden hose. No apparent result. Then I ran water down the vent, expecting that a build-up of water behind a blockage could be heavy enough to clear it. The result was a flood in the bathroom and a newly backed-up toilet. Plunging did nothing, very warm water helped but didn't solve the problem, but some sulfuric acid down the toilet got it flushing nicely again. (I hate using chemicals, but I guess I hate a non-functioning bathroom more.) While I was cleaning the bathroom back up, I noticed that draining the tub got me more toilet bubbles, and the tub now drains slowly. Uh oh. I'm thinking I need to snake down the tub overflow drain, but I can't figure out how to get access since it's held in not just by screws but by the drain stopper mechanism. Am I headed in the right direction here? I'm wanting a really simple solution like pouring boiling water down the tub drain, which I figure I'll try while I wait for your helpful suggestions. Thanks!


Update: Toilet is draining slowly again with nothing more than cleaner and water flushed. :( When plunging, I hear noise in the tub drain, but otherwise get no results.

To tell you the truth the garden hose will not help you much, you have to rod it, form the roof vent, with extra 20 feet more from the base, if you are going to snake your tub drain, do it as follow, and see the images below for info.

Remove the face plate and the mechanism inside and send the snake down the drain. You will run into resistance after a couple feet, but just spin/push through the trap and the rest should go pretty easy, while snaking the drain be sure to leave a few inches of water in the tub so that once you hit the clog you will know as the water begins to drain, good luck.

John

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Thanks very much for the helpful photo showing how the tub drain lever works. Looks like just pulling the overflow drain cover won't disconnect anything or otherwise cause any harm.

Would flooding my bathroom when running water into the vent mean that's not the problem? Or should I find a better way to clear that vent?

You have a blocked toilet drain, pull the toilet and snake the line.

Harold said it! You have a partial blockage in the toilet drain line. If you don't wish to pull the toilet, ( a messy job at best) you can snake from the tub as John suggested or snake the lavatory roof vent. Put out enough snake to reach the base and 18 feet more. Good luck, Tom

Thanks so much for your help. I'm getting nowhere snaking the tub and I failed earlier with the roof vent. I don't think I'm brave enough to take out the toilet, so I guess it's time to call a plumber. I really appreciate your input.

Plumber just left. He ran an electric snake - if that's what it's called - about 50' down the vent and cleared the clog. So I'm down $110 but up a very nice used but perfect Delta faucet he'd just replaced for another customer which will now replace my stained finish Price Pfister. That plumber rocks. Thanks again for your help.

It is good to read positive reviews referring to plumbers ! :D

Yeah! Like Milo sezs. We need all the help we can get. It seems that nobody's happy to see us at the door. It's always something that makes them unhappy. Water on the ceiling, poop all over the floor. LOL! It's nice to be apprecated. Thanks techie. Tom