One of my upstairs toilets is now flushing differently. When I flush, the water in the bowl rises until it nearly overflows, then it begins draining. However, it does not stop draining until the bowl is almost empty, well below the normal water level. The water level rising in the bowl indicates there may be a clog somewhere but the fact there is very little water left in the bowl at the end has me baffled. Are these symptoms related or do I have more than one problem. My other two toilets, one downstairs and one upstairs do not have this problem.

Hey Ben,
I have one that most repair plumbers miss.. Look down at the bottom of the bowl. If there is a small hole, then that is a jet that starts the syphon action. If it's clogged the water will just swirl around and slowly go down leaving solids behind. Take your finger,(UGH! ) and run it around the inside of the opening. Over the years minerals build up and cut down on the syphon (flush) action. If it is rough or you feel build up, take a table knife and put a bend in it to get around the curve in the bowl and chip and scrap it clear. Next take a coathanger and clear out the holes around the rim. They start the swirling action. And last, check the water level in the tank. It should be 1/2" below the top of the over flow tube. And speaking of the overflow tube, Make sure the small 1/8" tube from the ballcock to the white overflow tube is connected so it discharges in it and that it's flowing when the ballcock fills. This is what raises the water level in the bowl. For a good solid flush they all have to work together. Good luck, Tom

Hi Tom

I checked the hole you referred to. It does not seemed clogged. I was able to stick my finger all the way in and did not feel any obstructions. All the other items you mentioned were checked and seem to be working properly. I was able to come up with more information after flushing again:

1. After the flush valve turned off, the tank is full and the water continued to drain from the bowl. You can hear the water rushing out to the drain.
2. The water drained from the bowl until it was lower than the small hole you mentioned, at that time some air bubbles appeared and the water level rose to cover that small hole. At this point the flushing finished and the water remains at that level.

Ben

Hi back to you,
" When I flush, the water in the bowl rises until it nearly overflows, then it begins draining. However, it does not stop draining until the bowl is almost empty, well below the normal water level. The water level rising in the bowl indicates there may be a clog somewhere but the fact there is very little water left in the bowl at the end has me baffled. Are these symptoms related or do I have more than one problem."
I think one problem's all you have but if it's not the jet let's explore another route. Do you have a closet auger and have you augered out the bowl?
I think I can explain the mystery of the low water level in the bowl. As the water nears the top of the bowl and starts to drain down the drainage sets up a siphoning action that continues until the bowl level's so low that it can no longer siphon. Auger the bowl,(see image) and if that don't get it you may have to pull the toilet and snake out the branch. Let me know, Tom

Hi Tom. Thanks for the quick response. I will buy an closet auger and try to unclog the toilet. It's good to know that I have only one problem. I will let you know what happens.

Getting back you Tom. I could not get the clog cleared with my auger so I called a plumber who got it cleared with his progessional auger and a lot of force. The bad news is he saw leaking from the bottom of the toilet and determined the wax ring needed to be replaced. When he pulled the toilet out, he found the flange was rotted out. Since the pipe was made of plastic he said the correct way to replace the flange was to replace the drain pipe with it. I did not want to cut through the ceiling at this time, so he attached another flange and replaced the wax seal. Thanks for your insights. Ben

U da man SB, my toilet was acting this way the past several months,was just about ready to buy a new one,, that darn hole was plugged! Works like a champ.thanks Andy

U da man SB, my toilet was acting this way the past several months,was just about ready to buy a new one,,,,that darn hole was plugged!! works like a champ.thanks Andy

"U da man SB." Tanks hps! Dat makes my day! Glad you got it fixed. Cheers, Tom

Hi Tom,

Thank you very much for the info. It fixed an issue with my toilet not flushing properly for over a year now.

Don

Thanks a lot Speedball1
Your advice woked very well !

I've noticed there is no pressure when I hold the handle down to flush. If I hold it down seems to be enough pressure to flush, but again there is no tension on the handle. My husband just replaced the innards on flush weeks ago because it broke, but that hasn't fixed the issue. There is also a high pitched squealing noise (on my upstairs toilet) when the toilet bowl is filling back up. Could it be the actual pump (or whatever it's called) ?

Any ideas will be greatly appreciated. Both my upstairs and downstairs toilet have the same issue. My downstairs toilet is pretty old.

Thank you

When Hubby replaced innards he probably left too much slack in the little chain between the handle and the flush valve. There should be only enough slack in the chain to be sure that the flush valve closes properly.

The squealing is probably from a loose washer, either in the fill valve or the stop valve underneath the toilet tank.