PDA

View Full Version : Water won't stay in bowl


Jboom
Apr 23, 2009, 03:34 PM
The water will not stay in the toilet bowl. You can flush it the water will stay for a short time then will be gone. What can I do?

mygirlsdad77
Apr 23, 2009, 03:55 PM
How low does the water get. How long does the water stay in bowl. Do you have a dog that might be drinking the water out of the bowl(seen it many times).

ballengerb1
Apr 23, 2009, 04:25 PM
I think you vent stack is clogged and that causes the toilet water to siphon out. Can you get up to your vent stack on the roof? It may need rodding but you can start by trying to fill it with a garden hose. If it fills then its totally blcoked and rodding is next.

massplumber2008
Apr 23, 2009, 04:34 PM
Hi all:

I'm wondering if there is something stuck in the trapway of the toilet that is actually siphoning the toilet bowl dry VIA capillary action?? Here is where something like string, floss, stuck toilet paper or even feminine napkin gets stuck in the integral trap of the toilet, toilet flushes fine, but water continues to flow against gravity by climbing the debris stuck in the line which effedtively siphons the toilet bowl dry.

If this is the case, then you want to use a closet auger tool (see picture) and snake the through the toilet and see what if anything you pull back or dislodge. If that doesn't fix it then you may need to actually lift the toilet and see what is stuck that way... ;)

Otherwise, your toilet bowl could also have lost a porcelain plug... rare, but it happens on occasion. Here, manufacturer's plug could have loosened and water is just passing by and leaking into the drain pipe.

Of course, as Mygirlsdad suggested...could also be the dog... :)

Check the toilet using the closet auger first... sold at all home improvement stores... let us know what you find...

MARK

speedball1
Apr 24, 2009, 11:17 AM
All good answers from Mark and Bob. Here's another.Marrk touched on this. Let me take it farther. There could also be a factory defect in the bowl. Sometimes in casting the bowl there is a small bubble in the china. Instead of junking the bowl the manufacture will put a porcelain patch over the hole and send it on through. On occasion the patch will fail allowing the water to seep out of the bowl. If that's the case you would have a full bowl after you flushed and the bowl filled but some time later you would notice a drop in the bowl level. The only other thing might be if you dropped something in the bowl and cracked it. If you're worried about where the water's going, in both cases it drains back down into the sewer and not under the bowl on the floor. To check the bowl must be pulled, filled and put up on saw horses. You can then see if there's any leakage from the bowl. Good luck, Tom

rongeorgedesign
Apr 24, 2009, 02:37 PM
It sounds like you have a venting problem. There needs to be a vent for the water closet. The fixture is designed to siphon when you flush. The vent pipe downstream breaks the siphon. It sounds like you need to look at installing a vent. Consider using an Air admittance valve mounted at the proper level in an accessible location downstream from the Water Closet.

Ron George
Ron, Advertisements are not allowed on AMHD. Yours was deleted. Please go back and read the site rules. Tom

afaroo
Apr 25, 2009, 12:32 AM
Plumbing Expert welcome to the plumbing web site, no further coments, Thanks.

John

speedball1
Apr 25, 2009, 05:13 AM
Plumbing Expert welcome to the plumbing web site, no further coments, Thanks.

John
Well I got to few comments John. I want the ads to stop and the name to be changed. He might know a little about plumbing but he sure isn't expert material. Regards, Tom

ballengerb1
Apr 25, 2009, 07:33 AM
Totally agree, the new name is now reflected and is as appropriate as the rest of us. I was thinking of changing my screen name to Tom'sboss the Real Expert, LOL
ROFLMAO And you know what that means Robert!