Hello,
I just purchased a new home (2 months ago) and I'm having a problem with the master bath toilet. From day 1 the toilet has never flushed right and the water level in the bowl is different all the time. It started that when I raised the lid the water in the bowl would actually drain out by itself, and then continue to gurgle at the bottom of the bowl. I have also gotten soap bubbles from the sink that have almost filled the toilet bowl up. I called the builder and plumbers that did the work (home is under warranty) and I was told initially that it was a clogged line. They ran a sewer machine and the toilet worked fine for a couple of hours. Then went back to doing the same thing. The second service call they did the same thing, with the same results.The third service call they told me it was a bad bowl and they replaced the toilet bowl and could not explain the bubbles, (this was the third different plumber to work on it). 20 minutes after he left the problem came back worse than before. The toilet would not drain properly and then would finally drain after several minutes and the water in the bowl would be all the way at the bottom again. I had done some research and had asked them about the vent. They said it was not possible that it would be causing the problem(The vent was discussed on the second service call). On the fourth service call they sent their "BEST" guy,(without a ladder) and he used a camera snake and checked from the clean out to the main, no blockage and the pipes looked good as far as I could tell. I insisted they check the vent, so on the FIFTH trip they check the vent. I had missed so much work already that I could not be there when they did it, so I have to take the builder's word for it. I was told they snaked at least 100' and it was fine. Now they say the problem is that there is too much soap suds in the line and they told me to use less soap! I rented a brand new house for 1&1/2 years before I bought this house. I have never had this happen before and do not believe this is possible! Another thing that I noticed was that when they would show up for the service calls, the toilet water level would return to normal. So they would flush and it would appear to be fixed. But what they were doing was taking my clean out caps off outside before the appointment. And apparently this stops the vacuum from happening. Long story I know,but I wanted you to have all the details. How can soap bubbles possibly suck water out of the bowl? I understand that soap bubbles can come up in the toilet, but suck water from the bowl?? The other toilet in the house works fine. And there is no backup in the shower, tub , or sink. All four share the same vent and the shower does gurgle. When you run the sink water, the toilet will gurgle. Any help or opinion on this would be greatly appreciated.:confused: :confused:

Wow! Quite a story. You could almost make this into a movte and title it, Comedy of Errors. Let me first explain about "bubbles and gurgles".
When your fixtures begain to talk back to you they do it in two ways. They "gurgle" atcha or they "bubble" atcha. The "gurgle" is caused by vacuum caused by a blocked vent. The "bubble" is caused by back pressure due to a partial blockage in a drain line. What happens is that when you flush or drain the discharge runs down the drain line and hits the partial blockage and bounces back sending a bubble of air ahead of it. A partial blockage will also cause a backup sending soap or crud into a fixture until it can drain away.
So from your complaint it looks like you had a double whammy. The suction from the blocked vent pulled the water out of your toilet bowl and a partial blockage put soap bubbles back into it.
Enter the "Abbot & Costello Plumbing Company" who send out their best men, "Cheech and Chong" to analyze the situation. Now any service plumber knows immediately what water being sucked out of a toilet bowl means but it took these clowns five( count em) five more calls to send out their "best man" named Soupy Sales to clear up your problem.
Problem solved! It's not the plumbing, it's the soap you use. Too many bubbles. At least they gave you a little song and dance with their BS. Tippty-tap-tap and a soft shoe slide.
Removing the clean out covers allowed the "bubble" to vent out the opening before it got back to your toilet. If this is the company that did the plumbing in your home and the ones that honor the warranty then you have my sincere condolences. From what you've told me I would suspect a plumbing design flaw and would start calling the Building Department to see who inspected the job and signed off on it. If the Plumbing contractor gave me4 any static I would complain to the Better Business Bureau. Please keep me in the loop on this and let me know what develops. Good luck, Tom

Tom,
Thank you for responding to my post. I'm glad I didn't put you to sleep halfway through reading it(long one huh?). I will follow your advice and let you know. Once again thank you for your time.