I have a 40 year old 1 story rental house built on slab where there are two toilets and one seems to be clogging up very often. I had rescue rooter come out to use a camera. He took the toilet off and stuck his camera down all the way to the sewage manhole. Nothing was broke and there wasn't anything stuck in the pipe. He did say that the "build up" on the walls of the cast iron pipe was actually rust chips from the pipe itself and the paper and feminine products are probably catching on them and causing the backup. He said I could get some acetone or other chemical to help clear it up. He also said to get another toilet that would put more pressure on the flush. (The American Standard toilet is 1-1/2 years old.)
I asked my brother who is a plumber and he said he never tells customers to use chemicals because of the damage it can cause. He also said he has never heard of this before and thought Rescue Rooter just told me that because they didn't have any other answer. I found a toilet at a supply store that says they have one that is rated #1 in Consumers Digest that uses a "vacuum"(?).
The toilet with the problem is used by two girls and it empties into the underground pipe from the toilet without the problem that is used by the mother then goes to the main.
The backup happened again last week when I was out of town and the renter had a friend who came over and stuck a 9' or 10' sewer auger down through the toilet to clear it up. Most of the time it backs up the renter has to plunge the toilet for a long time to clear it.
What are your thoughts?
Thanks,
Dave Schlapkohl