The toilet was totally clogged. We plunged and plunged and plunged and eventually I noticed that the plunging was pushing water and waste back up into the tank through the large hole that the flapper closes after a normal flush.

So I went out and bought an auger and eventuallu was able to clear the clog so the bowl empties. But when I flush, large air bubbles come up through the pipe from the tank to the bowl, into the tank, and the water drains from the tank into the bowl too slowly to create the necessary whoooosh. If I pour water int the bowl directly, it flushes fine so I'm guessing some of the stuff that backed up when I tried to plunge is now clogged between the tank and bowl.

How do I clear that clog - without taking anything apart!

Hi Sandygoodgirl...

1st... is the flexible hose (REFILL TUBE) from the fill valve (valve on left) connected to the flush valve overflow pipe (the valve on the right with the flapper). If this is not connected properly then the toilet could do what you describe.

Otherwise, you could hook up a garden hose and stick the hose end into the flush valve (where flapper attaches) and turn the water on to see if that helps to clear the issue.

If not, may be necessary to remove the toilet tank from the toilet bowl and see what you can do from there.

Be sure to have a spray head to control the flow of water so things don't get out of hand.

Let me know if it helps...

MARK

It is very unlikely that the waste that was in the bowl, backed up into the tank, I've been doing plumbing a very long time and have never seen that.., although I have seen this problem your describing, the only way that the flush valve can get clogged is by something going through the flapper hole from the tank itself, such as a wash rag etc. but you may have to pull the tank off to remove whatever is in there, but before you do that, flush the water out of the tank, turn off supply valve, below tank.. and open up the flapper in the tank and stick a wire coat hanger down to see if you can feel or retrieve something..