I have been having trouble with a toilet that is not holding water in the bowl. Thought it was a bad toilet. Replaced old one. We snaked the drain for the toilet first and we also flushed the vent pipe. The new toilet seemed to be working for about half a day and then I started the washing machine. When the water drained from the washer it backed into the toilet along with water seeping out from under the toilet. I know that the seal was good when toilet was installed. The force of the wash water is why I think it came from underneath. And now the bowl of the toilet hardly has any water in it again but the tank has water. My question is does anybody have any idea what on earth the problem is? It is getting very frustrating as this is the only toilet in the house and there is also no access to pipes except to rip up the floor. Any suggestions?

The problem is a clog in the sewer drain. This is exactly what happens in my house when there is a clog somewhere down the line and the washer discharging the water ends up in the toilet bowl.

Do you have a septic or are you on a city sewer?

Sure sounds like a partiall clog in the drain as twinkie suggested. Also sounds kind of like a venting issue (siphoning the toilet bowl). Either plugged vent, lack of vent, or incorrect tie in of washer/toilet drain. If the washer drain is tied in on the toilet drain, before the toilet vent, it will siphon the toilet bowl when the washer runs. Lots of things to consider hear, but I would start by pulling the toilet and augering from the toilet drain with a large auger, with the biggest bit you can get in the pipe without it actually touching both sides of the pipe. These larger auger machines can get pretty nasty, so you may want to think about hiring it out with some one who knows what they are doing. If you do it yourself, make sure to put out enough cable to reach the city main.

To twinkiedooter. We are on city sewer system. To mygirlsdad77, we ran water with a hose down the vent pipe on the roof and no water came out of the vent at the roof. This problem has just started yesterday. We have lived here since 1986 and have not had any trouble. Maybe occasionally a backup in the toilet. We have poured a main sewer line cleaner in the toilet before and that helped with some of the backup issues. Also I have never had any issues with the washer going to the toilet either till today. Another person had told us there could possibly be tree roots in the pipe, is it possible with pvc piping? He also said to auger it out too. Not sure we should tackle that ourselves so if anyone has any idea how much a plumber charges for something like that? Now is the time when I wish we had a plumber in the family.

Yep, I would start with having the sewer augered. Prices vary so greatly from area to area its near impossible to say what it will cost. Even if I knew what they charge an hour in you area, I wouldn't guess how long it will take. Normally, (at least in my area) plumbers don't give estimates for plugged sewers, cause you just never know what you will run into. It could be a quick half hour job, or it could run into hours. Ask around to see if anyone has had issues like you are seeing, and ask what plumber they used, if they were happy with the plumbers work, and what it cost them. I wish you the best of luck, and hope everythings works out at a decent price. Keep me posted? Take care.