Since I've moved into this house, the toilet backs up at least once a day. I've even purchased a new toilet, and have had the same problem. The plumber says he can find nothing wrong. The drain pipe from the toilet is 4", and not plastic. My children do not play near the toilet; my stack is new; the lateral to the street is cleaned out. I haven't checked my vent pipe, but the plumber says he is very sure it is not the problem; he didn't check the vent, though. I have read that the new toilets don't work well with 4" pipes, which lead to the stack. Should I change it to a 3" pipe? This is incredibly frustrating; a 5 year old girl should not be able to clog a toilet. I'm thankful for any help.

When the toilet plugs are you able to plung it open? My 5 year old was using about 15 feet of paper and she did plug it up. When you flush everythings goes through a serpentine tube that gets slightly smaller as it reaches the base of the toilet. Paper can form a plug at this point.

Yes, I can plunge it open each time. Sometimes it takes just a little effort; sometimes a lot. When I say a lot, I mean I am starting to think that I'll need a snake to open it. She doesn't use a lot of paper at all. I may have to, but she surely doesn't. :)

Can not believe I am reading this post. Nice to meet you. You may have found your answer, not sure. I was/am in the Same situation. I replaced a toilet that was constantly clogging or slow, but the problem persisted. I had the same problem at another house with another toilet. I had a probem on vacation, at my brother in law's house, and on and on. It took me a while to figure it out, but I think I have. Once I had replaced the toilet at home that clogged so often, I finally figured it was the USER... My daughter is a teenager but is not regular, never has been. For years now, she only goes every couple of days and not regularly. The result is very hard stuff... I am a grown man, and this is my daughter we are talking about here, but I know you have heard the term '_ _ _ _ a brick' ? Well that is what she does. It makes it down, but barely, and it is a brick, literally... So just thought I would pass along that if this toilet is being used by the same person, on a regular basis, and possibly a child who may not have developed a routine yet, certain size, large and firm #2 could be the problem! Hope you find an answer, I think I found mine! Good Luck.

Take care.

Did anyone bother to flip the toilet over to see if the wax ring was properly aligned?

I've pulled a few toilets where the wax ring had partially blocked the discharge opening.

Just a thought.

Thanks for the suggestions. BTC - so far, I am the only one who can '---- a brick'. Which makes it all the more frustrating when the toilet stops up after my daughter has taken care of her business. Iamgrowler, I've checked the wax rings, and have even replaced them twice, with hopes at changing things, but with no success. I even switched to a smaller wax ring, but no change happened. Are there any thoughts on my original question, about switching to a smaller pipe?

We had the same problem, we have an older house (built in the 70's) the problem was tree roots were growing into the drain pipes going from the house to the main connection on our street.

It was fixed by a plumber simply running an industrial size snake with a drill bit on the end and breaking up the roots, if your house is older bring this up as a cause next time you call a plumber if it keeps happening.

Didn't think of that; thanks.

In the old days the toilet passageway was very large with 7 gallons per flush, then it went to 3.5 gallons per flush. Then some came up with the idea of a 1.6 gallon per flush. This idea caused many problems in the beginning because you had to flush 2 or 3 times. They have finally found a way to flush 1.6 gallon toilets one time. They have done 2 things, one is that they have made the passageway much smaller and much shallower. This is a shallow trap system and it clogs easily with 2 ply paper. The 2 ply paper bunches up and the one ply breaks up during the flush. The second remedy was to get the water level in the tank very high to create a momentum that gave the flush more force. The latest technology is to make a very large passageway with a very shallow trap and a very large passageway from the tank to dump the water at a higher volume very quickly. It all goes to momentum and speed.
Most of the problems today is with an inexpensive toilet that has a very narrow drain in the bowl.
A 4" PIPE WILL DRAIN FASTER AND BETTER THAN A 3" PIPE.

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Originally Posted by iamgrowler

Did anyone bother to flip the toilet over to see if the wax ring was properly aligned?

I've pulled a few toilets where the wax ring had partially blocked the discharge opening.

Just a thought.

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Right on Growler! And Doug was correctwhen he said,"A 4" PIPE WILL DRAIN FASTER AND BETTER THAN A 3" PIPE."
In my capacity as shop trouble shooter I began to run into a slew of complaints on our new construction that were just like yours. I knew they all couldn't be " bad toilets" so I went looking for the cause. I found that when installing the new bowl that the wax ring had been forced out into the discharge pipe and blocking the free flow of water. When the water hit it a backpressure was set up preventing the siphon that makes a good flush and the solids just swirled around while the water went slowly down. I had to set up meeting with our plumbers and show them the problem and how to fix it. When you set the bowl, put the wax seal down on the flat side to the closet flange. Then take your hands and bevel the wax seal outward so that when you set a bowl on it the wax is forced out instead of in blocking the flush. The customer complaints stopped and I had less work to do. Try molding the wax seal so it doesn't choke down on the flush. Good luck, Tom

I'm going to try that, Speedball; thanks. That makes sense. I know there are different thicknesses of wax rings. How do I pick out the right thickness?

I know there are different thicknesses of wax rings. How do I pick out the right thickness?

Unless the flange's below the floor line a regular wax seal should do just fine.
Regards, Tom

Thanks; I'll be doing this soon, and I'll let you know how it goes.
Jim

I checked the wax ring yesterday, Monday. It wasn't blocking the hole. I put a new wax ring on, with no trouble. I "sat down in the library" this morning, and had to plunge. I'm beginning to think that the $150.00 toilet I bought is a piece of junk. It's only a couple of years old, which bothers the s**t out of me!