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savva · Apr 8, 2009, 02:26 PM

Hey Guys,

I'm having trouble with my toilet to flush down solids. I have figured out a temporary solution but I'm looking for a permanent fix.

Here's some background on the building
It's a 2 story building with 5 apartments in it. All the washrooms are fine except for the one on the second story furthest from the main water line.

This toilet was working properly till my gas company came in to replace the water heater. They put a plug on the exhaust sewage drain (I'm assuming because of the smell). Once he did this for some reason my toilet wouldn't flush properly. If I remove that plug on the main drain it starts to work properly again. I know that there should be a plug here to prevent back flow; so I would like to keep a cover on here.

What would you guys suggest to get this issue resolved properly? I've read about some air vents that go on sinks but would this help me in my case?

mygirlsdad77 · Apr 8, 2009, 03:12 PM

AAV, maybe. But in this case I think I would like to see a vent run from the hole that was plugged. Best if you install a cleanout at base of vent. Im just going on a gut feeling here, if you could post some pictures of your toilet in relation to the plugged hole, it may help. Either way, you will need to run a vent to the outside off this hole, or hole must be plugged to keep sewer gases from entering home(very dangerous). Can you please give us some more info on this. Hope we can help.

ballengerb1 · Apr 8, 2009, 06:55 PM

By "exhaust sewage drain " do you mean the vent? Can you describe better please, this is not a term I have seen.

savva · Apr 8, 2009, 11:18 PM

So in the basement there is a drain which works fine and then there's this other hole which smells bad (like sewage) which has always been left open till the gas company came and plugged this hole. This hole is located in a room with the Natural gas heater and Boiler for the radiators and has a pipe that goes outside to bring fresh air in for the combustion of these units.

I believe the hole was 4' in diameter and is made of clay. I can take a picture and post it if that would help

mygirlsdad77 · Apr 9, 2009, 03:23 PM

Yes pics may help. Something is not right here. If the hole is for combustion air, it should not smell like sewage, nor should it affect drainage of toilet(should not be tied to plumbing in any way. Hope we can get this figured out. It may be time to call in a plumber to look things over. Please let me know how things work out.

savva · Apr 12, 2009, 06:07 PM

Yes I will be calling a plumber but I want to get an idea of what's happening before I call. The apartment is vacant at the moment so I'm not in a huge rush to get it fixed.

Here are some pics, let me know what you guys think, that black rubber thing is what the gas company put on that holeImageShack® - Gallery

mygirlsdad77 · Apr 12, 2009, 06:19 PM

I doubt that this hole was for combustion air of the gas appliances. Most likely a sewer drain(or may have been originally intended as a vent, but never got piped correctly). Please do let us know what the plumbers have to say. I would be very interested to here their conclusion. Keep in mind, they may be a bit stumped too, it hard to say what a pipe underground is tied to.