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Sunshine1949 · Jun 2, 2009, 05:25 PM

What could cause the water to be sucked out of the toilet bowl? Every day and a half the water disappears out of the toilet bowl in guest bathroom. What could cause that?

ballengerb1 · Jun 2, 2009, 05:46 PM

Could be a bad toilet that was patched at the factory but more likely a clogged vent stack that is siphoning water from your bowl. Rod from the roof with enough snake to reach roof top to basement plus 20'

STG · Jul 3, 2009, 01:19 PM

While I don't even attempt to be in the same league as the experts on this website, I do have a question...

Do you have a dog, Sunshine?

We've had the same issue... in fact, I just snaked our vent (the roof was blazing here in San Antonio this afternoon!) and found nothing. Short of a leak somewhere (and I expect that I'd see it, since the toilet sits on a concrete slab foundation of a 1-story house), the only culprits I can identify are:

Our two golden retrievers...

ballengerb1 · Jul 3, 2009, 03:18 PM

I got to laugh at that, never came to mind but this sure makes sense. Start telling the man of the home to close the lid to test the theory.

speedball1 · Jul 3, 2009, 03:29 PM

And our thanks for the "chuckle" of the day. Tom

STG · Jul 3, 2009, 03:31 PM

Mr Ballenger, should the end of the snake have come back wet after I dropped it into the vent stack? I only have a one story house... and the stack is on the edge of the roof, so I was able to go fairly deep on the snake.

speedball1 · Jul 3, 2009, 03:47 PM

should the end of the snake have come back wet after I dropped it into the vent stack?

I'll field this one if it's OK. Your vent stack becomes a stack vent once it has fixtures discharging into it. All means is that it isn't dry any more.
It has fixtures draining into it. Now if the base of the stack were loaded with water and you had a back-up or a drainage problem I'd say you had something to be concerned about but since I don't hear any complaints The moisture's normal. Regards, Tom

STG · Jul 3, 2009, 03:50 PM

Thanks, you guys are great... much appreciated for all the help over the past several months.

ballengerb1 · Jul 3, 2009, 05:40 PM

Tom is correct. However, if you are not using water at the time there should be no standing water in your drainage pipes. A snake can get wet rubbing on pipes. Maybe Tom can help us figure about the next test. Maybe wrap a dish towel tightly around the snake, run it down and retrieve quickly, it should not be dripping wet. What do you think Tom?

STG · Jul 4, 2009, 03:24 PM

If it were backed up, I'd have a problem flushing the toilet... wouldn't I? The toilet flushes just fine... no issue with it backing up in the bowl.

speedball1 · Jul 4, 2009, 04:08 PM

Hey Bob,
If he ain't complaining I'm not going looking for trouble. There could be toilet paper down there soaked and just waiting for the next flush. I know I saw toilet paper in my main when they ran a sewer cam down it. I think he's going to be OK. Tom

STG · Jul 5, 2009, 11:26 AM

Thanks, Tom...

I'm pretty sure I'm OK now, too. Although you're not one to go looking for trouble... I am. :-)

I ran the snake again today. It's a 25 foot snake with a small diameter (bought it to clean out my AC drain line). Since I only have a one-story house, and the toilet is on the side of the house, it was pretty easy to drop the snake all the way to the bottom of the vent stack.

I decided to put a bit of paper in the coil on the end of the snake. Once dropped, I left the snake bottomed out for about 30 seconds... and pulled it up. The edge of the paper was damp, not wet. Most likely, I'm seeing some effects in the vent stack from our 105 degree weather here in south Texas - or one of my kids had flushed the toilet when I snaked it yesterday.