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a. You may have slow drains--check that out by dumping a bunch of water in a sink and see if it drains quickly enough.

b. You may have some foreign object caught in the siphon, that blocks it during a flush (which is why it seems to work when you turn the water off). Try a plumber's snake:



If there is a foreign object there and you can't fish it out, you may have to pull the entire toilet to figure out what's going on. If you do, don't try to reuse the wax ring--buy a new one.

Do you have females in the house? The partial blockage could be what plumbers refer to as a 'White Rat'.

Hey I dont have an answer other than plunge the crap out of it *pun definately intended*

I have a related question:

My shower in the rental house that I live in is unbearably slow at the drain. My landlord is an idiot and hasn't fixed it in the three or so times he has fiddled with it. I poured an entire 64 ounce bottle of drano down it by degrees and it helped a little, but not a lot.

The puzzling thing about it is that there are really only two males (me and another dude) using this shower regularly now and before there was a female and two males. Before this new guy moved in we had far less problems. Why could this be??

adam0408 wrote:The puzzling thing about it is that there are really only two males (me and another dude) using this shower regularly now and before there was a female and two males. Before this new guy moved in we had far less problems. Why could this be??

Anyone cook in the house? Grease and other foodstuffs run down the drain can really mess things up. Is the new guy going bald? Hair can plug up a drain.

Drano, Liquid Plumr and the other chemical cleaners dont'do very much, in spite of the commercials you see. The best fix is to have someone run a power rooter in the system, starting at the far cleanout right out to the street main. You could have tree roots invading the main line or a bunch of other problems.

TUBACHRIS85 wrote:I put some water down the sink in the bathroom, seems to be completly fine, unless its not connected to the toilets tubing. I dont know what else to do, and Im not able to get a snake thing for it. WHat are my options? Should I continue to use the plunger? What are some good techniques. The way I was plunging was vertically, by what ve been told on how to do it properly. Is that the wriong way?tubachis

At this point, have a talk with your landlord. If he doesn't do anything, see if your town as a renter-landlord arbitration program that can intercede--or just move out. A plunger probably isn't going to do much for you.

bloke wrote:

Why could this be??

Unscrew the two brass screws that hold the shower stall's brass drain cover in place, "suck it up" (yep...incredibly disgusting... ) and pull all of the hair and other **** out of there.

Have the roommates sign a paper PROMISING to do it NEXT TIME, and AS SOON AS YOU SAY it is the "NEXT TIME".

...someone could roll up their slieeve and see if they can feel around the siphon in the toilet bowl. Who knows what's stuck up there?

But when he says he "ran some water into the sink", I wonder if he knows how much water a vertical drain will hold before it starts backing up. He could have a plugged main line and not realize it.

Chuck"very grateful that the sewer in his house is a straight line from the back of the house all the way to the septic tank"(G)

If the toilet fills then drains slowly it is more than likely clogged in the fixture itself. If when you flush, the water comes back up in the shower to tub drain, the sewer line is clogged. Gurgling and noise in the shower/tub drain is also an indication of the line being clogged. If the clog is in the toilet then plunging may help. When doing this approach it thinking that you are trying to suck the clog back, not force it through. When you get tired of running down to the local convenience store to use their bathroom call in a professional turd wrassler.
If you do call in a pro and have used any chemical drain cleaners, warn him and tell him what is in the drain. Mixing of some drain cleaners can be deadly.

Don't know where and how you live, but if the toilet is on the ground floor and you've got a cesspit it could simply mean the pit has to be emptied.

Here's my plunger tip. With the toilet bowl containing a normal amount of water, put the plunger under the surface, against the side, not over the drain. Push down to remove all the air that is trapped in the plunger and allow it to fill with water. Now, keeping the plunger under the surface, move it over the drain and give it a good hard push. Repeat the whole process as necessary. You get much more force this way! Water cannot compress so all of the applied force goes down the drain. If there is air trapped in the plunger it will compress as you push down and reduce the force your efforts.

adam0408 wrote: My shower in the rental house that I live in is unbearably slow at the drain. ..... Before this new guy moved in we had far less problems. Why could this be??

Maybe that new guys needs to find a girlfriend