Problem with Toilet Air Vent
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Problem with Toilet Air Vent
I am living in a new town house with two toilets on 2nd floor and one toilet on 1st floor.
Only one toilet on the 1st floor has a flushing problem: it is not flushed but filled up. If I use a sink in the same bathroom, the sink works fine but water bubble come out of toilet.
Before a builder was bankrupt, they had tried everything to clear a water drain line including putting camera, snake, replacing toilet, etc. So I am 100% sure there is no problem with drain pipe. But I met one guy and said the problem can be caused by air venting. So I went up to the attic, and the air vent (2") of the problem toilet is connected to the main air vent (4") with about 20 degree slope. And the length of the 2" pipe is longer than 20 feet.
Now there is two things I am considering to do soon.
1. I am going to cut 2" air vent pipe and replace it to 4 or 3" pipe ONLY in the attic (not from the toilet to the roof). Do you guys think it can fix the problem? I am worried a bit because pipe diameter is not same from the toilet to the roof (2" from toilet to attic, 4" from attic to roof).
2. If that doesn't fix the problem, I am going to buy a pressure assist toilet. Do you guys think the toilet can work under the condition of 'not enough air flow.'
Thanks a lot
Only one toilet on the 1st floor has a flushing problem: it is not flushed but filled up. If I use a sink in the same bathroom, the sink works fine but water bubble come out of toilet.
Before a builder was bankrupt, they had tried everything to clear a water drain line including putting camera, snake, replacing toilet, etc. So I am 100% sure there is no problem with drain pipe. But I met one guy and said the problem can be caused by air venting. So I went up to the attic, and the air vent (2") of the problem toilet is connected to the main air vent (4") with about 20 degree slope. And the length of the 2" pipe is longer than 20 feet.
Now there is two things I am considering to do soon.
1. I am going to cut 2" air vent pipe and replace it to 4 or 3" pipe ONLY in the attic (not from the toilet to the roof). Do you guys think it can fix the problem? I am worried a bit because pipe diameter is not same from the toilet to the roof (2" from toilet to attic, 4" from attic to roof).
2. If that doesn't fix the problem, I am going to buy a pressure assist toilet. Do you guys think the toilet can work under the condition of 'not enough air flow.'
Thanks a lot
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What you propose with the vent pipe is a waste of time. I think, in spite of what you say, that there's still a drainage problem. Under the plumbing code where I live, toilets aren't even required to be vented.
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hi dyun33-
No plumber here! Must take what I say with a grain of salt. I put a pressure assist toilet in the condo I lived in and regretted it. Damn thing made a big bang when you flushed. But you can get used to that. Maybe they’re better these days. Put in mine 10 years ago.
Condo maintenance guys laughed when they saw it flush and said it didn’t look like it would do a good enough job flushing and could lead to blockage problems. It didn’t cause problems. But as I said they may be much better now anyway.
But what got me was that if you have any kind of problem with them I think it’s pretty hard to take care of it yourself. Or at least back then it was. Mine had a cylindrical tank inside the tank - and it started to leak within the first year. Wasn’t like going to Home Depot to get stuff that’s easy to install yourself on most toilets. Like fill valves and flush valves, flappers, etc.
Guess you were supposed to take the tank out and ship it somewhere to be fixed? Seems like it was sealed somehow. I don’t think you could even find a parts list or anything about the tank on the manufacturer’s (Kohler) web site. Maybe I gave up too soon and overreacted but I replaced it with a normal toilet.
Could be wrong about maintenance problems today with them.
Hope things work out for you with your problem!
No plumber here! Must take what I say with a grain of salt. I put a pressure assist toilet in the condo I lived in and regretted it. Damn thing made a big bang when you flushed. But you can get used to that. Maybe they’re better these days. Put in mine 10 years ago.
Condo maintenance guys laughed when they saw it flush and said it didn’t look like it would do a good enough job flushing and could lead to blockage problems. It didn’t cause problems. But as I said they may be much better now anyway.
But what got me was that if you have any kind of problem with them I think it’s pretty hard to take care of it yourself. Or at least back then it was. Mine had a cylindrical tank inside the tank - and it started to leak within the first year. Wasn’t like going to Home Depot to get stuff that’s easy to install yourself on most toilets. Like fill valves and flush valves, flappers, etc.
Guess you were supposed to take the tank out and ship it somewhere to be fixed? Seems like it was sealed somehow. I don’t think you could even find a parts list or anything about the tank on the manufacturer’s (Kohler) web site. Maybe I gave up too soon and overreacted but I replaced it with a normal toilet.
Could be wrong about maintenance problems today with them.
Hope things work out for you with your problem!