I have a large home with seven toilets. We have a sewer access not a septic tank system. There are times during the year we have a clogged waste line and have to call a service to unplug it. Unfortunately I found out we have 3 inch pipes instead of 4 inch. I also had the sewer line examined with a camera and found no obstructions. I have tried switching to Quilted Northern but still get this problem. Would installing power flush toilets help with pushing waste through system and also break up waste so it won't clog waste line?

 

Just stay away from Charmin. The rest should be okay. I doubt that replacing all the toilets would help. If you replace any of them, I would replace the first floor only. Is it always clogging in the same place?

 

Where are the clogs occurring and what material is causing the clogs? Without knowing that you are just guessing.

 

We have toilets on three floors including the basement. The basement has been locked so no one can use that bathroom. There are three toilets on the second floor on the North side of the house and one toilet on the third floor on the North side as well. These eventually go down the same waste line in the basement. It always clogs at the same area in the basement. The video shows that a lot of toilet paper will cause an obstruction at the "Y" junction where the top floor toilets and the basement toilet meet. I am thinking a power flush toilet will break up toilet paper and solids so that is flows more freely in the basement.

 

The clog in the waste line to call a service to unclog occurs about once a month since November of 2014. Before that it clogged in July of 2014.

 

How old is that house ?

What could have changed in July of 2014 ?

 

Settling of the house may have altered the needed slope for the drain line.

So called power flush toilets only help in getting the solid matter out of the toilet and into the drain pipe in the floor. By the time the material gets any further away, the power flush has no more advantage.

 

Something is wrong if you are having repeated clogs at that particular location. I would consider getting another plumber in for a second opinion. Maybe the first one didn't see an obvious problem that warranted busting out concrete to get to the pipes but repeated, frequent clogging may change the scenario.

One trick you can try as an experiment is get everyone to hold down the flush lever after going #2. Hold the lever down until all the waste in the bowl has disappeared and then maybe a second or two longer. This will use more water but will also provide more water behind the toilet paper to help keep things moving.

 

The house is 12 years old. We would have this problem maybe every 2 years or when we had guests staying with us for a long time. How ever it has been problamatic since November.

 

Is there a way to make the toilet flush completely and empty the tank with any parts that could be replaced on the toilet. This would be better than the 1 1/2 gallon flush and having people hold down the lever.

 

Did the house originally have 3 gallon per flush toilets and are any of those still there?

You might have to quickly empty a gallon or gallon and a half of water from a bucket into the toilet during each flush.

There is at least one brand of 1-1/2 gallon per flush toilet that has a plastic conical baffle, wide part up, in the middle of the toilet tank, around the flapper. If you cut this away, doesn't have to be completely, more water wil go down for each flush.

You might be able to adjust the tank float so it rises higher after each flush, resulting in more water being stored for the next flush.

Some power flush toilets don't have the tank full of water but rather there is a mechanism with a water capsule sitting in the middle of the tank. This would be hardest to modify to put down more water per flush. On some of these, lower system water pressure means less water stored for the next flush.

 

The house has its original toilets which were installed in the year 2000.

 

Low flush toilets have been required across the US since 1994 so anything less than 20 years old will likely have been built with them.

The idea of holding down the handle is just a test. It is free and does not require changing toilets or toilet parts. Useful since at this point you don't know if the toilets are your problem. You'll feel bad if you replace all your toilets and still have the clogging problem. I'm betting there is something wrong with the drain line and not your toilets but since it's free to try holding down the handle it's worth a try.

 

How does this actuallu connect as there needs to be a sweep there...


Also what type of pipe material. Cast? PVC?

 

I did try having the lever held down for a full flush, but today I had to unplug a clog myself with a manual auger ( at least I didn't have to call a service ). It appears to have clogged where it usually does. The water did back up on the basement floor ... don't know if this would have corrected itself.
Do you think a power toilet would create enough push to move the debris more efficiently down the waste line?

 

No. Power flush is ONLY to get the mess out of the toilet, gravity takes over once it is in the piping system.

You have a problem with the way the piping is connected at that fitting that is always plugging. Please post some pictures of that fitting and the pipes entering and leaving the fitting.

 

Well, if the clog reoccured with the extra water of holding the toilet handle down I'd say toilets are not the source of your problem. Replacing the toilets would likely not solve your clogging problem so... you're back to looking at the drain line/piping.

 

For clogs I use my shop vac for sinks & tubs. When the toilet gets a clog that the plunger will not fix I bought a plunger that I cut a hole in & stuck my shopvac in the hole so that it make a real good seal & suction for what ever is stuck in there. If doing this use a mask & open windows but it has worked for me & no more gurgling toilet.