Toilet Doesn't Flush Completely

Toilet Doesn’t Flush Completely

Find out how to fix a partially obstructed toilet that isn't flushing all the way. The solution is to take the toilet off the floor and look inside the trap to see what's blocking it.

LESLIE: David in Rhode Island has got a tricky toilet. Tell us what’s going on.

DAVID: Well, listen. Every time – not every time but many times when I flush the toilet, I detect like a pocket of air; you know, there’s like a big bubble that comes up. And then let’s say that it doesn’t flush completely.

TOM: Right.

DAVID: Sometimes I have to wait until it recycles and then flush it again and then it’ll be gone.

TOM: Hmm. Sounds like there’s a partial obstruction.

DAVID: That could very well be. (chuckles)

TOM: That would cause that.

DAVID: Any quick ideas? (chuckles)

TOM: Well, hmm. Have you had to plunge it all to get it moving again?

DAVID: No, no. It’s never been quite that bad. No.

TOM: Yeah. I have a feeling that there’s a partial obstruction here. I can’t begin to speculate what that obstruction is. But when you have something that’s not flushing all the way like that, that’s generally what happens. I mean I had a situation once where I had a toilet that broke down right before a big family party, so I was absolutely positive that it was the willow tree outside; the roots had grown into the drain pipe. So I got up really early and dug this big hole in my ground and tried to find these roots and get them out but then I got the pipe open and there were no roots in there.

Long story short: I ended up taking the toilet off the floor, turned it upside down and found a little, blue, toy phone in it. (Leslie chuckles)

DAVID: Oh, wow.

TOM: So some home improvement expert; I tore up the whole yard and it turned out to be an obstruction right in the toilet itself.

DAVID: Right in the toilet itself. Oh, gee.

TOM: (overlapping voices) So I suspect that, yeah, the smallest little thing falling in that toilet can cause this condition; so I would probably take the toilet off, try to snake it out and look inside the trap of the toilet itself – that’s the curved part that’s sort of underneath the bowl – and see if you can figure out what the obstruction is. Because I have a feeling that’s what’s causing this, David.

DAVID: Alright, then. Tom, thanks for your time.

TOM: You’re welcome. Thanks so much for calling us at 1-888-MONEY-PIT.