Problem. Two of our three toilets clogged up on us in the last two weeks. A plunger fixed it, but we have had terrible luck with our plumbing in this house. So, I called a plumber to come out and snake the lines, which he did. He said there was quite a bit of build up.

He went in the house and flushed the toilets, then came up to me and said he could show me what the problem is. The toilets flush kinda slow. He said the jets probably had calcium deposits which was preventing our '80s models commodes from "pushing" the waste away. Instead, everything just kinda swirls down the pipe in it's own good time. Also, as soon as the toilet is flushed, small air bubbles come out of the main drain hole.

The fix, he said, is new toilets. To the tune of $450~ish per.

Am I getting railroaded here? It's not the money so much as the diagnosis...

 

Sounds rather strange. Usually when there are air bubbles in the commode flush, it's a vent stack issue. A slow flush commode can be caused by calcium build up but it's easy to remove. Go by Lowes/ Home Depot and pick up a gallon or two of Muratic acid. Pour it down the drain tube in the tank, not in the tank. It will clean a commode pretty quick but be careful- it's acid and it can burn you. A slower method is to use a 9% acid vinegar and use it the same way. If you can get on the roof safely, find the vent stacks for the commodes and flush it out with a garden hose. These vent stacks will not have a cover over them- just looks like a pipe running out of the decking. I'll bet if you do both of the above yer problem will be over. FWIW, you said 80's commodes, these are not low flow commodes unless you've swapped them out. If you do swap out the commodes, you will be getting low flow commodes and they can be a major screwup with the larger drain pipes....keyword-can. You might check with you water provider as a lot of the providers will give you either a discount coupon towards the purchase of low flows or give you credit back on your account. Make sure to keep the receipt if you do swap them.

 

Another problem might be the pitch of the drain pipe. This is often looked over. If the toilet is on a second floor.. there might be a problem... but if it's easily accessible, adjust the height. For a 4" drain pipe it is (according to 99% of current building codes) 1/4" per foot slope. So if you had a 10' sewer pipe at a diameter of 4", you are looking at 1/4" at where the drain starts, to 2.5" to where it connects to the public sewer line/septic tank. A 3" pipe needs 1/8" per foot...

Having the proper drainage will prevent nasty clogs and property damage.

 

I had a twentyfive year old toilet that went slow on me, was told the same thing calcium deposits.

I did the swap myself for less than $250, problem solved.
$450 must be plumber talk for turn key pricing.

Name anything in your house or garage that lasts for more than 25 years. Anything?

 

Sen a PM to Wittom---I have not seen him on here for a while, but he is a plumber and knows his stuff.

Tim C.

 

Too much pitch in a drain line is almost as bad as not enough. Too much the liquid flows faster than the solids, and the solids can become stuck, leading to another clog. Replacing the toilets is an easy job. Lowe's where I live has toilets and wax ring for 115.00. So in my opinion 450 is kind of high. 300 bucks for 2 bolts and 2 water connections.

 

First off dont use Muratic Acid you are asking for trouble with your PVC pipes or cast iron depending on how old your house is. Second call your plumber back and tell him he is cracked for telling you it costs 450ish to have a toilet installed you can go and get three new toilets for about 250 to 300 from your Lowes or HD and install them your self. It is really simple to install a new toilet first turn off the water and flush the toilet to drain the tank. Then undo the two bolts at the base of the toilet and disconnect the supply line and pull the toilet up off of the wax ring and stuff a rag in the hole so that sewer gas does not come back into the house and scrape off the old wax gasket and install the new one. Then set the new toilet on the new wax gasket and twist it as you force it down on the new gasket to seat it. Screw the bolts back into the flange on the floor and reattach the supply and enjoy the new toilet. You will also want to measure from the wall to the center of the hole in the flange on the floor to get the correct offset toilet.

 

1956 Ford Thunderbird

 

I do outdoor plumbing for my day job, but I do get into indoor plumbing as a side job. The toilet will maybe take a half hour to 45 minutes to get in. They have these new fittings for waterlines called gatortooth or something, no soldering required, just push together rubber ring brass fittings. makes install a breeze. So you'll probably have 150-175 in parts and I'd charge 50-75 for labor, depending on if I had to get the toilet at lowes or whatnot. so at most, 250-275 out the door is all you should have into it.

And from my experience, calling the national plumbers(roto rooter, etc) is not always the most cost effective avenue.

 

We had a severe clog about a year or so ago... we had no choice but to call roto-rooter in and it took them like 5 hours to clear out the clog. What a bill that was.

 

Your plumber is probably right. I've seen many times where the main jet and jets in the flushing rim are clogged so a syphon isn't created. It's the syphoning of the water out of the toilet that takes the waste away.

In our area there is on toilet in particular that has this problem. It's the American Standard Plebe.

It's not just calcium that can cause the jets to be plugged. Use of in the tank cleanrs can cause this. Many newer toilet have a sticker on the inside of the tank that says use of in the tank cleaners voids the warranty. Two Thousand Flushed is really bad for a toilet. It's the one that comes in the cansiter. It's granulars. I've seen this stuff basicly solidify in the main jet rendering a toilet useless. That blue goop (can't remember the name) is pretty bad too. It ends up being a slimey build up in the flushing rim.

Before you tell the plumber to come back with new toilets, you can try something your self. You will have to stick your hands in the toilet but it may save you some money. Get a small pointed object. I have a small old screw driver that I bent to do this. You locate the main jet usually at the bottom of the inside of the toilet bowl. Make sure that it's clear. If you break up chunks, dig deeper. Then locate the jets in the rim. Take the tool and work it into the holes making sure that they are clear. Then flush the toilet. I do what we call a twenty sheet test. I use more paper than most reasonable people would use. If you get a wad of paper down, you should be able to get waste down.

You may need new toilets. Sometimes that's the best solutiuon. I don't know that your plumber wants to install but the price seems high comapred to what we charge. I just gave a customer prices for toilets. We reccomend Kohler. I gave this customer a price of about 330 to install a Kohler Wellworth, comfort height. It uses the older Ingenium flushing technology. I also gave a price of 365 to install a Kohler Cimmeron, comfort height. The price would increase if it were necessary to replace the flange. We told this customer that it would be an additional 50 to replace the cast iron closet flange.

I'd do one toilet at a time to make sure that you're solving the problem

Good luck!

 

i just have one question, what the hell did you eat?