Have another situation here I never encountered before. HO calls me to tell me their toilet won’t flush. This is an original toilet when the house was built, so it’s a 40yr old toilet. Apparently the ravages of time have caused intense mineral deposits to build up in the bowls hole that helps the contents to flush away, that little water inlet hole at the base of the toilet bowl is what I’m referring to. HO notices that that hole is fully plugged with deposits, rations that this is causing it to not flush properly. HO decides to replace with new toilet, I get the call to do the job. The problem is that I’m gathering that there are still some “contents” in the bowl from the prior use where it stopped flushing. If this indeed is the case, is there a way to force the bowl to flush along with its subsequent contents so that i can drain the water out “cleanly” and replace the dang thing as I do any other time?
Discussion Forum
If at first you don’t succeed, try using a hammer next time…everything needs some extra persuasion from time to time. -ME
Discussion Forum
Up Next
Video Shorts
Featured Story
A new code-compliant, spill-safe outlet from Legrand offers a sleek solution for a kitchen island plug.
Featured Video
Highlights
"I have learned so much thanks to the searchable articles on the FHB website. I can confidently say that I expect to be a life-long subscriber." - M.K.
Fine Homebuilding Magazine
Fine Home Building
Follow
-
Fine Homebuilding
Dig into cutting-edge approaches and decades of proven solutions with total access to our experts and tradespeople.
Start Free Trial Now -
GBA Prime
Get instant access to the latest developments in green building, research, and reports from the field.
Start Free Trial Now
- Home Group
- Antique Trader
- Arts & Crafts Homes
- Bank Note Reporter
- Cabin Life
- Cuisine at Home
- Fine Gardening
- Fine Woodworking
- Green Building Advisor
- Garden Gate
- Horticulture
- Keep Craft Alive
- Log Home Living
- Military Trader/Vehicles
- Numismatic News
- Numismaster
- Old Cars Weekly
- Old House Journal
- Period Homes
- Popular Woodworking
- Script
- ShopNotes
- Sports Collectors Digest
- Threads
- Timber Home Living
- Traditional Building
- Woodsmith
- World Coin News
- Writer's Digest
Replies
As long as the drain isn't clogged, just pour a bucket of water in the toilet bowl to flush it.
What Stuart said.
Ditto above. DanT
who really thinks he would have posted here if that were the simple case? and why would a HO call him if it were that simple too?
Nothing is simple about a toilet.
if the water dosnt do it a toliet auger ought to clear it
auger then flush with pleanty of clean water .
Shop vac.
If you don't want to clean yours afterwards, buy a cheap one and throw it away when you're done, and biill the customer.
But the bucket of water trick by all the other posters usually works well. I've always used hot water, and hold the bucket as high as I can when pouring (without splashing).
Pete Duffy, Handyman
Yeah, bucket of water. Preferably use a 5-gallon mud bucket with about three gallons in it, but a nearly full standard bucket will work. Pour it in rapidly but stop if the bowl threatens to overflow.
If that doesn't flush it then the drain is clogged -- snake it out with a closet auger.
You can use a dilute acid to clear the lyme deposits, vs having to change out the toilet. Of course, you'll probably make more money changing the toilet, and the newer one will be more water-efficient.
And here with the title of this thread I thought it was gonna be a riddle.
"How do you force a toilet to flush?"
Put Saran Wrap over its face?
If Blodgett says, Tipi tipi tipi it must be so!
TipiFest 06~~> Send me your email addy for a Paypal invoice to the greatest show on earth~~>[email protected]
Or force it to listen to a dirty joke?
Or catch it in a compromising situation.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."You must have heard the one about the guy who had to cut a door down so it would clear his new carpet. He took it down and cut 1/2" off and put it back up. Still too long. Took it down again and cut another 1/2" off, put it back up and it was still too long,so now he's mad. So he takes it down and cuts an inch off. Puts it back up and damn it's still too long. He glances up and the top of the door is 2 inches below the header.
This actually happened to my FIL. He was trying to keep a screen door from dragging. I watched him and asked "Are you sure you're trimming the right end?" but he just kinda sneered and went ahead.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
My parents built their house in the early '50s and while dad was doing the basement, he decided to hang the workshop door so it would swing in and not go into the hallway. He and a neighbor did a fine job of cutting it to size, morticing the hinges and hanging it. First time they opened it, it smacked into the I beam going down the center of the house. They just sat down on the stairs and laughed their butts off.
"I cut this piece four times and it's still too short."
"How do you force a toilet to flush?"
Put Saran Wrap over its face?
totally irrelevant trivia here:
when I head out to sea, and know that no one will use my toilet for months and months, I put saran wrap over the bowl. This keeps the water from evaporating and letting sewer gasses into my apartment.
and did you know that a cactus can survive 4 months without water?
OK, end thread hijack
Angelicas Kitchen. When????
Marine Engineerfair winds and following seas
Do you remember to take it off before using the pot?(This might be a good place to use the colored plastic wrap.
If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy. --James Madison
Do you remember to take it off before using the pot?
Haven't made that mistake yet.
one time, in my "before saran wrap" days, I came home and found a dead bird in the toilet. My buddy Joe had wanted a book that he knew I had, so opened a window and climbed into my house to get it. Jammed the window, couldn't close it ... SO HE JUST LEFT that pineapple. Bird came in, got lost, and died in my toilet.
So I get home, and man do I gotta go ... and ... whadaya do? Only bathroom in the place. Gotta remove the bird, while holding on for dear life.
Life of a sailor.
Marine Engineerfair winds and following seas
you could just shut the water off behind the bowl ya know...lol.
Angelica's Kitchen? Maybe next weekend sometime...I'll let ya know.If Blodgett says, Tipi tipi tipi it must be so!
TipiFest 06~~> Send me your email addy for a Paypal invoice to the greatest show on earth~~>[email protected]
you could just shut the water off behind the bowl ya know...lol.
I'm trying to keep the water in the trap from evaporating.
as for the weekend, keep in mind that I sell pork at the farmers market at Union Square each Saturday, so 7AM to 6PM is booked. Otherwise I'm available.
Marine Engineerfair winds and following seas
you mean yer a hooker? Geezzzzzz...who'd a guessed? Next thing you'll be tellin' me is you go out to sea for months at a time.If Blodgett says, Tipi tipi tipi it must be so!
TipiFest 06~~> Send me your email addy for a Paypal invoice to the greatest show on earth~~>[email protected]
"How do you force a toilet to flush?"You take a sledge into the room and say "Flush, or the sink gets it."Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
.View Image"Citius, Altius, Fortius"
Heck,LOL!!! That's great!!!That brings all new meaning to a sweating toilet.
Rich BeckmanAnother day, another tool.
HAHAHA good oneIf Blodgett says, Tipi tipi tipi it must be so!
TipiFest 06~~> Send me your email addy for a Paypal invoice to the greatest show on earth~~>[email protected]
Shaped explosive charge