Can A Toilet That Keeps Getting Blocked Be Fixed Or..

[telstrareg]

We have the problem that if you take a dump and the waste size is large or it's firm, the toilet gets blocked every time.

Note:

- The toilet does not gradually become blocked. It is either running as freely as possible or blocked - no in between

- No paper is ever flushed

- The septic tank was recently emptied and this did nothing to improve the situation

- The toilet is about 100cm above the level of the lid of the septic tank

- The pipe that goes down from the toilet bowl to the septic tank is about 15cm wide and straight with a down angle of about 30 degrees.

- Cleaning the the toilet line thoroughly with Sodium Hydroxide seems to make no difference to the flush speed or the ease with which toiled becomes blocked again (ie there is no evidence of any gradual build-up.)

- When the toilet is unblocked water rushes out fast and easy

- When the toilet is blocked, water drains out of the bowl slowly and ends with gurgling sound.

- When the toilet is blocked and you flush again, many times excrement that has made it's way into the s-bend will shoot back into the bowl.

The only explanations I have for this are that the toilet itself is poorly designed (ie the s-bend pipe built into the bowl seems extremely narrow to me) or it is an installation problem of some kind that I don't understand. I guess the question I'm asking is: can a fixable installation problem be the cause of what's happening or are there toilet bowls that are just badly designed and need to be replaced?

[candypants]

som tam pla ra -- no solid shit, no blocked toilet

[telstrareg]

som tam pla ra -- no solid shit, no blocked toilet

Yes, spicy food seems to be the Thai alternative to the bran muffin

[uptheos]

Flush as you go, don't dump too much before you flush!!

[telstrareg]

Flush as you go, don't dump too much before you flush!!

Yes, this is standard practice in our house but sometimes there is that nugget that won't be sliced and wants to come out whole..

Toilets work fine in every other country I've lived in, why isn't ours working?

[rgs2001uk]

Your problem lies in your internal piping, yes its a common problem in Thailand.

Quick fix, keep a bucket of filled water on standby and use that to flush.

When you had the house designed and built did you upgrade the plumbing?

[bankruatsteve]

Given your quantitative descriptions it does seem like it could be the toilet. Is it a cheap no-name? As others, I just don't have the solid dump problem here in LOS. Skid marks for sure but that's it. cheers.

[telstrareg]

Your problem lies in your internal piping, yes its a common problem in Thailand.

Quick fix, keep a bucket of filled water on standby and use that to flush.

When you had the house designed and built did you upgrade the plumbing?

Do you mean the internal piping of the toilet bowl? The external piping going to the septic is about 15cm so it cant be that.

We did not build the house.

[wayned]

Over the years, my toilets have become "clogged" with the minerals in the water. When you flush a toilet the action must release all of the water from the tank as quickly was possible to "flush" the toilet bowl. What's happened with my toilets is that the water distribution ring around the top of the base of the toilet has become clogged with sediment and cannot be cleaned. So when I flush the toilet the water dribbles out and does not flush the toilet bowl. My fix is, as stated above, a bucket of water that you poor into the toilet rather than flushing. Try it, it works for me.

[lopburi3]

Several factors could be involved - as it is not much of a drop there will not be much open space and a good vent should be available - often there is none or it becomes blocked during flooding so if you have a pipe outside or into attic space try blowing that out with a hose or air pressure. Toilet itself can be of poor design and perhaps check the water level in tank is not set too low. I have replaced two ground floor units with almost no drop with Cotto 12027 water saver models with power flushing which seems to be very effective (although a bit more noisy than normal swirl systems). This was expensive at about 8,000 baht but seems to be worth it. Not sure if this model still available in Thailand or not.

http://www.jubinbms.com.my/bathroom-products/toilet/?file=Toilet/C12027.jpg

Then there is the throne room approach that I have seen used of mounting toilet on a higher level tank type cement base, with a step up to it, allowing discharge into that and drainage from there.

[Naam]

Your problem lies in your internal piping, yes its a common problem in Thailand.

Quick fix, keep a bucket of filled water on standby and use that to flush.

When you had the house designed and built did you upgrade the plumbing?

Do you mean the internal piping of the toilet bowl? The external piping going to the septic is about 15cm so it cant be that.

We did not build the house.

a highly probable reason could be that the toilet's outlet is not centered on the "inlet". i watched the plumbers install the first toilet in our home with horror, told them to stop immediately and to make the necessary adjustments, id est hack of the flooring and cut the 6" pipe leading to the septic tank to create an oval funnel type of "inlet" that can take "nuggets" of any size.

[Crossy]

That ^^^, was my immediate thought too Naam, poor installation.

Unfortunately the only way to find out for sure is to remove the offending unit and inspect

Time to call the plumber methinks.

[slapout]

Just a little personal experience. An Al. packet for soft drink, juice, etc if flushed down the toilet will often times become lodged in the U tube of the toilet. It will restrict flow of fluid/waste and cause the problem described.

Unbolt the toilet, turn it upside down and check for obstruction, check centering, etc as recommended above. If this is a perodic problem, this is a good first look. Also check the water level in the tank for proper level just to go thru the elimination process.

[transam]

Be sure the air vent out of the tank is not blocked. Can test by putting a water hose down it. I had similar prob.

[bankruatsteve]

Unbolt the toilet? Not likely in Thailand.

[lopburi3]

No but it should only take a few minutes for most to chip out the cement. Normally they can do this without major damage. This is where DIY becomes hire someone.

[Mrjlh]

Did you say 30 degrees of down angle? That's your problem.

If that is true, way too much angle because the water that will carry the waist drains out faster than the waste does. The waste then gets stuck until more water is applied and you need to flush it repeatedly.

How far is the run to the septic tank?

Should only be 1/4" inch slope per foot.

Edited March 29, 2013 by Mrjlh

[sirineou]

totally agree with Mrjlh

too much drain angle will evacuate the water too fast leaving solids stuck to the wall of the drain pipe

[Naam]

Just a little personal experience. An Al. packet for soft drink, juice, etc if flushed down the toilet will often times become lodged in the U tube of the toilet. It will restrict flow of fluid/waste and cause the problem described.

Unbolt the toilet, turn it upside down and check for obstruction, check centering, etc as recommended above. If this is a perodic problem, this is a good first look. Also check the water level in the tank for proper level just to go thru the elimination process.

"Unbolt the toilet"... that's where the fun starts. most toilets available in Thailand are not meant to be bolted down (no holes or the like provided). and if there were holes no proud Thai plumber would use such a disgusting low tech method.

instead he will use some sort of advanced NASA procedure by mixing a big blob of white plaster, distribute it around the "down spout" opening, place the toilet on top and order one of his apprentices to sit on it. the plaster that spills to the outside is (more or less) carefully wiped off whereas the surplus drops into the "down spout" where it can cause problems settling in 90º bows and/or hardens blocking a part of the opening. but... no problem, because nobody can see it.

when removing the toilet later it might or might not break. should it break then also no problem because the builder supply shops have so many toilets that they sell their surplus.

slightly off topic: when moving into our new home we realised a terrible stink in the bathrooms whenever the toilet was flushed and it took us quite some time to locate the origins. as we were used to bidets in our other homes and Mrs Naam considering bum guns "disgusting", in all our bathrooms, including the guest toilet, bidets were fitted. after questioning the Right Honourable Master Plumber he admitted that the bidets, located next to the toilets were connected directly to the toilets sewage pipe.

i'm not sure whether the Thai gentleman who translated the plumber's reason was joking but that's what he said smiling "the plumber who has never installed a bidet was thinking that Farangs will use ordinary toilets on ordinary days and sh*t in the bidets on sundays and public holidays."

luckily these connections were accessible outside the building without the need of hacking up marble floors. only in one case it was necessary to break a part of the outside wall. and the plumber did also an excellent job to retrofit the bidets with u-traps constructed with a dozen (or so) PVC bows of varying degrees. before that no u-traps existed.

[Beardog]

agree 100% with Mrjlh 30% assesment on a 40 ft length of 4" pipe it should be a 1 ft drop 40 meters 1 meter etc. You can exagerate the slope by a little bit but your toilet is not pushing the waste through the pipe allowing the water to release before it rinses down the solids. You may have other problems as well but you have way to much slope on your setup.

The best way to install a toilet is to have as little bends in the line as possible leading to the septic tank(or main drainage system) Our houses are always planned with the toilets going directly to the septic leaving only one 45% bend in the system. Thai building seems they go out of their way to make it as complicated as it can be instead of making it easy.

Edited March 30, 2013 by Beardog