Clogged Toilets

In 1991 Congress mandated that all toilets be manufactured to use less water per flush.  Before 1991 toilets were designed to use 3.5 gallons of water.  After 1991, toilets were designed to use only 1.6 gallons and some are less than that now.  Toilets come in all shapes and sizes with different ways to flush the water.  Some with bigger openings to let the water out of the tank more quickly and some designed to push the water out with compressed air pressure.  Some work better than others.

 Since these new low flow toilets came on the market, I have heard the cries of dissatisfaction from our customers on a regular basis.  The calls that come in for clogged toilets have been numerous to say the least.

 It seems like every time I work on a toilet there is a plunger standing at attention, ready to be used in an instant to prevent an impending unpleasant task.  Regardless, my thoughts on low flow toilets are that they are here to stay and for a very long time.

 To plunge or NOT to plunge is the question.  Toilet plungers:  they have been around for a long time, look the same and do more than attempt to unclog a toilet.  The Number 1 cause of a toilet leaking at the base of the bowl and getting water on the floor or into the ceiling below the toilet – is when someone uses that plunger.

 The toilet is set down on top of a wax ring which is used to seal the toilet drain to the drain in the floor, designed to prevent water, when flushed, to go where it’s supposed to go – down the drain.  When you plunge a toilet it pushes water pressure against these wax rings and can cause the wax ring to blow apart and cause a leak.

 Auger:  Toilet clogs really should be augured. 

 So how can we help to prevent a clog?  You can use a toilet paper that is NOT, and I repeat NOT, an absorbing paper.  Or, you can use less paper…or there is one other thing which you have probably figured out on your own, or have you?