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the toilet isnt blocked, i've suddenly got the reverse problem - when you flush it the bowl fills but then instead of droppin down to normal level it completely glugs away to empty. Its not a slow drain either, it just empties like normal but keeps going until only about 1cm water in it. No obvious leaks in the bathroom. Wife said is was full when she just used it but then said had emptied completely.
Its connected to a short (about 60cm) soil stack outside which is capped off at the top, and ten drains into a septic tank. Other toilet works fine and all the drains are working. Havent had time to check the tank yet.
Any ideas? Anything to check?
You're getting a vacuum in the pipe sucking the water through. The soil pipe on the outside of the house may be blocked at the top and not letting air in.
The soil stack should be vented.
It is the lack of air input that causes all the water to suck out the of pan as the water runs along the soil pipe.
You can get air admittance valves to put on top of the soil stack if you dont want it to vent out - these are one way valves that allow air in, but dont allow it to vent out.
why has it just started happening though? could it be anything to do with the wind and heavy rain? some of our gutters do drain into the same drain.
So if I take the cap off the soil stack it should fix it?
Just thought, maybe it has a one way valve on the stack and its got blocked... off to google what they look like now
Depends where the blockage is. Maybe run a hose pipe down from the soil pipe from the top and make sure it drains away?
I'm no plumber, but I would slam a massive bucket of water down it to start with- to force a mega-flush!
Agreed. It's called self induction. It's where a plug of water is sucking the trap out to replace the air in the stack.
Just put an aav on higher than the spill level. Job done
Are you sure that the cap isn't a stuck aav?
fixed it! thanks guys!
it was just a plain blanking plate on the top, not an aav so I just drilled 3 small holes in it to allow air in. All works ok now.
If I get any smells coming up through the holes I'll fit a proper aav.
Wife thinks i'm a diy genius now and its all thanks to the power of singletrackworld!
Happy days. 🙂
Good stuff.
Seeing as your on a septic tank, very likely to smell....
To save some hassle you can buy a push in aav.
Rather than a glued one. Or you will have to buy glue (solvent weld) too.
Easy peasy.
You don't need to vent all stacks. Single storey stub stack is permissable unvented.
If this blanking plate is outside the be careful fitting an AAV or sometimes called a Durgo valve. They are not suitable for external use. They also used to have to be fitted above the spillover level of the highest appliance although there are some that you can fit below that level now. There may be some you can fit externally now but none that I am aware of.
You have to vent somewhere on the run.
One of these is what you want;
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/External-Air-Admittance-Durgo-Valve-110mm-4-Floplast-/250709227671
Ours did this, we opened the manhole outside and it was brimmed full...I don't think our soil pipe had a riser or vent (I see above that a ground floor bog doesn't need one), so you could have just masked the problem by creating the vent and stopping the glugging.
Check your septic tank 🙂
cheers Spooky,
just checked our manhole and it was full, the pipe to the tank was blocked with something (must have been the wifes monster dump), have got it cleared now, and have taped over my vent holes and everything working as normal.
Septic tank looks like it could do with pumping out though. Is it normal to have a thick layer of sludge on top of the liquid (in the first tank)? It was emptied when we moved in a couple of years ago. Second tank looks ok.
Btw you really shouldn't be draining rainwater into your septic tank ( if I have understood your post correctly), as it dilutes the friendly bacteria that breaks down the nasties & you end up with a pollution problem
Oh & Floplast do an external AAV to solve your problem