Toilet bowl only 1/3 full

eyeblazy · 11-02-2008, 07:31 PM

My toilet doesn't refill completely. Even if I add water to the bowl and flush, only 1/3 of the bowl refills. I also added water to the tank, but same thing.

Thanks for any help.

SD515 · 11-02-2008, 08:33 PM

Is this a new toilet? Or an old one that is developing this problem? If it's an old unit, it may have a crack that the water is leaking through into the drain. Did you recently change the 'guts' (the fill or flush valve) in the tank??

eyeblazy · 11-02-2008, 08:49 PM

No, the toilet isn't new. By the way, the level doesn't go down gradually. It just flushes and fills itself back up short.

I haven't installed new parts in the tank, but I did fiddle with them a few weeks ago because the toilet ran all the time.

Thanks.

majakdragon · 11-03-2008, 11:39 AM

Toilet bowls have a trap (just like a sink) built into them. There is no adjusting the water level. Excess water goes over the top of the trap and down the drain pipe. If the bowl is now holding less water than it was in the past, there is probably a leak in the trap area. The only way to check this is by removing the toilet and filling the bowl while the toilet is set up on some blocking to see where the water is going after filling the bowl with a hose or bucket. As long as the tank is filled to within 3/4" of the top of the overflow tube, and the flapper stays up long enough to allow most of the water to exit the tank, the toilet is delivering a "full flush".
I wanted to add that Plumcass is right on, with the tube. This adds water to the bowl when the toilet is flushed.

plumcass · 11-03-2008, 05:53 PM

Does the tank have a refill tube (a 1/4" tube in the tank, from the fill valve to the overflow pipe and if so is it set so the water from the refill tube enters the overflow when filling.

eyeblazy · 11-05-2008, 11:31 PM

Plumcass, you did it! The refill tube was not flowing into the overflow pipe. All is well now. All it took was a flashlight (there's an inconvenient shelf built over the toilet which requires me to resort to bodily contortion and a flashlight (and sometimes a mirror if I have to fix something way down there). Thanks so much.

And to all the other advice offerers, I appreciate your efforts. Plumcass must have sensed that he was dealing with a plumbing simpleton.

plumcass · 11-06-2008, 01:44 PM

I think I'm 1 for 13, Good to get that first one over. thanks

majakdragon · 11-06-2008, 02:36 PM

Plumcass, this is the great thing about DIY Forums. What one person may miss, someone else picks up. This makes it a winner for the asker. After I had posted, I read your answer and realized it was very possible that you had nailed the problem. All of those that answered gave eyeblazy something to think about to fix his problem. This is the reason we are here, doing what we do.

eyeblazy · 11-06-2008, 06:14 PM

Amen, Majakdragon!

Thank you for your suggestion. Being the lazy being that I am, checking the vent on the roof or taking the toilet out did NOT appeal to me, so I waited and hoped for one more take on it.

You're right about the forum. All our heads are much better than one.

eyeblazy · 11-06-2008, 06:16 PM

Hey plumcass,

It's all down hill from here! Congratulations. Glad I got to be your first win.