Toilet Fixes For a Poor Flush

A poor toilet flush can cause the entire household to use a different toilet. Let’s face it, only the rare few want to be blamed for stopping up a toilet. There are a couple of things to look for. Maybe you have a partial blockage, or maybe there isn’t enough water going down the bowl to clear it.
A partial blockage is frustrating because you don’t know if there is something down there or not. I’ve pulled toys, ink pens, glasses …you get the picture. A good plunging or a snake should clear the trap, but you may have to pull the toilet from the floor and clear it from the bottom. You also may have a blocked vent on the roof.

Also make sure you get a good rush of water down the bowl when you flush the toilet. Start by holding the handle down and seeing if the waste gets flushed away. If it does, you can try to adjust the flapper so it stays up longer to allow more water to flow. You can also replace the flapper with a “dial-a-flush” flapper which allows you to control how long the flapper stays up.

Check under the rim of the toilet to see if there are any blocked holes. When you flush the toilet, water fills the rim and rushes out of these holes. Use a mirror (a cosmetics compact mirror is good here). Hold the mirror low enough so that you can see the holes and determine if there are clogged with scale. If they are, you have found your problem.