“As a new homeowner, I don’t always know when I’m supposed to call the plumber and when a problem is a situation I am supposed to handle on my own. For example – my toilet. It flushes, but in a very weird way. The toilet bowl fills all the way up with water and then very, very slowly drains out. Is this something I call the plumber for?”
You’re going to love this answer. In our role of providing Woodlawn plumbing services, we can say both yes and no. Yes, you need the plumber – but the issue isn’t your toilet. It’s your drains.
Understanding Home Plumbing: Toilet Drains
When you flush the toilet, all of that stuff has to go somewhere. That somewhere is down your toilet’s drain, into the sewer pipe that carry water and waste materials away from your home to the treatment facility.
Over the course of time, waste matter clings to the interior of the sewer drain pipe. This matter builds up and up, accumulating until it forms a total clog. When that happens, water and waste material will no longer leave your toilet via the drain pipe. Instead, you will have a terrible mess when the toilet backs up and overflows!
In this situation, you have a scenario where the sewer drain pipe is not yet completely clogged. However, the pipe is clogged to such a significant degree that it takes a long time to drain. It will not be long before the pipe clogs completely. It is unlikely that a homeowner can fix a clog of this magnitude using a plunger.
To fix the problem, the accumulated waste materials need to be removed from the pipe’s interior. This is a service called sewer drain cleaning, performed by your local plumber. All households need their sewer drains cleaned from time to time. The average New York City family of 4 can expect to need the drains cleaned once every two to three years.
