Toilet has too much pressure?
Question:My toilet flushes great, but there is so much force that a fine spray splashes out of the bowl. Is there anyway to adjust the flow of water from the tank to the bowl? I can repair any normal problems, and have installed at least 15 toilets in various apartments I have owned, but this is just too weird! Not sure how old it is, but not more than 20 years old.
Answers:
Lee,,,
The water flow into the bowl is GRAVITY FEED ONLY.
When ya push the Flush Lever,,,that opens the Valve in the botton of the tank,,,Right?
Thats Strictly Gravity,,,same as pulling the stopper outa a sink or tub,or Igloo Cooler.
That water does 2 Paths when it leaves the tank
1>goes Down the Drain to create a Siphon to drain the Bowl
2>The Sudden,extreme Rise in the BOWL INLET water level feeds the RIM JETS.
As Flush Water subsides,,,the Bowl's INNER Flush water level Drops,,,and quits feeding the Rim Jets.
Then the Rim Jets Continue to get a RINSE WATER feed from that,,,,Doohickey thing on the Float Valve.
(What the Heck IS that thing called??LOL)
You know the little Hose from the Float Valve,,,that puts water into the vertical Tube in the Tank.
That water goes Down that Pipe and into the Rim .
It's a 1/8" hose just DROPPING water into a 3/4" pipe.
Nothing is ever really pressurized in the BOWL.
If it's "spraying" from the bowl,,,there's really only about 2 possibilities.
1,,,is a CRACK somewhere under the rim,,in the rim jet supply channel
2,,,,is one of the Rim Jet Holes is semi-clogged with mineral deposits
Try using something to Color the water,,,like food coloring,,or even red soda pop.
Might be worthwhile getting some food coloring if ya dont have any on hand,,it's cheap,,,every grocery store has it in Cake Mix section.
Kool Aid is also a heckuva concentrated dye...
anyway..
Color the TANK water heavily,,,and Flush that.
See if You can See where the Spray is coming from.
Next,,after Flushing and when Tank Valve has Closed and Tank begins to Refill,,,,
No water will be coming from Tank.
ONLY from that little Rinse water tube,,and ONLY going into Rim Jets.
So Pour some Coloring Down that Tube,,,and see if you can spot any Spray inside the bowl.
I Know how hard it is to stand on yer head in the commode And try to figure what's going on at the same time.
So instead,,Use a small Mirror to See Under the Rim and check what the water is doing.
If ya Still cannot pinpoint the source of the spray,,,
Use a Sheet of Paper ,,,HANG it down in the Bowl,,,like a Curtain sorta.
Purpose of that is that the Paper will catch the Spray,,,
(Or Spray will hit the paper)and at least you can get an idea of the general area it's coming from.
A CLogged up Rim Jet is NOT unusual at all.
And upon Flushing,,,the intial Volume of water FILLS the Rim passage.
So even just Gravity still puts a pretty good Force on the water.
If any of the RimJet holes are clogged down to "pinhole size",,, They CAN Spray a surprising Distance.
If ya Do find they're clogged,,,Poke 'em with something.
Ice Pick works OK,,,The holes are SMALL.
A Small ,,Long Screw works best.
The Threads act like a FILE to scrape the mineral deposits outa the hole.
Gotta be careful ,,the porcelain is Brittle.
If I had to GUESS,,,
I'd figure one of those holes is stopped up.
Good Luck with it,,,I hope its as simple as a clogged rinse jet hole.
And not a crack or porosity anywhere.
15 Toilets is Enough!!
That's one of those jobs that DON'T get better with more practice:)
Take care.
Would it help to turn down the flow from the supply line?
Your shut-off valve underneath the toilet coming from the wall, open it half way to slow down the water.You may have set the level too high in the tank , lower it down and try that otherwise you may have a hair line crack.
You can try a couple of things.First you can get a divider for the reservoir (tank).You put it at the halfway point.You can get this at any hardware store.With the reduction of water going into the toilet less pressure.You can also turn down the flow of water coming in by the cut off valve beside your toilet.You can play with it until correct.Wish you the best.
Check to see if the toilet is set level first. Use a bubble level, check side to side and front to back. If it isn't level, reinstall it.
If level isn't the problem, try lowering the water level in the tank by adjusting the float / shut off position down.
The supply water pressure is unlikely to contribute to the flush force. Turning the flow down at the shut off valve will slow your tank refill rate.
Or better yet, consider buying a new low flow toilet. The basic Kohler Rosario works great and looks nice. I've installed 5 of them!
Water pressure from the supply line should not have any effect on how the toilet flushes. Water drops from the tank to the bowl by gravity. The only time this should not be the case is if the toilet is a pressure assist type toilet. A more likely cause could be a defect in the water way around the bowl. I hope this helps.
Regards,
Indy
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