Alright plumbers I've got an odd issue

orange150

orange150

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 20, 2005
Location
Fairfax City, VA
One of the toilets on my second floor will just not get any water to it for a period of time. The first time it happened I took the valve completely off the copper pipe and put both positive and negative pressure on it thinking that might do something, when that didn't work I ran a snake down the pipe in case something was lodged in it, we had to get a new main from the meter to the house last year and I was thinking maybe it picked up some crud and was stuck in a 90. Of course the water started flowing again while I had the valve apart and the water on. No rhyme or reason why the water started flowing again.. it just did. After that time it's worked fine until yesterday, water stopped flowing in the pipe again but this time I just let it be, and a few hours later the water started flowing again.

If it were in a crawl space I would say its freezing and thawing, but A) my house has a finished basement, not a crawlspace, and B) it's the second floor toilet only.

The bathroom it's in has a double vanity plus a shower, and the master bath shares a wall with it. All other fixtures work without issue.
 
Is the line running in an exterior wall? Any chance it is freezing? We have that problem w/ a line that goes up into the attic, over a cement slab and back down.
 
Just a thought but possible supply line to toilet is to small for elevation, low pressure due to prv, excess water going elsewhere such as washing machine on, thus taking water off the toilet for a brief period? Lot of variables happing there at once for it to happen but ive seen stranger things... in plumbing and on netflix.
 
RatLabGuy said:
Is the line running in an exterior wall? Any chance it is freezing? We have that problem w/ a line that goes up into the attic, over a cement slab and back down.
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It does go vertical up an exterior wall from the utility room in the basement, but then it turns horizontal for about 10' before it starts branching off to the different fixtures.
 
orange150 said:
It does go vertical up an exterior wall from the utility room in the basement, but then it turns horizontal for about 10' before it starts branching off to the different fixtures.
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Do the other fixtures work?
It only takes 1 small section to freeze to do the trick. Thats what I keep facing... I can't find the magic spot.
 
Scottal said:
Just a thought but possible supply line to toilet is to small for elevation, low pressure due to prv, excess water going elsewhere such as washing machine on, thus taking water off the toilet for a brief period? Lot of variables happing there at once for it to happen but ive seen stranger things... in plumbing and on netflix.
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No prv in the house
 
RatLabGuy said:
Do the other fixtures work?
It only takes 1 small section to freeze to do the trick. Thats what I keep facing... I can't find the magic spot.
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Yep. All other fixtures work fine. I even ran both sinks in the double vanity on hot for a few minutes to see if that would do anything (the sinks are ahead of the toilet in the line).
 
orange150 said:
Correct. Ran the hot just to see if it would affect a potential frozen line.
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Do you have an instant HW heater under the lavs or something? If not, hot and cold lines are separate, usually at least 4-6" apart. The hot water line might be insulated with water line insulation, so may not have freezing issues when the cold water line does.
 
It certainly sounds like something is stuck in there.
It's possible you broke it free w/ the snake, but it got partially lodged somewhere, then over time it's become stuck and then unstuck.

Only solution is to replace the house.
 
shawn said:
Do you have an instant HW heater under the lavs or something? If not, hot and cold lines are separate, usually at least 4-6" apart. The hot water line might be insulated with water line insulation, so may not have freezing issues when the cold water line does.
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Typical gas water heater in the basement, nothing special. Roger that on the insulation and the separation, I was trying anything I could to see if it would make a difference.
It is that only line I'm having the issue, all other hot and cold lines on the second floor work fine when it does it.

RatLabGuy said:
It certainly sounds like something is stuck in there.
It's possible you broke it free w/ the snake, but it got partially lodged somewhere, then over time it's become stuck and then unstuck.

Only solution is to replace the house.
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This last time it happened I tried tapping on the pipe to see if it would dislodge anything. I was too scared to hit it too hard though because with my luck I would rattle an old fitting loose or something.
 
orange150 said:
This last time it happened I tried tapping on the pipe to see if it would dislodge anything. I was too scared to hit it too hard though because with my luck I would rattle an old fitting loose or something.
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What kind of pipes?

I'd snake it again and just see WTF happens.
How far is it between the valve at the toilet and the next junction going to something that works?
 
RatLabGuy said:
What kind of pipes?

I'd snake it again and just see WTF happens.
How far is it between the valve at the toilet and the next junction going to something that works?
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1/2" Copper. If it happens again I'll try to snake it and see. The vanity ahead of the toilet is about 30" away, towards the interior of the house.

I'm not sure of the exact routing, but basically like this.

1643652606357.png
 
Right so if it works fin in that right sink, your problem is somewhere in that last 30" or the elbow out to the valve. [just restating the obvious here]
 
You could attach a longer line to the toilet shut off and run it to the tub then watch the flow as someone else runs water in other areas of the house. You would hopefully be able to isolate what makes the pressure drop. I would replace the toilet tank internals first though.
 
thebrotherinlaw said:
You could attach a longer line to the toilet shut off and run it to the tub then watch the flow as someone else runs water in other areas of the house. You would hopefully be able to isolate what makes the pressure drop. I would replace the toilet tank internals first though.
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You wouldn't even need to run it to the bath tub. Buy a 24" braided toilet supply. Connect it to the shutoff and simply turn it down in the toilet. If you have ample flow and pressure then the problem is the toilet internals.
 
Problem is when it does it, it's not getting flow even after completely removing the shutoff from the supply line. As in a wide open copper pipe stubbed out from the wall.
 
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