Baffled by Plumbing

[TOXIC]

Here’s a head scratcher.  Got up this morning and the wife said the toilet in our master bath is running.  I thought thats weird, I just replaced the guts last summer.  Go in and sure enough it’s running fill cycle with a full tank so I flush it to see if it will shut off.  It flushes fine but is refilling at a trickle….hmmmm……it fills and keeps running even when the tank is full and I lift up on the fill arm.  So I go into the main bathroom and flush the toilet and just like the other, it is not filling normally.  Very, very slow.  I replaced the guts on that toilet less than a month ago.  It also is running after the tank is full. Reach over and turn the sink faucet on and it’s normal.  So I go downstairs and flush the toilet down there and just like the other 2, it’s not refilling normally and when it does fill, it’s not shutting off.  We had called the water authority (we are on a community well) to see if they were flushing the lines.  They sent a tech out and he had me turn on my outside spigot (was turned off for winter) and he measured plenty of pressure, borderline too much according to him.  So, no problem with the incoming lines but all three toilets are not refilling and now the lower level one and the main bathroom one are also is overfilling once it does get to full tank.  I’m dumbfounded. Went outside to do some yard work and noticed the spigot I turned on from its winter slumber for the water tech to test is trickling and I can’t shut it off completely.  Back in the house to turn that line off.  It’s on the same line as the kitchen faucet and it’s running slow as well.  All of the other water outlets, sinks showers, etc., seem to be fine.  Common response from my friend network (some of which are plumbers) seems to be sediment in the lines.  I’m skeptical because I have a whole house filtration system and it’s not overly dirty.  We are on a community well so I guess there could have been a pressure spike that dislodged sediment in the lines after the filter but that seems odd because most of the fixtures work fine.  I had one of my buddies offer to walk me through flushing all the lines but I prefer to let a professional deal with this one.  It sure has me baffled. 

[Tennessee Boy]

Now I’m scratching my head.  Thanks 😆

 

 

[A-Jay]

I got nothing, sorry.

#weird

Maybe the place is haunted . . . 

A-Jay

[DaubsNU1]

At this point, I believe it is time to call in a professional.

 

My 82 year old Dad was having issues in his house (which he built in 1970). Turned out the cast-iron pipes were filled with years of build-up / deposits, that were slowing things down. Plumber had to replace some lines. 

 

Good luck!  DD.

[GreenPig]

Three working tiolets started having problems at the same time while everything else is functioning normally. It's likely a poltergeist, I'd leave now.😆

It does sound like sediment in your float valves. Slow to fill and won't shut off, yep, flush out the valve.

[deaknh03]

Sediment for sure. Have a trusted plumber flush your lines

[TOXIC]

Well, well, here’s the answer.  Plumber came out with a 3 man crew and in the first bathroom, pulled the top off the toilet filler mechanism and it was solid black rocks.  He asked if I had a whole house filter and I answered yes, he said let’s go have a look at it.  From the outside it looked good but when we took the filter out, the inside it had exploded and pumped charcoal throughout the whole house.  The charcoal is clogging all of the filters on everything.  They are now in the process of pulling every fixture and flushing them.  Just for reference, he pulled the psi coming into the house and is at 130psi.  He said that’s downright dangerous.  We are on a community well that when the house was built in 1975 reducing valves weren’t required.  As the neighborhood grew and more taps were made to the system, they had to up the pressure to get it to more houses.  We just had a water main break and repair and he said that probably spiked the pressure due to the new pipe which may have been leaking for a while. Ugggg….at least we will be good after today.  

[GreenPig]

47 minutes ago, TOXIC said:

Well, well, here’s the answer.  Plumber came out with a 3 man crew and in the first bathroom, pulled the top off the toilet filler mechanism and it was solid black rocks.  He asked if I had a whole house filter and I answered yes, he said let’s go have a look at it.  From the outside it looked good but when we took the filter out, the inside it had exploded and pumped charcoal throughout the whole house.  The charcoal is clogging all of the filters on everything.  They are now in the process of pulling every fixture and flushing them.  Just for reference, he pulled the psi coming into the house and is at 130psi.  He said that’s downright dangerous.  We are on a community well that when the house was built in 1975 reducing valves weren’t required.  As the neighborhood grew and more taps were made to the system, they had to up the pressure to get it to more houses.  We just had a water main break and repair and he said that probably spiked the pressure due to the new pipe which may have been leaking for a while. Ugggg….at least we will be good after today.  

Glad you got it figured out. You giving up an arm or a leg? Leg, harder to fish with one arm. Pulling fixtures? I would've just pulled the diverters off and flushed them.

[J Francho]

Granulated activated carbon could be anywhere there's supply water.  Ugh. My under sink water unit did the same thing (the housing later actually burst, another story) from high water pressure. Luckily, only the ice maker and a small drinking water tap were affected. 

[TOXIC]

3 hours ago, GreenPig said:

Glad you got it figured out. You giving up an arm or a leg? Leg, harder to fish with one arm. Pulling fixtures? I would've just pulled the diverters off and flushed them.

Problem is that the charcoal got past all of the main pipe and lodged in the screens in the fixtures.  No way to back flush those.  All of the toilets have the “new” style guts and the fill valve clogged above the toilet water line in the tank itself.  The fill line comes out of the wall below the tank.  All of the fill valves had to be pulled.  They did let all of the house water drain back from the lines. 

[slonezp]

Hopefully it didn't cause a persistent issue that you'll have to babysit forever

[VolFan]

It’s easier to fish with one kidney than one arm, and  you generally get more for the kidney…

 

Sorry you’re going through this - it has to suck. We burned a few Ks on a new main water line last year. 

[GRiver]

Glad you figured out what the problem was, but sorry you have to repair or replace everything. 

[TOXIC]

Actually parts wise it was only the reduction valve on the main  incoming line and I had them replace the feeder line to our lower level toilet (was old style hard line) and upgrade the guts since it was the old flapper style.  They did say it might flare up again but they were pretty sure they got most of it.  I have to change my ice maker/water dispenser filter in the refrigerator but they told me to wait a month or so.  3 guys, one of which was the Master Plumber directing the other 2, from 11am until 2pm and my bill was $750.  They did say my next item ought to be the 80 gallon water heater that is 13 years old.  Not leaking but they couldn’t flush due to sediment.  Always something.  Next up is my oversized asphalt driveway with a spur to park the boat.  It’s getting repaired/sealed in 2 weeks.  

[J Francho]

$750 is t bad, all things considered. I paid that for an issue. Dude spent more time working up a quote to replace all the drains than to resolve the issue. He left his leak bucket behind, so I win. It's been very handy to have.