Does your toilet burp or gurgle on occasion? If so, rest assured that “bad manners” are not to blame.
Any drain – toilets included – causes suction while water is flowing. That suction is released by air entering the pipes through vents placed in strategic locations throughout your home. The vents are connected to one or two outside vents located either on the side or roof, sometimes both. If a drain line or vent is clogged, air can’t play its role…and thus, that familiar gurgling sound.
Why Is My Toilet Gurgling and Bubbling?
Let’s take a closer look at the most likely causes of a gurgling, or bubbling toilet.
- Calcification: Sediment build-up in the tank is another cause of a clogged toilet. The sediment comes from some combination of magnesium, iron, and calcium. Once the clog has formed, you’re likely to hear gurgling as the tank refills itself.
- Clogs: Mother Nature can do an effective job on her own in causing a toilet to clog. So effective, in fact, that she doesn’t need the kind of help some people provide by flushing items that aren’t meant to be flushed – wipes, feminine products, cotton swabs, and toys, just to name a few.
- The Vent Stack: When a plumbing appliance malfunctions, most people look underground, but in this case, looking up may lead you to the answer. The vent stack is on your roof, and it doesn’t just dispel smelly sewer odors from your home; it equalizes the air pressure in your pipes, so water and waste can move through them freely. Sometimes the vent pipe gets clogged by leaves or even a deceased animal, which causes negative air pressure and a bubbling toilet.
- A Faulty Cistern: Cistern is another word for tank. The cistern contains a flapper which, just like any other plumbing part, can falter and eventually fail. In the process, it too can cause a toilet to gurgle.
As you can see, some of the problems can be avoided and some you can handle on your own. But when the need arises, count on Plumbtastic to rise to the occasion and get your plumbing back in full working order.