Can one toilet affect another in the same house?

debodun

debodun

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Location
way upstate in New York, USA
I have 2 toilets. One I use all the time, the other I don't use at all (it's a standard height which is more difficult to get up from than the other). Lately when I flush, even after the bowl is filled, I can hear like a trickling sound in the tank. I had a work-around by closing the fill valve then opening it again. That stopped the trickling sound. I thought I look at the unused one today and found hardly any water in the bowl. I poured a pail of water into it to the level of where it should be. Then when I flushed the other toilet, I didn't hear the trickling sound after filling the bowl. Coincidence?
 

Don't worry about the low level when you first looked at the less used toilet. Does that one now fill properly after flushing? If you are sure the feed valve on the often used one is full open, the trickling sound may be the valve in the tank. Take the lid off and flush, see if the float works right, anything odd?

[PS: Where in upstate NY? I spent 40 years in Poughkeepsie.]
 
I don't know how to take the top off. It's one that has the flush handle coming out of the top of the lid. I'm just south of Saratoga Springs.

toilet.jpg
 

a TRICKLING SOUND SUGGESTS THAT WATER IS ABLE TO CONTINUE TO LEAK INTO THE BOWL AREA FROM THE TANK AFTER THE FLAPPER HAS RESEATED (or no seated properly If that's the case, the rubber ball flapper with chain needs replacement. I've never seen a tank with the flush lever in the way of lifting the tank top cover.

 
I have an IFO that is the same design. Pull up the knob to flush and hold it up. Hold the stem and turn the knob off. Most likely, the fill valve needs to be flushed out. There are different types of fill valves, but they work pretty much the same. You would likely find your type and how to flush it on youtube.
 
debodun said:
Can one toilet affect another in the same house?
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Sure they are interconnected both on the water supply and waste sides.

The most common connection is on the waste side, when you flush one toilet others may go up and down. Proper ventilation should cure this. But I am not sure it would make any kind of trickling sound.

When a toilet refills it can reduce pressure elsewhere. Not much usually, too little flow.

I believe @OldFeller and @Chet are probably right, that is what usually causes the trickling sound in a toilet. And I suppose it is possible that when one toilet refills it could effect the flow into the other, and the trickling sound maybe.
debodun said:
Nothing's been changed since I bought the house so why would this just have started?
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Happens as the plumbing ages... pretty normal.
 
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debodun said:
I just wonder why if I turn off the intake valve for a few seconds, then turn it back on, the gurgling stops. It seems to me that if it were a bad flapper or float, that wouldn't effect it.
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I have an older style toilet with the rubber flapper on a chain. Sometimes, after a flush, it doesn't reset and reseal the tank so it can fill and then shut off the water refilling.

I then have to jiggle the handle to reset the flapper manually. I know when this happens because the toilet runs constantly until I jiggle.

If your toilet was experiencing something similar, your water would be running in an effort to refill a tank that was leaking into the bowl portion.

So you would hear 2 sounds....gurgling from a leak and the high pitched sound of water running.

Just an observation...
 
When you hear the trickling sound, you will probably see a slight disturbance of the water in the bowl (Very tiny ripples), which tells you that water is making its way into the bowl after it is filled. Next look at the overflow stand pipe, and if water is slightly going over the edge into the stand pipe, then your float needs to be adjusted. If no water is going into the overflow, reach your arm down in the tank, and press down firmly on the flapper. If it stops, that tells you it needs replacing. They tend to get a little mushy on the bottom over time. The other toilet shouldn't be in any way connected to the trickle sound in this toilet unless they are back to back and the sound you are hearing is actually coming from the other one.
 
bobcat48 said:
When you hear the trickling sound, you will probably see a slight disturbance of the water in the bowl (Very tiny ripples), which tells you that water is making its way into the bowl after it is filled. Next look at the overflow stand pipe, and if water is slightly going over the edge into the stand pipe, then your float needs to be adjusted. If no water is going into the overflow, reach your arm down in the tank, and press down firmly on the flapper. If it stops, that tells you it needs replacing. They tend to get a little mushy on the bottom over time. The other toilet shouldn't be in any way connected to the trickle sound in this toilet unless they are back to back and the sound you are hearing is actually coming from the other one.
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Useful video explains


 
Not a plumber, but heard from one. It depends on how the house's plumbing was installed. It might mean that the loos are on the same system.

We had a place once, where when you flushed one, the other two flushed as well. Usually it was flushing the top one on third floor.

If we flushed the powder room (half-bathroom) downstairs, then nothing happened at all. End of circuit. By the way, just wee aside.

I hated what happened to that lovely rental, we'd been there 7 years and had both our munchkins while living there. The owner's group decided to evict everyone and make the units for sale and no longer accepting tenants. They renegated on the promise that after paying rent+minimum deposit, the row house was going to be our own property.

We were going to be home owners but it didn't happen... By then work took us away from the area. We'd found out that it took a full five years of litigation and court time for the tenants who had their dreams broken to be reimbursed...
 
Sometimes when I have a toilet acting up like that, I will first start by cleaning it out by swishing the water around in it with my hand and then flush it. Sometimes there may be a fine grit in the bottom of the tank causing the flapper valve to not properly seat. So, I flush that grit away and then will put a little dish soap in the tank when the tank is filling and swish it around with my hand. Let the soapy water stand for an hour or so then flush the toilet a few times to see if that helps clean the tank out and see if the water leakage goes away.
 
bobcat48 said:
t look at the overflow stand pipe, and if water is slightly going over the edge into the stand pipe, then your float needs to be adjusted. If no water is going into the overflow, reach your arm down in the tank, and press down firmly on the flapper. If it stops, that tells you it needs replacing. They tend to get a little mushy on the bottom over time. The other toilet shouldn't be in any way connected to the trickle sound in this toilet unless they are back to back and the sound you are hearing is actually coming from the other one.
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If I could only get into the tank. This is the back of the tank. It's so close to the wall, I had to get a mirror and flashlight to see what was there.

toilet taqnk back.jpg
 
debodun said:
If I could only get into the tank. This is the back of the tank. It's so close to the wall, I had to get a mirror and flashlight to see what was there.

View attachment 293209
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It's hard to tell from the picture at the top, but usually either the button unscrews, or if it's a two part pushbutton, you have to push one half of the button down, and then there is a screw slot to simply lift up the other half with a flat head screwdriver.
However, this isn't the traditional style flush valve that everyone was referring to, and it won't be as simple to fix, if it turns out to be the problem. Before you start though, I would say this, if your toilet turns off and on periodically, then most likely, the fill valve portion is fine, it is just doing it's job, and the flush valve part is faulty because it keeps leaking water out and causing the fill valve to cycle on and off. On that type of flush valve, instead of a traditional flapper, there is a whole unit, and it will have a large rubber washer that needs replacing, but you may have to remove the valve to do it.
If the fill valve keeps going (Running) and doesn't cycle off and on, then most likely water is running into the overflow because the float has either stopped working, or needs adjustment.
If the pushbutton on top doesn't unscrew, here is a video on the other type.
How to remove toilet cistern lid - Dual flush buttons - Bing video
 
debodun said:
It doesn't turn on and off to my knowledge. Once I turn off the intake valve (under the tank), then turn it on again, it doesn't make any gurgling or trickling sounds until it's flushed again.
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So you're saying that after you flush it, you can still hear water trickling and that doesn't eventually stop (Just keeps going), and in all that time, the fill valve doesn't kick back in for a brief time?
Because if that's true, then it leads me to believe that the fill valve is not shutting off completely like it should, and a trickle is still coming through, and the tiny about of excess water in the tank is running into the overflow. If you get the lid off, you should be able to see that if it's happening.
 
Anytime you attempt to repair something, the very first thing you need to know is, what brand and model is it? It's hard to help someone over the internet or phone without this information. There is info and parts schematics of just about anything on the internet. If you start tearing into it without knowledge about your specific model, you will likely break a part that you can't replace and have to buy a whole new toilet.
 
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