Toilet clog

[Donniev86]

Hey everyone,
My mother lives in a fifth wheel and I'm currently trying to deal with a possible toilet clog.

The toilet is full currently, it's backed up into the bowl and it is going down but very slowly. Like a several days type slowly. We have tried to toilet snake it with a 1/4 snake both by going down the toilet, and by slicing a hole in the top side of the sewage hose and snaking up that way.

The snake seems to flap all over, it doesn't appear to be hitting blockages, and when it comes out there's very little on it.

I'm currently at a point where I'm wondering if it's possible the valve has broken and isn't opening, is that common? The actual pull valve on the side of the RV is SO stiff, it feels like the plastics going to snap off every time I pull on it, but it does still push it and pull out.

My other question is the flush king attachment- I see a lot of great reviews and I'm fairly novice but even I feel like I could operate it, but does anyone have prior experience with it and whether or not it is possible to use when your toilet has standing water, or do you need to have a clear toilet to use it?

If anyone has any other suggestions, please let me know! I'm at a loss as to what to do next, and neither of us can really afford to bring an RV plumber specialist out ...
Thanks everyone!!

[allen8106]

I use the Flush King with success every time i have a clog. I tend to be too conservative when it comes to water and that leads to less water in the black tank than should be. My fault, i need to do better at adding initial water. Flush King gets two thumbs up from me.

[Jack_Spratt]

Many of you are assuming the tank is directly below the toilet.
Older rigs frequently had a lateral run which encouraged clogs.

[olfarmer]

2oldman wrote:

jdc1 wrote:
The guy with the idea of shoving your arm down into the toilet was one of my thoughts.

I'm sure I'd be wearing a long glove.

My thoughts exactly, I definitely wouldn't stick my bare hand down there!!! lol 😉

[SARGUY]

Find a kid that has an old hockey stick that he can t use any more, open the toilet valve and stick the hockey stick down into the tank and start moving it around in a circular motion. If there is an obstruction of some kind you will feel it right away.If you dont feel anything the problem is somewhere else.

[opnspaces]

MrWizard wrote:
Buy this an a new hose

Twist on gate valve

Remove old hose, put this on, put new hose on
Crawl under trailer open belly
Use pliers, vise grips etc to open old valve
Leave old valve open
Use new valve too dump tank

Cheaper faster easier than replacing old valve

And will open and close much easier than existing old cable operated waste gate valve

I'm with MrWizard but this will only work if your mom keeps the gray water valve closed until ready to dump. Some people leave the gray tank valve permanently open which is not really a good idea anyway. But with this method the contents of the black tank will backflow into the gray tank if the gray valve is left open.

The only thing I would do differently is I would not open the package of the new gate valve until the tank is drained. That way you can always return the valve if you have to for whatever reason. As it stands the new valve is not necessary until the tank is emptied and you want to close it off again.

Once done, advise mom to leave the old black lever alone and pull the new valve to drain the black tank then drain the gray tank. Close gray valve first and then close main valve.

[jdc1]

smarty wrote:
Not sure how long everyone else's arms are and/or what type of toilet this post applies to but in order to stick one's arm down the crapper and reach a potential **** pile your arm would have to be 5 feet long!

Where's Shaq when you need him?

[MrWizard]

Buy this an a new hose

Twist on gate valve

Remove old hose, put this on, put new hose on
Crawl under trailer open belly
Use pliers, vise grips etc to open old valve
Leave old valve open
Use new valve too dump tank

Cheaper faster easier than replacing old valve

And will open and close much easier than existing old cable operated waste gate valve

[poppa]

my arm wont fit down the toilet drain so thats out! lol!

[ItsyRV]

I personally don't think the problem is a clog but probably a valve that is stuck in the close or virtually close position. Any "clog" probably would be lessen if the water was flowing. I also wonder if the snaking was really being done into the black tank but rather going up into the gray tank and that is why it could reach all the way in, not encounter any obstruction while still flopping around. If there was a poo-aper clog in or at the black tank end of things, something should have come out on the snake. But with nothing, the results don't match up to a clog but rather a valve along with a misdirected snake into the gray tank.

[2012Coleman]

Ron3rd wrote:
4 pages later? I can't believe this guy's toilet is still clogged! It's not rocket science folks! It's stuff that flows out of a hole in the side of a plastic tank.

I'm sure he's just itching to come back on here to give an outcome after being told to stick his arm down the toilet.

[smarty]

Not sure how long everyone else's arms are and/or what type of toilet this post applies to but in order to stick one's arm down the crapper and reach a potential **** pile your arm would have to be 5 feet long!

[Ron3rd]

4 pages later? I can't believe this guy's toilet is still clogged! It's not rocket science folks! It's stuff that flows out of a hole in the side of a plastic tank.

[Bird_Freak]

I had a blockage this year for the first time. I checked the tank and my valve was opening but did not drain.
I bought a Camco pipe elbow with the water hose flush attachment and another twist on valve behind it. Pressurized back flush with water hose and knocked out blockage.
Might work for you.

[2oldman]

jdc1 wrote:
The guy with the idea of shoving your arm down into the toilet was one of my thoughts.

I'm sure I'd be wearing a long glove.