Blocked toilet All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[Sidspanner]

My son lives in a council flat ( 5 floors up) and has been having terrible problems with his WC continually blocking. He keeps phoning the Council who send round a plumber ( that term is debatable) armed with a plunger. He unblocks the toilet and then gives my son a lecture on the type of toilet paper he is using ( standard Andrex) and the fact that it is a dual flush toilet!. It has blocked 5 times recently. Before the plumber comes out again I would like to have some idea what to challenge him with. As a layman it seems like there must be a blockage further down the line? Any thoughts?

[bobplum]

hi
if there was a blockage i assume it would effect other tennants have you tried asking them for thier views
i must admit we have three toilets in our house and at some stage or another they block mainly because of the volume of toilet paper and the fact im sorry to say people not depressing the right button and maybe not for the right length of time i do think that there is a bit of an art to using modern toilets
also has any one checked the right volume of water in the cistern prior to flushing
bob

[Sidspanner]

[quote="bobplum"]hi
if there was a blockage i assume it would effect other tennants have you tried asking them for thier views
i must admit we have three toilets in our house and at some stage or another they block mainly because of the volume of toilet paper and the fact im sorry to say people not depressing the right button and maybe not for the right length of time i do think that there is a bit of an art to using modern toilets
also has any one checked the right volume of water in the cistern prior to flushing
bob[/quote]

Thanks for taking the time to reply bobplum. The level of water in the cistern is OK, I checked that. The level of water comes up to the rim when flushed along with the paper and ....the other stuff. As for other tenants..we haven't checked that but as he is at the top of the building( 5 floors up) the blockage may be up at his level and not further down. It's worth a check though. The cistern is an old type one with handle, and we have eliminated that he can flush it properly. I'm grateful for your thoughts and if you can think of anything else please chime in.
thanks

[Dave From Leeds]

Does the toilet still fill to the rim if you flush it when there's nothing but water in it? If so, it could well be a partial blockage between the toilet bowl and the building soil pipe. You could try feeding a hosepipe round the bend of the toilet bowl with the other end connected to a cold tap then turn on the tap. It is possible that the force of this water may clear a blockage. Be careful that you don't overflow the bowl though.