Can I alter the 'timing' of my toilet flush?

Question

I have a standard, normal flow toilet, with a problem. When the toilet is flushed, it seems to start refilling the bowl with water from the tank too soon, before the waste has had a chance to drain away.

The result is that the toilet paper/waste just kind of floats around and doesn't really get sucked away. Only when it's sat for a while, soaked in the water and thus got heavy enough to sink does it reluctantly flush away.

Is there anything I can adjust to fix this, or is just a poorly designed toilet/components?

Answer 1

Actually, that's how a toilet is supposed to work.

You can simulate a flush simply by dropping a couple gallons of water in right away.

The spray paint fill is the natural water level. Flushing occurs by suddenly dumping excess water in the bowl. This raises the water level at the back, an a siphon effect comes into play with pulls the remaining water out of the bowl, giving the typical whirlpool effect.

If you're not getting the whirlpool, and a clearing flush, there are two possible scenarios.

1. The tank isn't full, and not enough water is coming down to clear the bowl
2. There is a small blockage in the drain.

But timing isn't an issue.

Answer 2

Although more than 12 years later than the original question, one of the statements in a comment by the original poster is the key to what very likely was happening.

It's a deep groaning sound somewhere in the wall. I've just let the cistern fill up as much as possible and flushed but no dice; the stuff in the bowl moves up not down when flushing, like its filling faster than it's draining. But it always returns to the same level overall.

This says to me that if the stuff in the bowl moves up during a flush, there's a partial significant blockage in the drain system somewhere that doesn't allow the water to drain from the bowl fast enough to create the pull necessary to empty the bowl of water and stuff.

Answer 3

Sounds like it's not using enough water in the flush.

You can adjust how full the tank gets, usually with a small screw where the float attaches to the vertical filling tube. You just need it to shut off before the water gets high enough that it starts going down the "overflow", at which point it would just try to fill forever.

When the flush stops is typically done by the chain attached to the drain flapper. Shorter chains will cause it to dump more water before closing. Just watching it in action once or twice should show you how your particular toilet operates and a bit of trial and error will make it clear which way things need to move.

Answer 4

In addition to the tank fill level discussed in Brian White's answer, there is another way to adjust the timing.

The common flapper has trapped air inside of it. When it is lifted by the chain, it floats in the tank water until the water gets low enough, and then it drops onto the flapper seat and stops the flow.

Different brands of flappers have different fall rates. I was having the same problem and I changed brands and it was solved.

There are also adjustable flappers that lets you change the air volume or add an extra float.

This changes the timing of the fall and the amount of water in a flush.

There are a few specialized flapper designs, so be sure you check the type in your tank.

Note that American Standard has a proprietary flapper that has a water filled chamber that hold the flapper open. There is a hole in the chamber that drains and when it is empty, the flapper falls.

Finally, there are some new systems that let you have a dual flush - you can choose between high volume and low volume.