Of course, one of the main features that every toilet has is that the bowl at the bottom constantly has some water in it. Now, if the water does not stay in the toilet bowl, then you are going to be faced with some problems.
Water is of course necessary for the flushing process to function properly. Furthermore, having it stay in the bowl prevents waste from sticking to the bowl. Right now we are going to talk about all of the possible causes as to why the water is not staying in your toilet bowl, as well as the fixes to those problems.
4 Reasons Why Water is Not Staying in the Toilet Bowl (and Solutions)
What we want to do right now is to take a look at all of the possible causes as to why the water in your toilet bowl might not be staying where it should. We will of course also look at all of the possible solutions to this issue.
#1: A Crack in the Bowl
One of the most common and obvious causes of this issue is if your toilet bowl is cracked or broken. Of course, if your toilet bowl is cracked or broken, it means that there is either a hairline fracture or a large fracture, or even a small hole that can let water drain out of the bowl.
If you notice that the floor around your toilet is constantly wet, then this is most likely the cause of your toilet water not staying in the bowl. If you flush your toilet and then shortly afterward you see a bunch of water on the ground, it is a cracked toilet bowl that you are dealing with.
Of course, this is a fairly severe issue, and in some cases, you may be able to use some repair kits in order to repair the toilet bowl crack yourself. However, with that being said, if the toilet bowl has suffered extensive damage and the crack looks very severe, then your only real solution is to replace the toilet bowl.
If that isn’t feasible for you, then you can always call a plumber to see if they can help you out. That said, generally, speaking this is an issue that will usually require a replacement.
#2: A Clogged Toilet Vent
Another issue that may be causing the water in your toilet bowl to slowly drain out, is if the vent for your toilet is clogged or broken. What you need to know here is that every toilet needs to have a vent. Now, this is a little bit complicated to explain, but we will try our best. The bowl that is filled with water serves as a trap that blocks sewer gas from the waste pipes from coming up to your house.
However, if the water level in the bowl drops too low, then some of that gas may come through, and it’s not going to smell very good. If the venting system is clogged, the system will try to gurgle or grab for air from other sources, which in this case is down from the pipes.
You can compare this to something like a metal juice can. In a metal juice can, you need to make two openings, one which lets out the juice and the other which lets the air in. If the vent for your toilet is clogged, then no air can get in through that vent and will therefore force the toilet to try to grab for air from below, or in other words from the pipes. Because your toilet is grabbing for air from below, that exchange will therefore cause water to drain.
Now, for those of you who don’t know, a toilet vent usually goes up through to the roof, so to see if this is the problem, you will need to go inspect the toilet vent. This is something that you might not be able to do on your own and may require professional assistance. However, the bottom line here is that if the vent is the cause, then the solution is to clear out the bed so that air can once again get in once you flush the toilet.
#3: Improperly Pitched Plumbing
Yet another issue that your toilet might be faced with that could be causing this particular problem is if the placement of the pipe that leads the wastewater from the toilet down to the rest of the plumbing is not placed at the proper pitch or angle.
What you need to know here is that that particular pipe should be pitched away from the toilet. However, if the pipe is pitched toward the toilet, then it may affect the water level in the bowl. If this pipe is not properly pitched, it may cause the water level in the toilet to slowly decrease over the next few minutes after you have flushed.
Now, the unfortunate reality here is that there is really not much that you can do to solve this problem on your own. If the plumbing is an issue, unless you are a professional plumber who knows how to solve this problem, then you will need to call a plumber for professional assistance.
#4: An Obstacle in the Trap
This issue is actually related to the venting issue that we discussed above. If there is an obstacle in the trap, you might think that a clogged toilet is going to be the main problem, which in most cases is of course true. However, with that being said, if your toilet cannot flush properly then it is also going to have trouble getting air into the system.
If there is a clog in the trap, it may cause water to not flush properly and it may cause some kind of air exchange to happen where air from below seeps up and therefore causes water to go down as the air comes up. The obvious solution here is of course to unclog the toilet or remove the object trapped (pun intended) in the trap.
Summary
What we want to say before we call it a day is that in many cases you will require a plumber to solve this issue. If the issue lies with the venting system or with the pipe not being set at the proper angle, then these are things that you couldn’t really handle on your own. Sure you can try, but if you don’t know what you are doing you might end up causing more harm than good.