I was watching Mike Holmes Inspection on tv last night and he was showing a client that's toilet only flushes half the time.  My toilet does the same thing.  He said it's because the vent is plugged.  Strangely enough, a man knocked on my door a couple days ago and said he had installed my new roof a few years ago and the skin around the vent was loose and could cause a leak and wanted to know if I wanted him to fix it.  I wasn't the owner when the new skin was applied to this house so he isn't sure if the warranty is transferable or not.  Said he could fix it for $80.  Too much for my blood.  Anyway, if the vent is causing the toilet not to flush, how do I clean the vent and is there something I can put on it to keep the pine needles out of it?

Gregg has given you some good advice, but before you climb up on the roof check out the toilet first. To be certain that the toilet flapper is not leaking put a few drops of food coloring in the tank. If the flapper is leaking (causing a low water level) the food coloring will show up in the bowl and the flapper should be replaced. You should also check the fill valve. It should fill the tank relatively quickly to the proper water level.     If it fills slowly replace the valve.

I'm not comfy getting on the roof but my daughters friend is or my grandson is.

I just replaced all the innerds to the toilet and it is full of water. The water comes into the bowl quickly but just won't go down all the time. I have a dual flush toilet but that doesn't seem to make a difference. Most the time it flushes good, but every now and then the water just swirls around the bowl and won't go down.

I have screen and the zip ties...just not the other tool to clean the vent out. I'm assuming this vent runs all the way down into the (broom closet bathroom) 1/2 bath? That's where the so called plumber I had over here said the vent pipe was. Is there only 1 vent for 2 bathrooms? I haven't seen any vents in the master bath.

My daughter has a problem with her son's bathroom toilet. She says it won't fill up with water at all. It's a brand new toilet and was working okay when she first installed it but won't fill with water now. Is it the toilet or is it the water pipes?

She is also in a mobile home and has had 7 leaks under the house and has been replacing water lines that keep getting pin holes in them. They are like pvc pipe only grey. She has been buying something like the alligator bites or something like that that snaps together. But the pipes are so bad in that house they keep leaking. The last leak was 2 weeks ago just as she was leaving for vacation to CA she fell through the floor and didn't even know she had a leak until the floor gave out. We started ripping the floor up in the kitchen and wow, the water sprayed up and hit her right in the face. We got the leak fixed, but now she has to replace the whole floor because it must have been leaking for a long time to rot the whole floor out.

If there's a tool rental place nearby, you could get on for about $20 or so.  Call them, or Home Depot's tool rental department and ask 'em.

Linda:
If you don't have access to a wire snake or clean out router you can use a regular garden hose. Insert the hose into the vent on the roof. Turn the water on. If the water backs up and overflows the vent you have an obstruction in the vent pipe. It should flow down and out your main sewer drain line. If you have an obstruction you will need it cleaned out with a snake. These are rentable but make sure you get one that will fit down the vent pipe. As mentioned there are vent caps available most likely Home Depot carries them. Just measure your pipe size before you head out. Or make one as suggested. Using a zip strip or stainless hose clamp (rust resistant).

I used the suggestion that Oldman made earlier this morning. I had a problem with my plumbing not draining. I ran the garden hose down the vent pipe, turned the water on and the water just went down the sewer pipe. So I either had no problem with my vent in the first place or the water washed away any problem that I did have. After doing this my plumbing seemed to work better. It only took 10 minutes time to the job done.

Craig, she has been replacing them as they break, but she needs to get them all done but just can't afford it. Her X sued her for child support because she makes more money than he does and won $30K for one year. Now she has nothing and still has custody of 1 of the minor kids.

Anyway, a friend of her's has a friend that is a plumber and he is going to come give her an estimate. These things are pretty easy to do if she can get to all of them. I told her she needs to replace as much as she can before we put down new subfloors. Right now it's just the money factor. She has to file exempt just to have anything left over from payday to payday.

These things are getting little pin holes in them along the pipe. I check my water meter everyday, but it sets just outside my back door. Her meter is out in the back yard so she doesn't get out there that much especially in the summer. That thing had been leaking for a long time to rot the floor as bad as it was. It was like pulling up wet cardboard it was so soaked.

Oldman: Thanks for the suggestion. I do have several long hoses. Apparently there is no cap on mine and I do have a line of trees that shed pine needles so it's probably full of them. My gutters get full within a weeks time of cleaning them but then of course these gutters can't even logically be called gutters they are so small. Typical mobile home junk!!

Do these problems exist after heavy rains or are they constant.?

Ron: They must be consistent because we rarely ever get any rain here except monsoon season...so far this year we've had none.

You can put a vent cap on, they come in several different styles from cone shape to the ones in the link below.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/ve...alog/N-jzo

You can also put a PVC "T" on the end of the vent pipe. It will not obstruct the vent at all (which screen possibly could). It just prevents anything from falling straight down the vent pipe. P.S. - Do not glue the "T" on. Just in case you ever have to snake the vent in the future, you can just pull the "T" off.