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Answer The waste line from the downstairs toilet is not vented (or not vented properly, or the vent is plugged up). Flushing the upstairs toilet creates a vacuum in the main line which sucks the water out of the one downstairs. Answer your waste lines for both toilets may be on the same branch off the sewer main. Either you have a stoppage in the branch line or you have a stoppage in the main line. (If it's the main line your downstairs toilet would have to be the lowest fixture, ie If you have a floor drain downstairs and it's a stoppage in your main line it would backup through the floor drain. If there is no floor drain the toilet downstairs is probably your lowest fixture.) Your best bet is to snake out the system through the toilet downstairs.
The two toilets are probably one the same drain line. Are they directly one below the other? If they are, the vent for the bottom toilet is the drain for the upstairs toilet. This is called a wet vent which is not usually done anymore. If this is the case, there is nothing you can do on your own. If your toilets are not one above the other, you still have some sort of venting problem. Either way, you should call a plumber.
All upstairs Plumbing fixtures drain through vertical pipes in the walls, connect to the horizontal pipes under the house and continue downslope to the city sewer or your septic tank. A backup into a downstairs fixture from an upper one indicates that there is a blockage in the drain line under the house downslope from the one receiving the backup. In this situation when a upper toilet is flushed the water with refuse reaches the stoppage and backs up into the lowest fixture downstairs, usually a shower, a tub or in this case a sink.
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Why would air bubbles come up in downstairs toilet when upstairs toilet is flushed?
partially clogged drain or vent, improperly installed vent or drain
Can you flush the upstairs toilet when you have the downstairs toilet off and capped off?
If your plumbing system is properly installed there should not be any problem. If it isn't installed properly, you would already have water from sinks and bathtubs backing up out of the downstairs toilet.
In an apartment complex why would sink or dishwasher drainage show up in a downstairs neighbor's sink?
Because they share a common drain line which is clogged. Gravity and a common drain pipe means the back-up would appear in the downstairs drain, even if it appeared to be cleared in the upstairs drain. Be glad you are not just slightly uphill from the clog. The sink line line needs to be roto rootered from upstairs, through downstairs, through to the common basement drain to clear out the clog.
What would cause a downstairs toilet to start running when an upstairs toilet is flushed both toilets keep running until a faucet or the washing machine is turned on?
the most likely answer to this question is a faulty washer, the reason it keeps running until the washing machine is turned on is cause the pressure is being withdrawn from the toilet. replace the washers to the toilets and monitor. if this fails you may have to consider replacing all the mechinisims inside
If you were inside a six story house and you were on the third floor could that mean that you were upstairs and downstairs at the same time?
Yes, it would depend on the reference point. You would be upstairs from some people and downstairs from others.
What would cause downstairs radiators to be cold while upstairs are hot?
It's because heat travels upwards and cold downwards so naturally the upstairs will become hotter then the downstairs.
Is it appropriate to have wood flooring upstairs if downstairs has different material?
As long as the decor flows. You may, however, consider that carpet would absorb upstairs sound (like heavy-footed walking around) that would be heard downstairs.
At what temperature should you keep your downstairs air to help cool the upstairs or does the downstairs air temperature have any effect on the upstairs if you have two central units?
I have two separate systems, one up and one down. The downstairs unit does nothing to cool the upstairs. It is probably because cold (heavy) air sinks and hot (light) air rises. To have any effect on the upstairs, you would need a very well insulated house with few windows, and you would have to make it extremely cool downstairs. Inversely, you can use your upstairs system to help cool your downstairs, for the reasons explained above. Since hot air rises, your upstairs system has a larger cooling capacity than your downstairs unit to take care of the larger demand.
What would cause large air bubbles in a downstairs toilet there is no upstaires toilet.?
When the up stairs toilet is flushing.The toilet tank releases water to flush down the toilet bowl.While the toilet tank draining out water to flush and before refilling .The air that gets trapped before the floater shuts to refill the tank.That may be the air that causes the pressure to blow alarge bubble out from downstairs toilet. Bubbles in the toilet that you flush might mean that you need your sewer line cleaned. A significant amount of water leaves the upstairs toilet in a relatively short amount of time. If the drain pipe to which it is attached is "small" (three inch rather than four inch) or partially plugged or insufficiently graded, a small air pocket can form immediately in front of the oncoming waste and water. It will follow the path of least resistence. If it requires more pressure to continue down the line than is required to escape through the branch line to the downstairs toilet, the downstairs toilet will "burp", especially if it is not vented seperataly from the main vent, or if its' vent is plugged or partially plugged. I agree, first try cleaning the line. Do it right, with a proper size blade or spud running well out of the house. If that doesnt solve the problem, investigate the vent. Answer 1 is TOTALLY incorrect. It is addressing the "flush valve," [also refered to as a "flapper"], suggesting the possibility of air "ingested" before it recloses [to allow refill of the tank] "may" be the source of the air bubbling out the downstairs toilet. That air simply goes into the upstairs toilet bowl, not down the drain/waste pipe. Therefore, it cannot be related to the bubbling downstairs. Answer 2 is also totally incorrect due to the fact it is refering to bubbling in the toilet which is flushed [the "upstairs" toilet], which is not related to the bubbling in the downstairs toilet described in the question. I agree with the explanation in Answer 3, with the exception that I would visually check [with a powerfull flashlight] the vent stack for the downstairs toilet [or at least the viewable section of a shared stack], understanding of course, that unless the vent stack is a perfect straight shot, a visual check would be limited to only the straight run section. In our area, over 95% of houses are single story, and checking the drain/waste vents from the roof is no big deal. On two or three story houses, it may be better to try cleaning the line(s), assuming that adequate cleanouts are available. Many of our older houses were not required to have cleanouts, and we have break into walls or dig earth to install them. Otherwise, IF the client WILL NOT go for the cost of add-on cleanouts, we HAVE to work through the roof vent stack opening. This is not uncommon for our area.
Why would poop come up through a sink?
This could happen due to improper plumbing, or due to a clog. If the waste water is coming up through a sink and not a toilet, it's more likely that an upstairs toilet and a downstairs (or lower) sink share a waste stack that is clogged below a shared junction between the two.
When flushing toilet upstairs toilet in basement overflows from bottom onto basement floor?
There is a blockage in the waste line. Have you flushed the basement toilet to see what happens? Try running the upstairs shower and see what happens. (use two persons , one up stairs, one downstairs so you can control the amount of water that rises in the toilet.) There should be a "clean out" cap somewhere downstairs near the point where the waste line exits the house. It is here that one would "snake" the line. The other possibility is the water level in the downstairs toilet is lower than the level of the waste line exit. This means that the point of exit of the line is physically higher than the toilet. The only remedy for this is to raise the toilet to above the height or replumb the toilet into a waste pump that evacuates upwards to a point slightly higher than the waste line. This is the most common set-up in a "basement" toilet. The toilet evacuates into a point lower than the floor. The waste pump or grinder pump then pumps the waste upwards than gravity allows it to evacuate normally. The benefit is that the waste pump creates a separate system for the basement toilet. Y-THINK-Y
What would cause the upstairs bathrooms to leak downstairs?
Gravity. Also- If someone takes a shower with the curtain on the outside of the tub this can happen.
