Snaking a toilet line

[veidtmeister]

Im going to replace two toilets, and the downstairs toilet backs up half the time, and the upstairs does it less frequently, but it happens...
I have two snakes, one small wire one that reels up into its holder, then I have a heavy duty, probably an 1 1/2 inch solid flat steel one..
(That I picked up years ago somewhere???)

I’m assuming the small one is for sinks etc, but I’m a little scared of sticking that large one down the toilet drain, cuz I have no idea what I’m doing...
I think now would be the time to snake it, since the toilets will be out...
Are there any good videos on how to snake a toilet line?
Oh, and it’s septic......
Any help or guidance is appreciated

 

[TomFOhio]

If your not sure what you are doing it would probably be best to call a drain cleaning company. If you run that
large cable in the line and go to the septic tank it could get tangled up in there. Let somebody do it for you and
then you will know the lines are cleaned out right before you set the new toilets.

 

[veidtmeister]

If your not sure what you are doing it would probably be best to call a drain cleaning company. If you run that
large cable in the line and go to the septic tank it could get tangled up in there. Let somebody do it for you and
then you will know the lines are cleaned out right before you set the new toilets.

I was afraid you were going to say that... we’ve lived here 14 years, and never had to have our septic pumped out....
Could that be the issue? Or will they just say, oh yeah! That’s it, then when they pump it out, they’ll claim the Drains also need snaking or cleaning??
I just would rather know what I’m facing so I don’t get double charged.
I know little about septic

 

[Geofd]

I don't have septic......but itslike anything else everything needs periodic preventative maintainance …….

 

[journeyman]

When ever the main backs up or pushes debris into secondary lines one it is pumped out I would snake drains

 

[Rossando]

If you have a leech field and septic is not backing up then just snake from the toilets closet bend. Make sure you stop before the septic tank or else your going to end up in a bigger mess. Show us a picture of what the bigger snake looks like.

 

[Diehard]

I was afraid you were going to say that... we’ve lived here 14 years, and never had to have our septic pumped out....
Could that be the issue? Or will they just say, oh yeah! That’s it, then when they pump it out, they’ll claim the Drains also need snaking or cleaning??
I just would rather know what I’m facing so I don’t get double charged.
I know little about septic

When you say, "never had to have our septic pumped out....", it's sounds like you don't know that it's should be pumped out periodically to prevent major problems. For example, preventing it from getting high level of sludge or floating scum that could find their way into the leaching system. But that's something you can check into very easily once you inquire or do a web search.

I have to ask, what happens in the lower level(down stairs) plumbing fixtures when the upstairs toilet runs slow? Do they back up at all?

I would be inclined to start checking for problems at the septic system end and work back. You want to make sure that it's draining out as fast as it coming into the tank. In other words, the level in the tank should be at its normal design level and not overfilled. As over filled would be an indication of poor flow out to the leaching system, which in return would slow down your drain from your house. You may have to consult a local septic system company to verify the correct level in the tank.
If the tank checks out okay then I'd go back to the cleanout at the house and rod it to the tank.

All pretty much as Rossando briefly touched upon above.

EDIT: You should definitely plan on getting your septic tank pumped. At that time they can tell you if there's a problem. Even to the point of seeing if there's flow coming back into the tank from the exit end, indicating a possible failing or ineffective leaching system.

EDIT2: I should take that first sentence back. I suppose you could have had it checked for relative levels of sludge and scum and determined that you didn't need to have it pumped. I'm just used to people having it done routinely based on its appearance when they do have it pumped.

 

[anticlmatic]

The toilets themselves might have some caked on debris inside. My two cents: install the new and see if that solves the problem. If it doesn’t, pulling the toilets is the easy part of the snaking process.