Reasons for a toilet to overflow in the middle of the night?

[Satori]

So this odd rather loud sound woke me up at 3am and I run into the bathroom trying to figure out what it was and as soon as I step in there I realize I'm standing in an inch of cold water and the toilet was overflowing. Still 90% asleep here I turned off the water to the toilet and was like got the mess cleaned up and opened the tank and it looks like the chain got caught on little lid/flapper thingy (which is new) but the toilet should have just kept running and draining but it didn't drain down the pipe like it should have, it flooded up the bowl. The thing was not running when I went to bed and I didn't hear dd get up and go in there (we share a room). Can a toilet spontaneously flush on its own for some reason? and why would it flood when it was working fine when I went to bed?

[mommathea]

Yep, a toilet can flush spontaneously. I have not seen it personaly, but my bil/sil's rental does it. They say all 3 of their toilets flush randomly. They have never had them overflow though.

[ABrez]

Ghost poops!

[not now]

Originally Posted by ABrez

Ghost poops!

Apparently GIANT ghost poops.

[sunnysandiegan]

What an awful way to wake up.

Despite just getting a total "toilet 101" lesson from DH, I am not quite proficient enough to explain it in writing. The bottom line is he suspects something more is going on with your toilet than meets the eye.

[anniegirl]

Might you have tree roots in your pipes? Every few months our toilet does that (well, minus the spontaneous middle of the night flush!), and it's because there are tree roots growing downstream. It's a PITB.

[Satori]

Originally Posted by anniegirl

Might you have tree roots in your pipes? Every few months our toilet does that (well, minus the spontaneous middle of the night flush!), and it's because there are tree roots growing downstream. It's a PITB.

I have no idea, its an apt complex but the tank happens to be in my backyard about 20ft from a very large tree.