Answered: Why A Toilet Won't Stop Running And Five Other Common Issues
Does your toilet refuse to stop running? Weird gurgling noise emitting from your toilet bowl? From water leaks to odd noises, toilets can do all sorts of bizarre things.
Fortunately, with a little troubleshooting, there are numerous toilet problems you can solve yourself. Here, the experts at Tokay will go over some of the most prevalent toilet problems, what they mean and whether it’s a plumbing issue you can fix yourself—or, if it is better to call in an expert.
1. Why Won't My Toilet Stop Running?
If your toilet keeps running all the time, it is something you should repair because it’s in all probability also costing you money on your water bill.
A frequent cause of a running toilet is something wrong with the overflow tube. Located in the tank in the back of your toilet, an overflow tube allows extra water to drain from the tank into your toilet bowl so the water level in your tank does not get too high and overflow the top of the tank. Occasionally, the problem is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube is detached. If that’s the situation, you most likely can just reach into the tank and reattach them. It also could be your toilet is running due to the fact the overflow tube is too short for the water level and needs to be replaced by one that is the correct height.
Another factor causing a toilet to run could be the flapper–which serves as a plug in the bottom of your tank—is damaged and no longer forms the tight seal required to hold water in the tank. This enables water to seep through or around the damaged flapper and escape out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a running toilet is caused by something awry with your toilet float, which is a floating device that maintains the water level in your tank. It achieves this by shutting off your fill valve when the water level raises the float to a preset height. If your float is set too high, this will allow the water level to rise too high, and the unwanted water will go in your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.
2. Why Does My Toilet Make A Gurgling Sound?
A gurgling toilet is commonly caused by a partial obstruction in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or a blockage in your sewage vent. If the cause of the issue is a clog in your toilet, you can attempt to correct this by using a plunger or drain snake to remove the clog. If this rectifies the issue, you can examine where your sewage vent exits your home to ensure it is not blocked by debris that would prevent air flow.
If these efforts don’t fix your gurgling toilet, you will probably want to contact a professional such an expert from Tokay to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Lodi, Tokay will find out if the issue was caused by a blockage in one of the drain lines carrying toilet water out of your home or the mainline that carries waste water away from your home to the municipal water system.
3. Why Is It Hard To Flush My Toilet?
If your toilet is hard to flush, there’s a good chance the problem can be found in the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain within your toilet tank that is affixed to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is connected to the flapper, which functions as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The quickest way to get to the bottom of why your toilet is challenging to flush is to take off the lid, peer inside the tank and investigate.
Here’s how the process is supposed to work when you flush a toilet: you push down the handle, which pulls up the chain, then the chain pulls the flapper up and that allows the water to drain out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet doesn’t flush because the chain is stuck on something in the tank, which stops the chain from yanking up the flapper to let out the water. Or, the chain is too long or gets disconnected from either the handle or the flapper. If this happens, release the caught chain or reach in and shorten it to the appropriate length.
Sometimes flappers can get stuck as they get older or become worn out. Or, there may be something awry with the handle.
4. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?
A leaky toilet can be a costly situation, potentially leading to water damage in and around your bathroom. Usually, a leaky toilet is the result of a cracked supply line or a crack in the toilet tank. If your toilet tank is overflowing, it may be a failure in the toilet float.
Cracked gaskets around the connections on the underside of the tank also can let water to leak out of the toilet, as can a damaged toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it attaches to the floor. The majority of these issues are best fixed by a certified plumber.
5. Why Is There No Water In My Toilet?
A toilet not filling with water often traces back to a problem with the fill valve, which fills the tank in the back of your toilet with water. If the tube has failed or is clogged by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it might not be allowing water into the tank.
Another common cause for your toilet not filling with water is something amiss with the float, which is a device that triggers the fill valve to stop bringing water into the tank when the water has gotten to the correct level. The fill valve gives the signal to stop when the water level lifts the float to a predetermined height. It might be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water rises to the proper level. Or, fixing a toilet not filling with water might require adjusting or exchanging the fill valve.
