Does your toilet refuse to stop running? Creepy gurgling noise emitting from your toilet bowl? From water leaks to peculiar noises, toilets can do all sorts of bizarre things.
The good thing is, with a little troubleshooting, there are many toilet dilemmas you can correct yourself. Here, the experts at Halverson Brothers Inc will go over some of the most frequent toilet problems, what they mean and whether it’s something you can fix yourself—or, if it is better to call in an expert.
1. Why Does My Toilet Always Run?
If your toilet is constantly running, it is an issue you should fix because it's in all probability also costing you money on your water bill.
A frequent culprit that causes a running toilet is something wrong with the overflow tube. Located in the tank in the back of your toilet, an overflow tube removes extra water 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. At times, 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 is not tall enough to maintain the correct water level and needs to be replaced by one that is taller height.
Another thing that could cause a toilet to run could be the flapper--which serves as a plug in the bottom of your tank—has malfunctioned 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 predetermined height. If your float is set too high, this lets the water level to rise too high, and the excess water will flow into your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.
2. Why Does My Toilet Keep Gurgling?
A gurgling toilet is often caused by a partial clog in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or something blocking your sewage vent. If the cause of the issue is a clog in your toilet, you can try to fix this by using a plunger or drain snake to loosen the clog. If this rectify the issue, you can check where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.
If these efforts don’t fix your gurgling toilet, you will probably want to phone a professional such an expert from Halverson Brothers Inc to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in Menomonie and western Wisconsin, Halverson Brothers Inc will check to see if the sound is due to a blockage in one of the drain lines carrying toilet water out of your home or the mainline that removes waste water away from your home to the municipal water system.
4. Why Is My Toilet Hard to Flush?
If it's difficult to flush your toilet, it's probable that the problem can be found in the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain in the toilet tank that is affixed to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is attached to the flapper, which acts as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The best way to get to the bottom of why your toilet is difficult to flush is to remove the lid, peek 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 enables 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 inside the tank, which prevents the chain from lifting up the flapper to let out the water. Or, the chain is too long or somehow comes unhooked from either the handle or the flapper. If this happens, free the caught chain or reach in and change it to the appropriate length.
Occasionally flappers can get stuck as they age or become worn out. There also may be something awry with the handle.
5. Why Is My Toilet Leaking?
A leaking toilet can be a costly scenario, potentially causing water damage in and around your bathroom. Often, a leaky toilet is caused by 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 broken toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it attaches to the floor. Most of these issues are best fixed by a certified plumber.
6. Why Is My Toilet Not Filling with Water?
A toilet that isn't filling with water in many cases indicates a problem with the fill valve, which is the valve that lets water into your toilet tank. If the tube has failed or is blocked by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it may not be allowing water into the tank.
Another typical cause for your toilet not filling with water is something amiss with the float, which is a device that signals the fill valve to stop bringing water into the tank when the water has risen to the correct level. The fill valve performs this function when the water level lifts the float to a preset height. It could be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water can attain the correct level. Or, correcting a toilet not filling with water may require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.
