Does your toilet keep running? Creepy gurgling noise coming from your toilet bowl? From water leakages to unusual noises, toilets can do all sorts of frustrating things.
The good thing is, with a little troubleshooting, there are lots of toilet issues you can fix yourself. Here, the specialists at B & B Heating & Cooling will go over some of the most prevalent 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 Is My Toilet Running?
If your toilet is constantly running, it is an issue you should correct because it's most likely also costing you money on your water bill.
A common cause of a running toilet is something amiss 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 spill over the top of the tank. At times, the issue is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube is detached. If that’s the scenario, you most likely can just reach into the tank and reattach them. It also may 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 the appropriate height.
Another thing that could cause a toilet to run could be the flapper--which acts as a plug in the bottom of your tank—is malfunctioning and no longer forms the tight seal necessary to hold water in the tank. This causes water to flow out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
Occasionally a running toilet is caused by something amiss with your toilet float, which is a floating device that maintains the water level in your tank. It accomplishes 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 permits 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 a blockage in your sewage vent. If the reason for the noise is a clog in your toilet, you can try fixing this by using a plunger or drain snake to release the clog. If this rectify the issue, you can check where your sewage vent exits your home to make sure it is not blocked by debris that would block air flow.
If these efforts don’t fix your gurgling toilet, you should contact a professional such an expert from B & B Heating & Cooling to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in Florissant and St. Charles, B & B Heating & Cooling 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 Won't My Toilet Flush?
If it's difficult to flush your toilet, there’s a good chance the problem is with the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain in a toilet tank that is hooked to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is connected to the flapper, which serves as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The easiest way to figure out why your toilet is hard to flush is to lift up the lid, peer inside the tank and investigate.
Here’s how the process is supposed to work whenever 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 flow out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet will never flush because the chain is stuck on something within 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, 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 could be something amiss with the handle.
5. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?
A dripping toilet can be a costly situation, potentially causing water damage in and around your bathroom. Usually, 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 allow 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. Often, these issues are best fixed by a certified plumber.
6. Why Won't My Toilet Fill With Water?
A toilet that won't fill 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 plugged by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it potentially could not be allowing water into the tank.
Another typical cause for your toilet not filling with water is something wrong 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 does this when the water level lifts the float to a set height. It might be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water rises to the correct level. Or, correcting a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or changing the fill valve.