Does your toilet keep running? Strange gurgling noise arising from your toilet bowl? From water leakage to unusual noises, toilets can do all sorts of frustrating things.
Thankfully, with a little troubleshooting, there are many toilet problems you can correct yourself. Here, the specialists at Allstar Heating & Air Conditioning will go over some of the most frequent 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 Is My Toilet Running?
If your toilet is constantly running, it is something you should repair because it's most likely also costing you money on your water bill.
A common cause of a running toilet is something incorrect with the overflow tube. Found 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 doesn't get too high and leak all over your floor. Occasionally, the issue is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube got detached. If that’s the situation, you can reach into the tank and reattach them. It also might be your toilet is running because the overflow tube is isn't tall enough for the 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 functions 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 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 accomplishes this by shutting off your fill valve when the water level raises the float to the appropriate height. If your float is set too high, this lets the water level to rise too high, and the unwanted water will flow into your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.
2. Why Is My Toilet Bubbling?
A gurgling toilet is often caused by a partial clog in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or something blocking 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 doesn’t work, you can look at where your sewage vent exits your home to make sure it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.
If you've done these two trouble shooting tasks and the toilet is still gurgling or bubbling, you should phone a professional such an expert from Allstar Heating & Air Conditioning to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Buellton, Allstar Heating & Air Conditioning will investigate whether the noise is 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.
4. Why Won't My Toilet Flush?
If your toilet is hard to flush, it's likely the problem is with the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain within a toilet tank that is affixed to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is linked to the flapper, which serves as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The quickest 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 ought 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 flow out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet won’t flush because the chain is caught on something inside the tank, which keeps 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 change it to the appropriate length.
Occasionally flappers can get stuck when they get old or become worn out. Or, there might be something amiss with the handle.
5. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?
A leaky toilet can be a costly situation, potentially producing water damage in and around your bathroom. Many times, 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 could be a malfunction 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 weakened toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it connects to the floor. Often, these issues are best fixed by an expert plumber.
6. Why Is My Toilet Not Filling with Water?
A toilet that isn't filling with water often suggests a problem with the fill valve, which is the valve that lets water into your toilet tank. If the tube has failed or is plugged 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 letting water into the tank when the water has risen to the correct level. The fill valve gives the signal to stop when the water level lifts the float to a preset height. It may be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water can attain the correct level. Or, fixing a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or exchanging the fill valve.