Is your toilet running? Weird gurgling noise emitting from your toilet bowl? From water leakage to unusual noises, toilets can do all sorts of bizarre things.
The good thing is, with a little troubleshooting, there are numerous toilet problems you can correct by yourself. Here, the specialists at Bell Mechanical Services will go over some of the most frequent toilet problems, what they mean and whether it’s a situation 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 is constantly running, it is something you should fix because it’s most likely also costing you money on your water bill.
A typical reason for a running toilet is something incorrect with the overflow tube. Positioned 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 won’t get too high and overflow the top of the tank. Sometimes, the issue is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube got detached. If that’s the case, you should be able to reach into the tank and reattach them. It also might be your toilet is running simply because the overflow tube is too short for the water level and needs to be replaced by one that is taller height.
Another reason for a toilet to run could be the flapper–which serves as a plug in the bottom of your tank—is malfunctioning and no longer forms the tight seal needed to hold water in the tank. This enables water to seep through or around the damaged flapper and flow 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 controls 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 lets the water level to rise too high, and the excess water will go in your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.
2. Why Is My Toilet Bubbling?
A gurgling toilet is commonly 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 remove the clog. If this does not have any effect, you can examine where your sewage vent exits your home to ensure it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.
If you’ve confirmed the problem isn’t a clog in the toilet or a vent obstruction, you will probably want to phone a professional such an expert from Bell Mechanical Services to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in McKinney and Frisco, Bell Mechanical Services will find out if the issue was caused by a blockage in one of the drain lines directing toilet water out of your home or the mainline that takes waste water away from your home to the municipal water system.
4. Why Is It Hard to Flush My Toilet?
If you can’t 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 within the toilet tank that is attached to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is linked to the flapper, which acts as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The easiest way to figure out why your toilet is challenging to flush is to take off 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 allows the water to flow out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet will never flush because the chain is snagged on something inside the tank, which keeps 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, unhook the caught chain or reach in and change it to the appropriate length.
Occasionally flappers can get stuck as they get older or become worn out. There also may be something wrong 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. Often, 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 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 broken toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it connects to the floor. Often, these issues are best fixed by a professional plumber.
6. Why Is There No Water in My Toilet?
A toilet that won’t fill with water frequently traces back to a problem with the fill valve, which is what fills your toilet tank with water. If the tube is broken or is blocked by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it might 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 signals the fill valve to stop bringing water into the tank when the water has gotten to the correct level. The fill valve performs this function when the water level lifts the float to a set height. It may be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water is allowed to reach the proper level. Or, correcting a toilet not filling with water might require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.