Does your toilet refuse to stop running? Creepy gurgling noise arising from your toilet bowl? From water leakage to odd noises, toilets can do all sorts of bizarre things.
Fortunately, with a little troubleshooting, there are numerous toilet problems you can correct by yourself. Here, the professionals at Prudhom Mechanical 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 Won't My Toilet Stop Running?
If your toilet is constantly running, it is something you should correct because it's in all likelihood also costing you money on your water bill.
A typical cause of a running toilet is something wrong with the overflow tube. Positioned in the tank in the back of your toilet, an overflow tube directs excess 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. At times, the problem is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube has become detached. If that’s the case, 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 appropriate 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 leak out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
At times, a running toilet is caused by something wrong 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 predetermined height. If your float is set too high, this permits the water level to rise too high, and the extra water will spill into your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.
2. Why Does My Toilet Make a Gurgling Sound?
A gurgling toilet is usually caused by a partial obstruction in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or an obstruction in your sewage vent. If the reason for the noise is a clog in your toilet, you can try to fix this by using a plunger or drain snake to release the clog. If this does not have any effect, 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 you've confirmed the problem isn't a clog in the toilet or a vent obstruction, it would be a good idea to contact a professional such an expert from Prudhom Mechanical to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in Edmond, Prudhom Mechanical will find out if the issue was caused by a blockage in one of the drain lines transporting 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 It Hard to Flush My Toilet?
If you can’t 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 inside your toilet tank that is affixed to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is attached to the flapper, which functions as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The best way to find out why your toilet is difficult to flush is to remove the lid, look inside the tank and investigate.
Here’s how the process should 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 whoosh out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet will never flush because the chain is caught on something in the tank, which keeps the chain from pulling 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.
Sometimes flappers can get stuck when they get old or become worn out. It's also possible there might be something awry with the handle.
5. Why Is My Toilet Leaking?
A leaky toilet can be a costly scenario, potentially leading to 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 something wrong with 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 damaged toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it connects to the floor. The majority of these issues are best fixed by a professional plumber.
6. Why Won't My Toilet Fill With Water?
A toilet that won't fill with water often suggests a problem with the fill valve, which is what fills your toilet tank with water. 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 faulty with the float, which is a device that prompts the fill valve to stop bringing water into the tank when the water has reached the correct level. The fill valve does this when the water level lifts the float to a predetermined height. It could be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water rises to the correct level. Or, solving the problem of a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.