Is your toilet running? Creepy gurgling noise arising from your toilet bowl? From water leakage to odd noises, toilets can do all sorts of strange things.
Thankfully, with a little troubleshooting, there are lots of toilet dilemmas you can fix by yourself. Here, the professionals at Mechanical Air Systems Co will go over some of the most prevalent 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 a situation you should repair because it's most likely also costing you money on your water bill.
A frequent culprit that causes a running toilet is something amiss with the overflow tube. Positioned 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 won't get too high and spill over the top of the tank. Occasionally, the trouble is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube is detached. If that’s the situation, you should be able to reach into the tank and reattach them. It also could 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 taller 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 damaged 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 escape out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes 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 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 will allow 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 Make a Gurgling Sound?
A gurgling toilet is often caused by a partial obstruction 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 release the clog. If this rectify the issue, you can look at where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm 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 Mechanical Air Systems Co to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Mason City, Mechanical Air Systems Co 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 carries 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 likely the problem lies the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain inside 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 best way to figure out why your toilet is hard to flush is to remove the lid, peek 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 caught on something within the tank, which stops the chain from pulling up the flapper to let out the water. Or, the chain is too long or becomes detached 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 when they get old or become worn out. There also might be something wrong with the handle.
5. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?
A dripping toilet can be a costly situation, potentially leading to water damage in and around your bathroom. Many times, a leaky toilet is caused by a cracked supply line or a crack in the toilet tank. If your toilet tank is overflowing, it could 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 damaged 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 won't fill with water frequently 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 might not be allowing water into the tank.
Another common cause for your toilet not filling with water is something amiss with the float, which is a device that prompts the fill valve to stop bringing 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 could be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water rises to the proper level. Or, solving the problem of a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or exchanging the fill valve.