Is your toilet running? Weird gurgling noise arising from your toilet bowl? From water leakages to unusual noises, toilets can do all sorts of strange things.
The good thing is, with a little troubleshooting, there are numerous toilet dilemmas you can solve by yourself. Here, the specialists at Halverson Brothers Inc 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 Is My Toilet Running?
If your toilet is constantly running, it is a situation you should fix because it's most likely also costing you money on your water bill.
A frequent 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 allows extra water to drain from the tank into your toilet bowl so the water level in your tank does not get too high and leak all over your floor. At times, the trouble is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube is detached. If that’s the case, 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 too short for the water level and needs to be replaced by one that is the correct height.
Another reason for 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 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.
At times, a running toilet is caused by something wrong with your toilet float, which is a floating device that determines the water level in your tank. It achieves 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 will allow the water level to rise too high, and the excess water will spill 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 blockage in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or an obstruction in your sewage vent. If the problem is a clog in your toilet, you can try fixing this by using a plunger or drain snake to loosen the clog. If this doesn’t work, 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, you will probably want to phone a professional such an expert from Halverson Brothers Inc to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Menomonie and western Wisconsin, Halverson Brothers Inc will investigate whether the noise is 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 your toilet is hard to flush, there’s a good chance the problem can be found in 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 acts as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The best way to get to the bottom of why your toilet is difficult 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 permits the water to whoosh out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet won’t flush because the chain is snagged on something within the tank, which stops the chain from lifting 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, free the caught chain or reach in and change it to the appropriate length.
Sometimes flappers can get stuck as they get older or become worn out. Or, there might be something wrong with the handle.
5. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?
A leaky toilet can be a costly situation, potentially causing 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 could 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 attaches to the floor. Often, these issues are best fixed by an expert plumber.
6. Why Is There No Water in My Toilet?
A toilet that won't fill with water often indicates a problem with the fill valve, which is the valve that lets water into your toilet tank. If the tube is broken or is blocked by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it potentially could 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 signals the fill valve to stop allowing 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 set height. It might be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water can attain the appropriate level. Or, correcting a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.
