Is your toilet running? Strange gurgling noise arising from your toilet bowl? From water leakages to peculiar noises, toilets can do all sorts of frustrating things.
Fortunately, with a little troubleshooting, there are many toilet dilemmas you can solve yourself. Here, the professionals at J.L. Brady Company LLC 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 Won't My Toilet Stop Running?
If your toilet is constantly running, it is an issue you should repair because it's in all probability also costing you money on your water bill.
A typical culprit that causes a running toilet is something incorrect 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 does not get too high and spill over the top of the tank. Sometimes, the problem is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube has become detached. If that’s the scenario, you should be able to reach into the tank and reattach them. It also could be your toilet is running due to the fact the overflow tube is is not tall enough to maintain the correct water level and needs to be replaced by one that is taller height.
Another factor causing a toilet to run could be the flapper--which serves as a plug in the bottom of your tank—is damaged 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 permits the water level to rise too high, and the unwanted water will go in 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 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 rectify the issue, you can check where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.
If these efforts don’t fix your gurgling toilet, it would be a good idea to contact a professional such an expert from J.L. Brady Company LLC to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Moline, J.L. Brady Company LLC 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 Is My Toilet Hard to Flush?
If it's difficult to flush your toilet, there’s a good chance the problem can be found in the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain within your 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 quickest way to figure out why your toilet is difficult to flush is to remove the lid, look inside the tank and investigate.
Here’s how the process is supposed to work anytime 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 drain 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, free 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 could be something awry with the handle.
5. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?
A leaky toilet can be a costly scenario, potentially causing water damage in and around your bathroom. Usually, 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 permit 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 Is My Toilet Not Filling with Water?
A toilet that won't fill with water frequently indicates 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 potentially could not be allowing water into the tank.
Another likely 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 letting water into the tank when the water has reached 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 can attain the correct level. Or, fixing a toilet not filling with water may require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.
