Is your toilet running? Strange gurgling noise emitting from your toilet bowl? From water leaks to peculiar noises, toilets can do all sorts of strange things.
Thankfully, with a little troubleshooting, there are many toilet problems you can correct on your own. Here, the specialists at Contra Costa Heating & AC 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 Is My Toilet Running?
If your toilet keeps running all the time, it is an issue you should fix because it's in all likelihood also costing you money on your water bill.
A frequent reason for 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 issue 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 may be your toilet is running because 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 thing that could cause 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 necessary to hold water in the tank. Not having a good seal allows water to leak out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
Occasionally 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 predetermined height. If your float is set too high, this permits the water level to rise too high, and the unwanted water will flow 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 something blocking your sewage vent. If the cause of the issue is a clog in your toilet, you can attempt to correct this by using a plunger or drain snake to release the clog. If this rectify the issue, you can examine where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.
If you've done these two trouble shooting tasks and the toilet is still gurgling or bubbling, you will probably want to phone a professional such an expert from Contra Costa Heating & AC to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in The Bay Area, Contra Costa Heating & AC will find out if the issue was 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 It Hard to Flush My Toilet?
If your toilet is hard to flush, it's likely the problem can be found in the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain inside the toilet tank that is hooked to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is connected to the flapper, which acts as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The quickest way to find out why your toilet is hard to flush is to take off 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 enables the water to drain out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet won’t flush because the chain is stuck 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, release the caught chain or reach in and change it to the appropriate length.
At times flappers can get stuck as they age or become worn out. It's also possible there might be something amiss with the handle.
5. Why Is My Toilet Leaking?
A dripping 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 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 weakened toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it attaches to the floor. Most of these issues are best fixed by an expert plumber.
6. Why Won't My Toilet Fill With Water?
A toilet that isn't filling with water in many cases suggests a problem with the fill valve, which is the valve that lets water into your toilet tank. If the tube is broken or is clogged by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it potentially could 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 triggers the fill valve to stop letting 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 might 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 may require adjusting or exchanging the fill valve.
