Does your toilet refuse to stop running? Creepy gurgling noise coming from your toilet bowl? From water leaks to peculiar noises, toilets can do all sorts of bizarre things.
Fortunately, with a little troubleshooting, there are lots of toilet problems you can solve on your own. Here, the specialists at Tri County Climate Control LLC 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 Does My Toilet Always Run?
If your toilet won't stop running, it is something you should correct because it's in all probability also costing you money on your water bill.
A typical 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 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. At times, the trouble is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube got detached. If that’s the situation, you should be able to reach into the tank and reattach them. It also might 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 thing that could cause a toilet to run could be the flapper--which acts 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 causes water to flow 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 maintains the water level in your tank. It achieves 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 extra 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 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 loosen the clog. If this doesn’t work, you can look at where your sewage vent exits your home to make sure it is not blocked by debris that would prevent air flow.
If you've confirmed the problem isn't a clog in the toilet or a vent obstruction, you will probably want to contact a professional such an expert from Tri County Climate Control LLC to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in Bend, Tri County Climate Control LLC will check to see if the sound is due to 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 you can’t flush your toilet, it's probable that the problem is with the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain within the 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 challenging to flush is to remove the lid, peer inside the tank and investigate.
Here’s how the process ought 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 permits the water to whoosh out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet won’t flush because the chain is stuck on something in the tank, which prevents the chain from lifting up the flapper to let out the water. Or, the chain is too long or gets disconnected from either the handle or the flapper. If this happens, unhook 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. Many times, a leaky toilet is due to a cracked supply line or a crack in the toilet tank. If your toilet tank is overflowing, it is often because there is a malfunction 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 broken toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it connects to the floor. Most of these issues are best fixed by a certified plumber.
6. Why Won't My Toilet Fill With Water?
A toilet not filling with water often 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 may not be allowing water into the tank.
Another likely cause for your toilet not filling with water is something faulty with the float, which is a device that triggers the fill valve to stop allowing water into the tank when the water has risen to the correct level. The fill valve does this when the water level lifts the float to a preset height. It may be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water rises to the appropriate level. Or, fixing a toilet not filling with water may require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.