Is your toilet running? Weird gurgling noise coming from your toilet bowl? From water leakages to peculiar noises, toilets can do all sorts of strange things.
The good thing is, with a little troubleshooting, there are lots of toilet issues you can fix yourself. Here, the professionals at Age Heating & Cooling 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 Does My Toilet Always Run?
If your toilet won't stop running, it is an issue you should correct because it's most likely also costing you money on your water bill.
A common 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 directs excess water from the tank into your toilet bowl so the water level in your tank doesn't get too high and spill over the top of the tank. At times, the issue 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 factor causing a toilet to run could be the flapper--which acts as a plug in the bottom of your tank—is damaged and no longer forms the tight seal required to hold water in the tank. This causes water to escape out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
At times, a running toilet is caused by something awry with your toilet float, which is a floating device that determines the water level in your tank. It accomplishes 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 permits the water level to rise too high, and the unwanted water will spill into your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.
2. Why Does My Toilet Make a Gurgling Sound?
A gurgling toilet is usually caused by a partial obstruction in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or a blockage in your sewage vent. If the reason for the noise is a clog in your toilet, you can try fixing this by using a plunger or drain snake to loosen the clog. If this does not have any effect, 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 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 Age Heating & Cooling to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Sandpoint, Age Heating & Cooling 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 takes waste water away from your home to the municipal water system.
4. Why Won't My Toilet Flush?
If it's difficult to flush your toilet, it's probable that the problem can be found in the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain within a toilet tank that is attached 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 get to the bottom of why your toilet is difficult to flush is to take off the lid, peek inside the tank and investigate.
Here’s how the process is supposed 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 whoosh out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet doesn't flush because the chain is snagged on something in the tank, which stops the chain from yanking 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 shorten it to the appropriate length.
Occasionally flappers can get stuck as they get older or become worn out. There also might be something awry with the handle.
5. Why Is There a Leak in My Toilet?
A leaky toilet can be a costly situation, potentially causing water damage in and around your bathroom. Often, 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 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 an expert plumber.
6. Why Is There No Water in My Toilet?
A toilet that won't fill with water frequently traces back to a problem with the fill valve, which is the valve that lets water into your toilet tank. If the tube has failed 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 wrong with the float, which is a device that triggers 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 predetermined height. It could be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water is allowed to reach the correct level. Or, correcting a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or exchanging the fill valve.
