Does your toilet keep running? Strange gurgling noise emitting 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 solve on your own. Here, the specialists at AZ Air Conditioning and Heating 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 Won't My Toilet Stop Running?
If your toilet keeps running all the time, it is something you should correct because it's in all likelihood also costing you money on your water bill.
A common reason for a running toilet is something amiss with the overflow tube. Found 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 doesn't get too high and spill over the top of the tank. Occasionally, the problem is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube has become 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 simply because the overflow tube is is not tall enough to maintain the correct water level and needs to be replaced by one that is the appropriate height.
Another reason for a toilet to run could be the flapper--which functions as a plug in the bottom of your tank—has malfunctioned and no longer forms the tight seal necessary 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.
Sometimes a running toilet is caused by something amiss 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 a predetermined height. If your float is set too high, this will allow 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 commonly caused by a partial blockage 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 to fix this by using a plunger or drain snake to loosen the clog. If this does not have any effect, you can look at where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.
If you've confirmed the problem isn't a clog in the toilet or a vent obstruction, you should contact a professional such an expert from AZ Air Conditioning and Heating to evaluate the problem. As the trusted plumber in Los Angeles, AZ Air Conditioning and Heating will check to see if the sound is due to a blockage in one of the drain lines carrying toilet water out of your home or the mainline that removes 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, there’s a good chance the problem lies the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain in your toilet tank that is hooked 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 easiest way to find out why your toilet is challenging to flush is to lift up the lid, peek 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 flow out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.
Sometimes a toilet will never flush because the chain is caught on something within the tank, which keeps the chain from yanking 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. Or, there could be something amiss with the handle.
5. Why Is My Toilet Leaking?
A leaking toilet can be a costly problem, potentially leading to 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 may be a malfunction 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 sits on the floor. Most of these issues are best fixed by a certified plumber.
6. Why Is There No Water in My Toilet?
A toilet that won't fill with water in many cases indicates a problem with the fill valve, which fills the tank in the back of your toilet with water. If the tube has failed or is plugged by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it might 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 letting water into the tank when the water has gotten to the correct level. The fill valve does this when the water level lifts the float to a predetermined height. It may be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water is allowed to reach the appropriate level. Or, solving the problem of a toilet not filling with water may require adjusting or changing the fill valve.