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 frustrating things.
Fortunately, with a little troubleshooting, there are many toilet dilemmas you can solve by yourself. Here, the experts at I-Deal HVAC will go over some of the most common 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 Won't My Toilet Stop Running?
If your toilet keeps running all the time, it is an issue you should fix because it's in all probability 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 leak all over your floor. Occasionally, the trouble is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube has become detached. If that’s the scenario, you can 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 taller height.
Another reason for a toilet to run could be the flapper--which serves 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. This causes water to leak out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.
Occasionally a running toilet is caused by something amiss with your toilet float, which is a floating device that determines the water level in your tank. It achieves 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 will allow 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 Is My Toilet Bubbling?
A gurgling toilet is usually caused by a partial clog in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or a blockage 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 remove the clog. If this does not have any effect, you can check where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm it is not blocked by debris that would block air flow.
If these efforts don’t fix your gurgling toilet, you will probably want to phone a professional such an expert from I-Deal HVAC to evaluate the problem. As the experienced plumber in Albuquerque, I-Deal HVAC will investigate whether the noise is caused by a blockage in one of the drain lines transporting 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, there’s a good chance the problem can be found in the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain in a toilet tank that is affixed to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is attached to the flapper, which serves as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.
The easiest way to figure out why your toilet is hard to flush is to lift up the lid, peer 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 whoosh 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 keeps the chain from pulling 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.
At times flappers can get stuck when they get old or become worn out. Or, there might be something awry 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. Usually, 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 something wrong with 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 weakened toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it sits on the floor. Often, these issues are best fixed by an expert plumber.
6. Why Is My Toilet Not Filling with Water?
A toilet that isn't filling with water frequently indicates a problem with the fill valve, which is what fills your toilet tank with water. If the tube is damaged or is blocked by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it might not be allowing water into the tank.
Another common cause for your toilet not filling with water is something wrong 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 does this 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 is allowed to reach the appropriate level. Or, fixing a toilet not filling with water may require adjusting or replacing the fill valve.