3 Common Causes of a Running Toilet

“Why does my toilet keep running?” If you are asking yourself this question, it means that you have a problem that may be keeping you up at night both literally and figuratively. A running toilet wastes water and drives up your utility bills. Not only that, but the sound of constantly running water can be irritating as you go about your day and then try to go to sleep at night. This is a common problem that can usually be traced back to one of the following causes.

1. The Flapper Is Leaking

When you flush your toilet, the handle pulls on a lever that pulls up on the flapper, a device made of rubber or a rubber-like plastic that covers the drain hole on the toilet. When the flapper is open, all the water in the tank drains away. When it falls back into place, it closes and seals the hole so the tank can fill up again.

When the toilet flapper gets old, it can become dry, stiff, and cracked. It may become encrusted with sediment from the tank, all of which can prevent it from sealing properly. If your toilet is running constantly, the first thing to try is replacing the flapper as this is one of the easiest toilet repairs. Toilet flappers only last about five years at most, so if you replace the flapper regularly, you may not have to deal with a running toilet at all, or at least you may be able to rule out the flapper as a possible cause.

While replacing a flapper is fairly easy, it can be tricky to get the chain precisely the right length. If the chain is too short, the flapper can’t reach the drain hole at all, but if it is too long, it may get trapped until the flapper and prevent it from forming a good seal.

2. The Float Is Too High

When the toilet float reaches a certain level, the toilet is supposed to stop filling. If the float is adjusted too high, it allows the tank to fill up with too much water. This can then leak into the overflow tube and go back down into the bowl. Lowering the float may solve this problem.

Most modern toilets have a column float that attaches to the fill valve. This is held in place with either a clip or a screw. Loosening this allows the float to be lowered to the desired level. Retightening the screw or clip will hold it in the desired position.

If you have an old-fashioned toilet with a float arm, this can be raised or lowered by tightening or loosening the screw. It can be hard to know when the float is too high or too low, so consult plumbing services in Kelowna rather than trying to make the adjustment yourself.

3. The Refill Tube Is Too Long

If the refill tube is too long, or if it isn’t positioned properly in the overflow tube, it could create a suction effect that pulls water out of the fill valve and keeps pumping it back into the bowl. This issue can be fixed by pulling the tube out of the overflow, holding it just above the opening, trimming it, and clipping it back into place. However, this is a task you should leave to professionals as it would be easy to trim off too much of the tube, and then you have a whole different set of problems on your hands.

Call Handyman Connection for Plumbing Services in Kelowna

Plumbing repairs may seem simple, but if you don’t know what you are doing, it is easy to mess them up. Get the repair done right the first time by hiring an experienced plumber from Handyman Connection.