A running toilet is annoying. You can often hear it all across the house, especially at night, when things quite down.
A toilet runs because water continues to flow into the bowl, instead of shutting off like it is designed to do. Below are the most common problems that cause a running toilet:
- The flapper loses its seal. This may happen because the flapper is old and degrading. After all, it is submerged in water for years at a time. We’ve also seen sediment build up with hard water and cause the flapper to become rough with deposits.
- Other worn out seals. Old seals at the bottom of the overflow tube, or fill valve, can cause water to leak. Seals will crack with age, or again they can become brittle or have sediment deposits from hard water.
- The float could be set at the wrong fill level. If your float is set too high it won’t shut off the fill valve, and water will continue to run into the bowl.
- The fill valve could not be working properly. The float possibly reaches the correct level, but the valve may not shut off because it’s worn out.
- The chain could be the wrong length, or possibly be broken or deformed, causing the flapper to not seal properly, which allows water to leak into the bowl. We’ve seen chains get stuck between the flapper and the seal because they are “double up” and the loose end gets in that gap.
These problems can be fixed by replacing the part that is not working, which you can usually find at your local hardware or home improvement store. Or, to make it easier on you, give the professionals at Branch Brothers Plumbing a call and we will happily come out and fix your problematic toilet.
