4 Reasons Your Toilet Won’t Flush
Do you know the most common reasons your toilet won’t flush? Your wife makes her Nana’s most famous Mexican rice and bean casserole and then BAM- Your toilet won’t flush. There is nothing more frustrating. Don’t despair- even though your non-flushing toilet is a huge annoyance, the most common reasons your toilet won’t flush are relatively simple to fix and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. So, Let’s see if any of these culprits are to blame.
- Too Low of Water Level In The Tank
Different toilets use different components to set the tank’s water level. Most toilets use either a float of some kind or a water intake assembly. Most floats are small, round balls connected directly to the fill valve. The fill valve stops filling the tank with water when the water touches the float.
If the water level is too low, it will cause the toilet to flush poorly. To adjust your toilet tank water level:
- If your toilet has a float arm, use the adjustment screw on top of the fill valve to raise or lower the float arm. Older float arms may not have an adjustment screw and should probably be replaced with a newer fill valve.
- To adjust the water level on toilets with float cylinders, squeeze the float clip to release the float cylinder and slide up or down to adjust the water level in the toilet tank.
The rule is that the toilet tank needs to have approximately 1 inch (2.5 cm) of water below the top line of the overflow tube to function correctly.
2. It is Clogged
Perhaps your teenage girl flushed her tampon or little Georgie Jr wanted to see if his lego could swim or even someone overzealous with their toilet paper while checking into Facebook on their phone, a clogged toilet is one of the most common reasons that the toilet won’t flush. A toilet plunger or toilet auger is your best friend for fixing this particular problem. But if you have frequent clogs, you do need to have the toilet looked at by a professional to determine what the problem is. One step to try first-You can also try switching to a thinner ply toilet paper and ensuring all members of the family are aware to only flush toilet paper and waste, sans the sanitary napkins, Man wipes, and toys.
3. The Lift Chain Is Damaged or Disconnected
If a chain is rusty and broken, it should be completely replaced. However, it could simply have a loose link that must be reattached. If the chain has come disconnected from the flush lever bar or the flapper valve, it will have to be reattached.
To replace your toilet chain:
- Shut off the water supply to the toilet
- Flush the toilet to empty the tank
- Lift the lid from the tank
- Remove the chain from the flush handle with pliers, the other end of the chain will be hooked to a rubber flapper on top of what’s called a fill valve
- Unhook the rubber flapper and remove it from the tank
- Using the pliers, remove the chain from the flapper
- Use the pliers to unbend the last link of the new chain and hook it into the flapper
- Reinstall the flapper into the tank
- Use the pliers to install the other end of the chain to the flush handle
- Remember to turn the toilet’s water supply back on
4. The Flapper is Broken
When you flush the toilet, the toilet’s flapper opens to allow the water in the tank to flow into the bowl, flushing everything through the main drain. If the flapper’s bent or warped, the toilet won’t flush because the flapper can’t close the water intake hole to allow the tank to refill. Replace the flapper, which is fairly easy to do and doesn’t cost much, and see if that restores the normal flushing process.
Whatever plumbing issues that you may be experiencing- Remember that you don’t have to figure it out on your own. No matter where the problem is, Auger Pros Plumbing can help you identify it and find a solution.
We have the latest cameras that can see deep inside your sewer lines, where we can view exactly what is in your line and clogging it. So, Yes there will be no hiding to your wife that you dropped that bolt in the toilet, But at least we can get your clogged toilet fixed so you can keep on eating that delicious bean casserole on Sunday dinner nights.