Does your toilet seem possessed? Taken over by a ghost of toilets past? Hopefully, you can save the Scary Toilets genre for a C movie horror night on Netflix, and its not. A running toilet is basically an internal water leak, so we need to examine the internal parts in the tank that are allowing this to happen. Don’t ignore this problem, because a running toilet could be wasting hundreds of gallons a day, running up your water bill.
The most common issue of a running toilet is that the flapper, located in the tank of the toilet, has shrunken due to chemicals in the water. This normally takes around 3 to 5 years to happen.
When you flush the toilet, this raises the lift arm in the tank, pulling on a chain (or lift wire) that’s attached to the toilet flapper, raising it up and allowing water to go into the toilet bowl. Once enough water exits the tank, the flapper drops back down, re-sealing the tank.
However, if the flapper (or the valve seal) is cracked, water will keep seeping into your toilet bowl, causing it to run constantly. If this is the problem, turn the toilet’s water supply off by turning the cutoff valve clockwise. Flush the toilet. Use a cloth or sponge to get rid of any leftover water. Now you can unhook the flapper and replace it. Any Home Depot or Lowes will have them.
Check to see if the chain’s length is causing the flapper to not seal properly. If the chain is too long, it can get caught under the flapper. You can easily unhook the chain and hook it to another level of the chain to shorten it. Just don’t make it too short of the flapper won’t seal at all.
If you remove the top of your toilet tank you will see a big plastic balloon. That’s the float ball that is connected to a float arm. After you flush your toilet-when the water is refilling, it knows when to stop when the float ball rises to a certain point.
Lift the float arm. If the running stops, then you may have located the problem. The float ball isn’t high enough to stop the water from running. One reason could be that the ball is rubbing against the side of the tank. Bend the float arm slightly to move the ball away from the tank wall.
If the ball isn’t touching the side, then the ball may have a crack. If there’s a crack, the ball will fill up with water and sink down like a canoe taking on water. This causes your toilet to keep bring in more water. The excess water goes down an overflow tube which feeds into your toilet’s bowl, causing the constant running noise. If that is the case, you will need to replace the float ball. If this is the case, you’ll need to replace the float ball.
A great way to check your toilets for water flow is by dropping food coloring dye into the tank. Let the dye sit for 5 to 10 minutes and then see if the food coloring dye shows in the bowl of the toilet. If you do, that means you have a hidden toilet water leak.
If you’ve played Plumber for a Day and did surgery on the inside of your toilet and can’t get it to work, you should promptly call the experts at Augerpros Plumbing to take a look. Every second you leave a toilet running, your water bill is adding up. Augerpros Plumbing & Drain trained professionals can diagnose and fix problems that you might miss on your own. Our Friendly Staff is Waiting!