Answered: Why Won't My Toilet Quit Running and Five Other Plumbing Issues

Does your toilet keep running? Weird gurgling noise arising from your toilet bowl? From water leakage to peculiar noises, toilets can do all sorts of bizarre things.

The good thing is, with a little troubleshooting, there are numerous toilet problems you can correct yourself. Here, the professionals at Fletcher Plumbing, Heating & AC will go over some of the most frequent 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 Does My Toilet Always Run?

If your toilet won't stop running, it is an issue you should correct because it's in all probability also costing you money on your water bill.

A frequent reason for a running toilet is something wrong with the overflow tube. Found in the tank in the back of your toilet, an overflow tube allows extra water to drain from the tank into your toilet bowl so the water level in your tank won't get too high and spill over the top of the tank. Occasionally, the issue is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube got detached. If that’s the case, you should be able to reach into the tank and reattach them. It also may 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 the appropriate height.

Another thing that could cause 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 needed to hold water in the tank. This enables water to seep through or around the damaged flapper and flow out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.

Sometimes 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 predetermined height. If your float is set too high, this lets the water level to rise too high, and the unwanted water will spill into your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.

2. Why Does My Toilet Keep Gurgling?

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 loosen the clog. If this does not have any effect, you can check where your sewage vent exits your home to make sure it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.

If these efforts don’t fix your gurgling toilet, you should contact a professional such an expert from Fletcher Plumbing, Heating & AC to evaluate the problem. As the go-to plumber in Smyrna, Fletcher Plumbing, Heating & AC will investigate whether the noise is caused by a blockage in one of the drain lines carrying 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, it's probable that the problem lies the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain in your toilet tank that is hooked to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is linked to the flapper, which serves as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.

The quickest way to get to the bottom of why your toilet is hard to flush is to take off the lid, look inside the tank and investigate.

Here’s how the process should 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 drain out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.

Sometimes a toilet will never flush because the chain is stuck on something inside the tank, which keeps the chain from yanking up the flapper to let out the water. Or, the chain is too long or becomes detached from either the handle or the flapper. If this happens, free the caught chain or reach in and change it to the appropriate length.

Sometimes flappers can get stuck when they get old or become worn out. Or, there could be something wrong with the handle.

5. Why Is There a Leak in My Toilet?

A leaking toilet can be a costly problem, potentially causing 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 a failure in 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 broken toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it attaches to the floor. Often, these issues are best fixed by a certified plumber. 

6. Why Is There No Water in My Toilet?

A toilet that won't fill with water frequently traces back to a problem with the fill valve, which fills the tank in the back of your toilet with water. If the tube is broken or is clogged by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it might not be allowing water into the tank.

Another typical cause for your toilet not filling with water is something amiss with the float, which is a device that triggers the fill valve to stop bringing water into the tank when the water has reached the correct level. The fill valve gives the signal to stop when the water level lifts the float to a predetermined height. It might be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water is allowed to reach the correct level. Or, repairing a toilet not filling with water may require adjusting or changing the fill valve.