Toilet Keeps Running? Here's What It Means and How to Stop It
A toilet that keeps running after you flush is more than an annoying sound at 2 a.m. It can push 200 gallons of water a day through your meter, which shows up as a water bill that quietly doubles. The good news is that a running toilet is one of the simplest plumbing problems to diagnose, and most of the causes take a Delaware plumber under 30 minutes to fix.
The four reasons a toilet keeps running
Lift the tank lid and watch. Almost every running toilet comes down to one of these parts:
1. The flapper is worn or warped. The rubber flapper at the bottom of the tank is supposed to seal after every flush. Chlorine, hard water and age make it stiff, so water trickles into the bowl and the fill valve keeps topping up the tank. If you add a few drops of food coloring to the tank and see color in the bowl 15 minutes later without flushing, the flapper is your problem.
2. The fill valve is set too high. If the water level in the tank sits above the overflow tube, water pours down the tube constantly. Adjusting the float down half an inch usually stops it.
3. The chain is too short or tangled. A chain that holds the flapper slightly open keeps the toilet running. Give it a little slack.
4. The fill valve itself has failed. Older ballcock valves and cheap fill valves wear out. When the toilet runs on and off by itself (a phantom flush), the fill valve or flapper needs replacement.
What you can try before calling
Adjust the float, straighten the chain, and clean any mineral build-up off the flapper seat. If the toilet still runs, the flapper and fill valve are inexpensive parts, but if you have never replaced one, a plumber will do it faster and check the shut-off valve, which is often seized on older Delaware homes.
When it is not the toilet
A toilet that gurgles, flushes weakly or overflows every few weeks is often a sign of a partial clog in the drain line rather than a tank problem. That is a drain cleaning job, and if it keeps coming back, a sewer camera inspection tells you why.
Running toilet repair anywhere in Delaware
Straightline Plumbing and Guttering repairs and replaces toilets in Wilmington and every town in Delaware, same day, at a flat quoted price. See our toilet repair page or call (888) 480-9811.
Related service: Toilet Repair · Toilet Repair in Wilmington