Troubleshooting Toilet Problems

Video Transcript

"Toilet problems can be very expensive. Water damage to your house is a horrible thing, and if your toilet is not operating properly, an increased water bill is definitely something you want to avoid. So I’m going to tell you how to properly diagnose what’s wrong with your toilet.

If you’re experiencing a leak somewhere on the floor, it’s best to figure out where it’s coming from. A lot of times it will be the supply line, which supplies the toilet with water. Some of you may have an old supply line like one of these, which need to be replaced. They can crimp and break- they should never be reused. Once they’ve been bent a couple of times, the hose not only transmits water very well because it’s been pinched off, but the water will go spraying out of there. So you definitely want to replace this if that’s your problem. And you can identify by just looking along there and feeling the moisture’s coming from there.

Now, the moisture may be coming up from under the tank, in which case you want to get under there and determine if it’s coming from where the supply line meets the toilet or is it from further over where the tank bolts hold the tank to the base of the toilet. If that’s the case, than you’re going to need to shut the water off and replace the tank bolts by removing the tank, and I’ll show you how to do that later.

Another possible problem is water constantly running. If it is truly constantly running and never shutting off, the likely problem is the fill valve is not set at the right height. In fact, it’s set at such a tall height that the water level never fully shuts off because it’s going through the overflow tube and therefore, this float never goes up and shuts it off. So if that’s the case, you need to either adjust or replace your fill valve.

Now, if it only runs every now and then and you hear a slight trickle between runs, then more than likely, you need a new flapper. The flapper, of course, shuts off the flow of water and allows the tank to refill. And if it’s corroded or if possibly the chain is even trapped under the flapper, then it’s not making a tight seal. And the water will shut off for awhile, but then once enough water trickles past the flapper, the water level goes down, and then the fill valve engages again.

So, those are the primary problems that you might experience, and we’ll deal with the remedies in the next segment."