Simple Toilet Repairs

In most cases, if you need toilet repairs your best bet is to call a good local Orlando plumber to get the job done quickly and professionally.  This is especially true if your toilet is leaking from around the base, from the tank where it mounts on the base, or from the water supply line.  A leak from any of these areas needs to be repaired by an experienced Orlando plumber immediately before it can cause further damage to your floors and cabinets.

In addition, a leak around the base of the toilet is unsanitary.  Homeowners attempting to fix many of these types of leaks by tightening the fitting simply end up cracking the toilet or breaking a fitting and causing a much bigger leak.  It’s best to let a professional Orlando plumber take care of these bathroom repairs to avoid causing a larger problem.

However, if your toilet is “running” or not flushing you may be able to quickly find and fix the problem yourself.  The first step is to remove the tank cover and look inside the tank. If the problem is that your handle moves freely and the toilet won’t flush, you probably have a broken chain between the handle lever and the flapper valve.  See if you can hook the chain back together and solve the problem.

If your toilet runs, look to see if there is something caught underneath the flapper valve at the bottom of the tank.  In many cases, the extra chain from the handle will get stuck under the flapper and stop it from fully closing.

If that’s not the problem, you may have a problem with your float.  If you have a large “ball type” float at the end of a brass colored rod, gently lift the float slightly to see if the toilet stops running. If so, gently bending the rod down slightly will help the valve shut off.

If you have a fill valve with an integrated cylindrical float, see if adjusting the float slightly up or down takes care of the “running” issue.  If all else fails, call your local Orlando plumber.  They will be able to diagnose the problem and handle any toilet repairs.

Toilet Tank Running

Your toilet tank flushes fine, but doesn’t seem to know when to quit.  Either it runs continuously or it shut off, then starts running again.  A toilet tank that won’t stop running is not only noisy and annoying, it wastes a lot of water.  Fortunately, running toilet tanks are relatively easy to diagnose and repair.

First, take the lid off of the tank and see what kind of mechanism you have in your toilet tank.  Mechanisms may look different, but they all work on the same principles.  There is a flapper valve at the bottom of the tank that is attached by a chain to the flush lever.

Check the flapper valve first to see if it is working properly.  The pull chain or other debris may have gotten under the flapper valve which will cause the toilet to run constantly.  The flapper valve may have come loose and no longer seals properly.  If so, install a new flapper valve from any home improvement store.

If the flapper valve looks OK, check the float valve.  This may be a floating ball attached by a metal rod to the water inlet valve or a cylinderical float that fits around the inlet valve itself.  In either case, flush the toilet and watch the float as the tank fills.  When the float nears the top of the tank, the valve should close and the water should shut off.  If not, see if you can adjust the float valve to make the water shut off a little sooner.  If that doesn’t work, your float is probably leaking and you will need to install a new float and valve assembly.