The invention of the indoor toilet has been a wonderful convenience for modern man. However, the toilet or water closet, as it is often called, has one issue that they never worried about with the outhouse and the chamber pot.
Since neither of those antiquated options had a flushing mechanism, you didn’t have the problem that occurs with our modern toilets and changes them from a convenience to a great inconvenience. That inconvenience happens when the water of our ‘water closet’ does not do the work it is intended to do. There are various reasons why a toilet does not flush properly and may need toilet repairs.
- Toilet handle. Your toilet’s flush handle is connected to the mechanism inside the tank that lifts the plunger off the tank’s drain to allow the water to flow from the tank to the bowl and flush the contents down the drain. Occasionally, the mechanism attached to the toilet handle can break. If this happens, the handle will generally flop without any tension. Lifting the tank cover off will allow you to look inside to see if that is where the problem lies.
- Flushing mechanism. Even if the mechanism attached to the handle is intact, there may be other problems related to the flushing mechanism which are stopping it from operating properly. Many toilets have a chain that is attached to the plunger that sits in the bottom of the tank. If that chain breaks or becomes detached at either end, then the flush handle will not be able to do it’s work of releasing the plunger. Again, raising the tank cover and looking inside can easily determine if this is the problem.
Should you discover that your flushing mechanism is broken and no longer operating correctly, a call to your local plumber can quickly remedy the situation.
