Take some time to show your toilet a little bit of love and fix its tank leaks! In fact, the savings on your water bill alone will be quite the boost to your wallet.
Here are a few of the most common flaws in a toilet tank and how you can fix them. You may be surprised just how easy some of these toilet tank repair jobs can be!
Scared to handle the repairs yourself? Contact our team!
How to Fix a Loose Toilet Lever
The flush handle on the side of your toilet tank is one of the most frequent breakdown spots in the entire toilet. The handle is held on by a plastic bushing that’s pushed through a hole in the tank and then secured with a plastic nut that screws on to the other side.
- If your handle jiggles freely or feels loose, then odds are this nut has come loose. Don’t be surprised: this is common.
- In most cases, simply tightening the nut fixes the problem.
- However, if the handle no longer flushes the toilet, then there’s a chance the handle may have become disconnected from the flapper down at the bottom of the tank.
- Usually, a thin line or small chain connects the two, and to repair this toilet tank, you simply need to re-attach them to set things right again.
How to Fix a Faulty Toilet Flapper
The most likely source for leaks in your plumbing is a faulty flapper. The toilet flapper is a small piece of rubber that acts as a stopper, separating the tank from the bowl. When you flush your toilet, the flapper lifts, allowing water to flow into the bowl below and flush away the waste.
Over time, the rubber degrades, wears out, and develops cracks. Small cracks are hard to detect, but larger ones leave a slow trickling sound in your toilet when it shuts off and prompt your toilet to turn on again and refill the tank every few minutes or so.
- The good news is this toilet tank repair is simple and inexpensive!
- Toilet flappers are usually extremely cheap and available at nearly all home improvement warehouses.
- You should expect to have to replace your flapper every two to three years, as exposure to water usually contributes to their degrading condition.
How to Fix a Toilet Bowl that Won’t Refill
The fill valve is a valve that turns on to refill the tank after each flush. The valve is controlled by what’s known as a “float,” a small plastic piece that floats, as its name implies.
As the water level in your tank rises, the float rises with it. When the float reaches a certain height, it shuts off the fill valve. If it doesn’t:
- The connection between the float and fill valve may be subject to corrosion or jamming from hard water minerals.
- If you flush your toilet and the fill valve refuses to turn on, this could be the reason.
Likewise, fill valves themselves can simply wear out and start leaking water after a while.
- If your fill valve needs replaced, you can buy a new one from your local hardware improvement store for around $10 to $20.
- Most modern fill valves can be replaced with only a few simple tools and doing so takes about 10 minutes or so.
- Just make sure you shut off the water and completely empty your toilet tank by flushing before attempting to do so.
If you need professional toilet tank repair help, call the plumbers at Mr. Rooter of Charlotte today!
About the Author: William Iliev, Mr Rooter of Charlotte
William has been a trusted plumber and owner of Mr Rooter of Charlotte since 2003. With over 15 years to back him, William has experience with a wide range of plumbing related solutions and systems. He and his team specialize in water heater services, tree root plumbing repairs, and more.
