Tuckers Air Conditioning, Heating & Plumbing Blog

3 Reasons Your Toilet Keeps Running and How to Fix Them

Toilet handle jiggling.

You flush the toilet, step away to wash your hands, and wait for the sound of the bowl flushing to stop. It usually does, but as you leave the bathroom, you realize it’s still going. Your toilet is wasting water when it doesn’t stop flushing, so what’s the deal and how can you fix it?

Before you call for plumbing service in Frederick, MD, you can look at this list of the three most common plumbing problems to see if it matches what’s going on with your toilet. Either way, you may need to call for toilet repair. Let’s find out what the problem is together.

1. Float Height Needs to Be Adjusted

Inside the tank of your toilet, you have something called a float (sometimes referred to as a float valve). This is what helps your toilet bowl fill up, but prevents it from overflowing at the same time.

If the float is too high, your toilet will run water. You can try adjusting this on your own. However there’s a chance that the valve itself has just gone bad. It happens over time. A replacement may be in order if you can’t adjust it on your own.

2. Your Refill Tube Is Too Long

Refill tubes vary in length depending on your toilet. Your refill tube could be too long, or it could even be too short. Shortening a tube that’s too long can prevent the constant flow of water, but that might not be enough to fix the problem.

In some cases, the tube may need to be replaced with a longer tube. It all depends on the specifics of your toilet. It’s hard to diagnose over a blog post, so this is normally when it’s time to call the plumber if you don’t know whether or not it’s your refill tube that’s causing constant flushing, or if it’s something else. Either way, it’s best to have it handled professionally to reduce water waste as well.

3. Leaking Flapper

The flapper is extremely important for your toilet’s functionality. It allows the flow of water or prevents it depending on the current need. If your flapper is leaking, it continuously flushes water down the bowl.

A leaking flapper is fairly easy to diagnose. Since they need to be replaced every five to eight years as it is, it’s not uncommon for the edges to deteriorate from constant use. The more you use your toilet, the faster it deteriorates. Flappers are made of either plastic or rubber, which aren’t exactly known to last for a long time.

One Call to Solve Them All

Running into all the problems we listed above and more? That’s what you have us for. We can diagnose and solve any problem you run into with your toilet and other plumbing issues. It’s time to stop living with plumbing problems and wasted water on your skyrocketing water bill. Let us help.

Contact us today to schedule a plumber to diagnose and fix all of your toilet and plumbing issues as soon as possible.