Are you experiencing an issue with a toilet that suddenly won’t flush or otherwise isn’t working correctly? In some cases, you may be able to fix the flush mechanism on your toilet fairly easily without needing to call a plumber. However, this isn’t always the case. That’s because the flush mechanism in a toilet is more complicated than you may realize and consists of several different components, meaning it’s not always easy to determine what is causing your toilet to not work as it should.

Understanding How a Toilet Flushes

To diagnose why your toilet won’t flush or isn’t flushing properly, you first need to have a basic understanding of how a toilet flushes. The handle on most toilets is connected to a long plastic or metal arm or lever inside the toilet tank. At the end of this lever is a chain that connects the lever to the rubber toilet flapper, which seals the large hole at the bottom of the tank. When you press the handle to flush the toilet, the lever raises up and lifts the flapper so that water rushes into the bowl. When the water level in the bowl reaches a certain level, a siphon effect is essentially created in the toilet trap and drain that quickly pulls all of the water and waste down.

As soon as you let go of the handle, the lever drops back down to its original position so that the chain is no longer lifting the flapper up, and the flapper again seals the hole at the bottom of the tank. Flushing the toilet obviously causes the water level in the tank to quickly drop. As the water level drops, it also causes the toilet float to drop. When the float drops down far enough, it causes the flush valve to open so that water starts flowing and refilling both the tank and bowl. The plastic tube connected to the flush valve is positioned just at the edge of the refill tube so that some of the water flows down the tube and into the bowl and some of it flows into the tank to refill it. As the water level in the tank rises, it continually lifts the float back up. Once the float reaches the correct position, it causes the flush valve to close and stop the flow of water.

How to Determine Why Your Toilet Isn’t Flushing Properly

Fixing the flushing mechanism on your toilet is something you might be able to do yourself. It really comes down to how handy you are, what model of toilet you have and what the specific issue is. In many cases, you’ll be better off calling for a plumber just to ensure that the issue is fixed properly and to avoid potentially causing further problems.

The first step to diagnosing any issues with a toilet’s flushing mechanism is to take the lid off of the tank so that you can see what happens when you try to flush. The one thing to always check is the chain connecting the flush lever to the rubber flapper. Make sure it hasn’t come loose. If either end of the chain is loose, all you need to do is reconnect it to the lever or flapper, and your toilet should flush properly.

If the chain is still connected, the next step is to see if the lever and flapper both lift up when you press the flush handle. If the lever raises but the flapper doesn’t lift up, it usually means that the chain is too long and you need to shorten it. This issue happens rarely, but it can occur if someone tried to fix your toilet and didn’t measure the chain to be the proper length.

If the lever doesn’t lift when you press down on the handle, it indicates there’s an issue with the connection between the two parts. There’s a plastic or metal nut on the lever just inside the tank that holds the handle tight in place. In some cases, the nut can come loose so that the handle is no longer securely attached to the flush lever, which can prevent the lever from raising when you press down on the handle. There’s also another plastic piece on the inside of the handle that fits securely into the hole between the inside and outside of the tank. This piece can sometimes end up breaking, which will also result in the handle being loose and not lifting the lever when you press down on it. In this case, you should call a plumber to repair or replace the part.

There are also situations where a toilet may suddenly no longer flush or flush extremely weakly because of an issue with the fill valve that prevented the tank from refilling the last time the toilet was flushed. This usually happens either because the fill valve is stuck in a closed position due to mineral deposits or debris or because the valve is simply worn out. Fixing or replacing a fill valve can be quite tricky and is something you’ll usually want to hire a plumber for. The main reason is that you can end up with the valve not fully closing, which results in the toilet continually running and wasting huge amounts of water. While a running toilet may not seem all that serious, the fact is that it will often end up wasting gallons of water in just a single day.

Other Issues That Can Prevent a Toilet From Working Correctly

One of the most common things that can eventually happen to a toilet is that water starts slowly seeping out of the tank into the bowl as a result of a worn-out flapper. This leads to an issue often referred to as phantom flushing where the toilet will end up flushing on its own and also occasionally running to refill the tank.

Phantom flushing occurs simply because the water level in the tank rises to a point where it creates the same type of siphon effect that occurs when you manually flush. If you hear your toilet running when it wasn’t recently used or you occasionally hear it flush, check to make sure the flapper isn’t leaky. The easiest way to is to just add a bit of food coloring in the tank and then wait 10 minutes or so to see if the water in the bowl is now colored. If the coloring escaped the tank, it usually means you need to replace the flapper. The flapper on some toilet models is simple to replace. On others, you need to also remove the fill tube to take the flapper out, which is far more difficult and is usually best left to a professional plumber.

Another issue that can sometimes happen is that the float gets stuck and won’t move up or down. In this case, either the toilet won’t refill properly or won’t stop running. The float on most newer toilets is just a piece of plastic that slides up and down on a cylinder as the water level rises and drops. Replacing this type of float mechanism is also difficult and something you’ll usually want to hire a plumber for.

Expert Plumbers

Since 1951, Beck Electric, Generators & Plumbing has been the company homeowners in Canton and the surrounding area have trusted for all of their home service needs. We specialize in plumbing repairs and can quickly fix any issues with your toilet. You can also count on us for all of your other plumbing, electrical and HVAC needs. Whether you’re dealing with a toilet that won’t flush or any other issue, contact us today to schedule a service call.

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