Don't Pay the Plumber, Fix Your Toilet Yourself

One of the biggest issues many people have when it comes to plumbing is the toilet. Many things can go wrong. Your toilet can get plugged up, or it could be that it is constantly running, or it could even be leaking. These are the main problems many people face with home plumbing. They are fairly common and easy to repair.

Two things that could be the cause of the toilet running constantly are you either need to change the flapper or adjust the float. To change your flapper you will need to turn off the water to your tank and flush the toilet; once this is done you can easily remove the flapper from the chain and where it sets at the bottom of the toilet bowl. Now you can install the new flapper and hook it back to the chain.

If you find that after replacing the flapper that your toilet is still running then you may need to adjust your float as the water is running into the overflow tube. All you need to do is locate the adjustment screw that is found at the top of the fill valve, until your water stops flowing. The water level should be around one inch below the top of the overflow tube.

For clogged toilets all you need is a plunger and possibly a drain snake. If plunging by itself will not work to get that clog out then you may need to get yourself some sort of drain snake. Drill snakes are the best for a job like this. You simply feed the snake all the way into the toilet drain letting it drill through whatever is clogging the toilet and break it up allowing you to plunge and flush the toilet until the clog is gone.

Repairing a Leaking Toilet

Let me explain how a toilet works. First when you go to flush the toilet a little arm pulls a rubber flapper up and lets the water drain into the toilet bowl. The water draining into the toilet bowl forces the old water out along with the number two or number one waste and extremities.

If the toilet sounds like it is running there is a good chance that the seal between the rubber flapper and the plastic rain at the bottom of the toilet is broken somehow. The sound you are hearing is water running around this ring and in to the toilet bowl.

This leak is actually causing no damage to the toilet itself but is wasting water. Hence the water bill will be a little higher if you don't fix the leaking toilet. The best way to find out if this is actually your problem is to take the toilet tank lid off. Then stick your hand down into the toilet bowl and press gently on the rubber flap.

If the water stops leaking or starts running faster this is your problem. Turn the water off to the toilet. There will be a shut off valve on the wall under your toilet bowl in the bathroom. After you turn the water off removed the plastic flap and examine it.

You will be looking for a warped toilet flap or of some sort or grooves on the flapper itself. Take the toilet flapper down to your local home improvement store and buy a new one. Go home and replace the new toilet flapper and this should solve 90% of your leaking toilet problems.

There is one more thing it could be. With the toilet tank lid off, check to see if water is overflowing into the little round plastic pipe. This plastic pipe should have a small hose running from the float valve assembly into it.

If the water is over flowing from the toilet tank into this little plastic pipe you will need to adjust the float.

First thing you will need to do is while the toilet is running lift up on the float lever arm. If the water stops you can simply bend the metal arm of the float lever. The purpose of bending the arm will force the float deeper into the water there for stopping the water from rising over the small tube in the center of your toilet.

There are few parts to a toilet and most parts can be purchased at your local hardware or home improvement centers. Toilet repairs like this can be made simple and the parts used to replace are inexpensive.

Happy Toilet Repairing.