Fixing a Running Toilet

What Could be Causing a Running Toilet and How Do You Fix It?

Call 281-302-6710 for help with your running toilet or any other plumbing problems in Sugar Land or elsewhere in Metro Houston.

In this video, Sugar Land Master Plumber Bryan Graham talks about what can cause a running toilet and how the problem is fixed.  Bryan has created a number of these educational videos to help his customers and the public understand common plumbing problems.

Here’s Bryan’s video:

This is a summary of the video:

So we get a lot of calls where, where maybe a toilet’s running, a commode’s running, or making that noise where it’s filling up. That could be one of two things. Usually it’s either the flapper or the fill valve.

A lot of times that flapper needs to be replaced every three to six years, something like that. You’re gonna have to swap that flapper out depending on the water quality and what type of flapper you put in. We usually put in a red Korky flapper which is chemical-resistant. They seem to last longer.  When the flapper wears out you have to replace it.  It’ll make that toilet refill so where you’ll hear it fill, and then stops, and then fill, and then stops.

Usually when the fill valve itself is messed up then it’ll just keep running, you know, you won’t hear that fill and stop — you’ll hear the commode keep running. So it’ll never actually shut off. So that’s usually a sign of a bad fill valve. It could also be a sign of a really bad flapper problem.

Usually if it’s a small stream of water going into the bowl then it’s gonna be the flapper, because that means there’s… well, it could be either one. The fill valve can leak into the overflow, the flapper can leak down into the bowl so it could be either one depending on what’s actually going on with it.

At Graham Plumbing Services, we provide you with a written guaranteed estimate for toilet repairs, and our toilet repairs are guaranteed for a year.  We work hard to be the best plumbers in Sugar Land!  Call us at 281-302-6710 today!