7 Tips To Fixing A Running Toilet And Saving Your Water Bills

Items that use water such as faucets, showers, and toilets sometimes leak water. Because of this, the water bill can get high without you realizing it.

This is especially common for toilets. A running toilet can significantly increase your water bill since it will run constantly even when not used. So, If you check the water bill for the running month and find out you have a ridiculously large bill, then it may be your toilet’s fault.

Here are some solutions to your faulty and running toilet that can reduce unnecessary water leaks-

1. Replace Old Flappers With New Ones

The small piece of rubber that sits on the flush valve is known as a flapper. This small rubber is very fragile and can go bad in a short time. They can deteriorate quickly if there is hard water in your toilet tank, or if you use chlorine to keep the water tank clean.

These flappers work like a plug, blocking the top of the flush valve. If the flappers deteriorate, then there will be holes in them. Water will be passing through these holes and will be unable to block water, causing water to leak.

The solution for this is very easy. You just need to replace the old flappers with a new one. Be sure to change flappers once every two or three months. You can also check out the easy solutions in this article https://phyxter.ai/blog/3-simple-reasons-why-your-toilet-keeps-running

2. Shorten The Flapper Chain

A chain is attached from the flapper to the handle of the toilet flush. When you press the handle, the chain pulls up the flapper, allowing water to pass through and clean the toilet.

This is normally fine and has no apparent risk unless the chain is a bit too long. If the chain is long, then when the flapper comes down after you flush, the chain gets stuck between the flapper and the flush valve.

When this happens, the flapper cannot properly block the flush valve which causes the water to leak from the tank. There are two possible solutions to this. Either cut the chain and shorten it or get a new shorter chain to replace the current one.

3. Re-adjust The Float Height

A very common cause of a running toilet is that the water in the toilet tank far exceeds the float level. The main reason behind this is too much water in the tank.

The ideal level at which the water should rest is about 1 or 1/2 inches below the overflow pipe. If the water crosses that mark, then you will find that the tank is leaking water.

The solution is simple. You need to readjust the float height in your tank. Loosen the screw of the float arm of the tank so that it can come down. Lowering the float arm will easily solve the overflow issue.

4. Shorten The Refill Tube

Refill tubes are also a major part that contributes to running toilets. If the refill tubes are not working properly, then they are likely to overfill the tank, causing water to leak.

This generally happens when the refill tube is too long. If they are long, they are not positioned properly with the overflow pipe. This causes them to continuously pump water to the tank.

Shortening the refill tube is not very difficult. You take out the tube from the tank and put the tube above the opening of the overflow. Then you will be able to understand where you need to trim the tube.

Then after cutting it to the right size, you can place the tube back into the tank.

5. Change The Water Fill Valve

The part directly connected to the refill tube is the fill valve. They are the ones responsible for refilling your tank and drawing water through the refill tubes.

If the fill valves are not working properly, that means there is nothing to stop the water from flowing into the water tank. So this can cause a water overflow in your tank.

Normally, repairing a fill valve is very difficult. So the right thing to do is to replace the fill valve with a new one. They are very cheap to buy as well. So try to buy one from the local hardware store to stop the water from leaking.

6. Hire A Professional When Needed

Sometimes no matter how much you have tried, you still will not be able to fix the issue of the water leak. If you do know what the problem is, you will not know how to fix it.

In that cases, it is best to call in a professional. There are many experienced plumbers out there that can easily fix any issue with your toilet. So if you feel you need someone to look into the matter, call an experienced plumber from your locality. But bear in mind that some repairs may be very expensive.

7. Some Extra Information To Keep In Mind

Even though we have advised hiring a professional when needed, much of the repair work can be done by yourself. All repair steps can be found on the internet and YouTube. Follow the steps,  and you will be able to repair the water leak issues easily.

Another point to keep in mind is that whenever you are doing repair work in the toilet, be sure to close the water supply to the water tank. Keeping the water supply on will create a very wet mess.

Final Thoughts

Toilets are bound to face water leak issues at some point that can increase your water bills. But the solutions to these problems are not very hard. And if you can not do it yourself, you can always rely on a professional plumber for the job.