Is your toilet running? Strange gurgling noise coming from your toilet bowl? From water leakages to odd noises, toilets can do all sorts of frustrating things.

Thankfully, with a little troubleshooting, there are lots of toilet issues you can correct on your own. Here, the professionals at Air-Right Energy Design will go over some of the most frequent toilet problems, what they mean and whether it’s a situation you can fix yourself—or, if it is better to call in an expert.

1. Why Does My Toilet Always Run?

If your toilet is constantly running, it is a situation you should correct because it's most likely also costing you money on your water bill.

A common culprit that causes a running toilet is something incorrect with the overflow tube. Located in the tank in the back of your toilet, an overflow tube directs excess water from the tank into your toilet bowl so the water level in your tank doesn't get too high and leak all over your floor. Occasionally, the trouble is that the plastic tube connecting your fill valve to your overflow tube got detached. If that’s the scenario, you most likely can just reach into the tank and reattach them. It also could be your toilet is running because the overflow tube is isn't tall enough for the water level and needs to be replaced by one that is the appropriate height.

Another thing that could cause a toilet to run could be the flapper--which functions as a plug in the bottom of your tank—is malfunctioning and no longer forms the tight seal necessary to hold water in the tank. This causes water to flow out the bottom of your tank into your toilet bowl.

Sometimes a running toilet is caused by something amiss with your toilet float, which is a floating device that maintains the water level in your tank. It accomplishes this by shutting off your fill valve when the water level raises the float to a predetermined height. If your float is set too high, this lets the water level to rise too high, and the extra water will spill into your overflow tube and down into your toilet bowl.

2. Why Does My Toilet Keep Gurgling?

A gurgling toilet is usually caused by a partial blockage in your toilet, drain lines, mainline or an obstruction in your sewage vent. If the reason for the noise is a clog in your toilet, you can attempt to correct this by using a plunger or drain snake to loosen the clog. If this doesn’t work, you can look at where your sewage vent exits your home to confirm it is not blocked by debris that would restrict air flow.

If you've done these two trouble shooting tasks and the toilet is still gurgling or bubbling, you will probably want to call a professional such an expert from Air-Right Energy Design to evaluate the problem. As the experienced plumber in Manassas, Air-Right Energy Design will check to see if the sound is due to a blockage in one of the drain lines carrying toilet water out of your home or the mainline that takes waste water away from your home to the municipal water system.

4. Why Won't My Toilet Flush?

If your toilet is hard to flush, it's probable that the problem lies the chain, flapper or the handle. That’s because there’s a chain inside a toilet tank that is hooked to the back side of the handle. The other end of the chain is attached to the flapper, which serves as a plug in the bottom of your toilet tank.

The best way to find out why your toilet is challenging to flush is to take off the lid, peek inside the tank and investigate.

Here’s how the process is supposed to work when you flush a toilet: you push down the handle, which pulls up the chain, then the chain pulls the flapper up and that enables the water to drain out of your tank and into your toilet bowl.

Sometimes a toilet won’t flush because the chain is caught on something in the tank, which keeps the chain from pulling up the flapper to let out the water. Or, the chain is too long or becomes detached from either the handle or the flapper. If this happens, unhook the caught chain or reach in and shorten it to the appropriate length.

Sometimes flappers can get stuck as they get older or become worn out. It's also possible there could be something amiss with the handle.

5. What Is Causing My Toilet To Leak?

A dripping toilet can be a costly problem, potentially leading to water damage in and around your bathroom. Often, a leaky toilet is caused by a cracked supply line or a crack in the toilet tank. If your toilet tank is overflowing, it is often because there is something wrong with the toilet float.

Cracked gaskets around the connections on the underside of the tank also can permit water to leak out of the toilet, as can a weakened toilet flange or wax ring at the base of the toilet where it sits on the floor. The majority of these issues are best fixed by a professional plumber. 

6. Why Won't My Toilet Fill With Water?

A toilet that isn't filling with water often indicates a problem with the fill valve, which fills the tank in the back of your toilet with water. If the tube is damaged or is blocked by rust, sediment or mineral buildup, it may not be allowing water into the tank.

Another likely cause for your toilet not filling with water is something faulty with the float, which is a device that signals the fill valve to stop letting water into the tank when the water has gotten to the correct level. The fill valve performs this function when the water level lifts the float to a set height. It could be that the float/float assembly needs adjustment so that the water can attain the appropriate level. Or, solving the problem of a toilet not filling with water could require adjusting or exchanging the fill valve.