Tips to Deal with Toilet Problems

Home ownership is a rewarding experience, but it does come with certain responsibilities. Maintaining your home is one of those responsibilities. Once you purchase a home, you will quickly find that it is worth your time and money to regularly check and maintain the various fixtures and appliances in your home rather than waiting until there is a problem and reacting to it. A little preventative maintenance can save you a lot of time and money in the long run.

One of the issues that every homeowner will encounter at some point is toilet problems. Through the normal course of use, clogs can develop. Paper, cleaning products, and waste accumulate in the pipes, and the toilet might start to back up. These things are to be expected. If you have kids, you might have less typical reasons for clogs, like watches, underwear, or toys that get thrown down the toilet. Whatever the case, you can deal with these issues more easily if you have a little background knowledge to prepare you.

While a toilet seems like it isn’t very high tech, you actually have to have several factors working together just right in order for the toilet to function properly. The water level in the tank must be right. The speed of the water must be spot on. The air pressure in the system must be sufficient, and the water level in the toilet bowl must be where it should. All of these specifications have to work together in order for your toilet to work properly.

If you encounter toilet troubles, use these tips from the pros to help you to diagnose and repair them.

1. 1. First, fill a bucket with several gallons of water. Pour the bucket of water into the toilet bowl. The water should flow through the toilet normally, just like if you had flushed it. If the toilet backs up when you pour the water in, that means that you have a blockage. You will need to have the drain cleared. You can call a professional plumber to come out and run a snake through the toilet pipes to remove the blockage.
2. 2. If the toilet empties normally when you pour the bucket of water into the bowl, try it a couple more times to be sure. (Let the bowl refill to its normal water level between tests.) If it starts to back up at any point, then there is probably a blockage in the pipes below the toilet.
3. 3. If the water in the bowl isn’t refilling in between flushes, you need to check inside the toilet tank to find out why. Remove the lid from the tank, and locate the small plastic tube on the left side of the tank above the water level. Remove that tube. Water should stream quickly into that tube and refill the bowl. If that doesn’t happen, there is a problem somewhere between the tank and the bowl.
4. 4. You should consider having a camera inspection or a vent cleaning to find and remove any clogs in your toilet system. Depending on the age of your toilet, it may be time to have it replaced.

If you are experiencing toilet troubles and could use some help from a professional, call Scott English Plumbing. We are here for you around the clock to deal with toilet troubles and much more.