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Toilet repair, including the two faults that are not really about the toilet
The tank, the seal at the floor and the line beyond it are three separate systems, and the symptom people describe rarely says which one has failed.
- CFC1433655Florida plumbing contractor license
- Tank, seal, linethree different problems
Is a running toilet actually worth fixing quickly?
Yes, and for a reason that is easy to miss: it never stops. A flapper or fill valve that does not seat lets water pass continuously, and because it goes straight down the drain there is nothing to see and nothing to hear except at night. It is one of very few household faults that runs twenty-four hours a day without producing any evidence, and it is usually a small part.
The other two toilet symptoms are not really about the toilet. A toilet that rocks has lost its seal at the floor, which means water and waste have been getting under the flange rather than into the line, and in a slab-on-grade house that water has been going somewhere for a while.
And a toilet that backs up when other fixtures are used is reporting the shared line rather than itself. That is a drain problem wearing a toilet as a costume.
What you are seeing
Five symptoms and what each one actually means
Only two of these are fixed inside the tank.
It refills by itself between uses
The flapper is not seating. Water is passing from the tank into the bowl continuously, which is why the fill valve keeps topping it up.
A weak or incomplete flush
Often the tank is not filling to the correct level, or the rim holes are scaled up. Regional water leaves deposits, and that is a cleaning and adjustment job more often than a replacement.
It rocks when you sit down
The seal at the floor has failed or the flange has broken. Water has been getting under it, and how long is the question that matters more than the toilet.
It backs up when the shower runs
That is the shared line, not the toilet. Two fixtures reporting together means the restriction is downstream of both.
A smell around the base
A failed wax seal letting sewer gas past. Different from a blockage and not solved by anything poured into the bowl.
Questions
Straight answers before you call
Is a running toilet an emergency?
Not in the sense that it will flood anything, but it is losing water every hour of every day and it is usually a small part. It is the clearest example of a fault where waiting genuinely costs more than fixing.
My toilet rocks. Can I just tighten the bolts?
Tightening a rocking toilet onto a failed seal or a broken flange usually cracks something. The rocking is a symptom of what is underneath it, and the useful question is how long water has been getting under there.
Repair or replace?
Most toilets are worth repairing: flappers, fill valves, seals and flanges are all serviceable. Replacement makes sense when the porcelain is cracked, or when the alternative is a third repair on a fixture that has been fought with for years.
Why does mine back up only when the washing machine runs?
Because the line they share cannot take both at once, which points at a restriction downstream rather than at either fixture. That is a drain investigation, and a camera is the thing that settles it.
Related work
Where a toilet call sometimes leads
Two of the five symptoms above are really drain problems.
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Running, rocking or backing up?
A person answers at any hour. Those are three different problems and knowing which one you have decides the whole visit.
No obligation. Work performed under Florida plumbing contractor license CFC1433655.