Toilet plumbing maintenance and fixing

Suspect a toilet leak? Wondering why the cistern is half empty? Have a continuously flowing flush? Toilet plumbing maintenance. As necessary as getting your car serviced and just as dull. It costs money, you’re not too sure what all the parts are and it takes up your valuable time. But imagine if a mechanic never looked under your bonnet. You’d be broken down in the middle of traffic with a feeling of impending dread…and impending expenses!

The positive is that you can go years and years before needing to pop the hood of the toilet cistern. So what are the most common toilet plumbing maintenance issues?

Common toilet plumbing maintenance issues

• continually running water
• blocked toilet
• water leaking from cistern to bowl
• water leaking around the base
• not flushing properly
• flush buttons stuck or sticking

We get it, calling a plumber is not a fun thing to do. But calling a local plumber BEFORE minor issues became major is a smart move.

The anatomy of the toilet

A toilet has many parts hidden away in the cistern. Older toilets contain many separate parts. Replacement parts can be hard to come by in older toilets.

Newer toilets have a plastic cylinder that does the job of the older separate mechanisms. It still has moving parts, just more streamlined and contained in one neater package. For more detail on the inner parts of your loo check out our previous blog.

The four main parts are:

The Push Rods – operates the single or dual flush

The Float – controls water level

The Inlet Valve – controls water going in to the cistern from the tap

The Flush Valve – controls water going from the cistern to the bowl

 

Which Part Causes Which Problem?

Each part of the toilet has a function, as listed above. When the part doesn’t perform it’s function correctly you can look for the subtle or not so subtle signs you need a plumber to fix your toilet.

 

“I can hear hear the cistern filling up at odd times” – The Flush Valve

“I can see a slow trickle of water going in to the bowl” – The Inlet Valve

“The button on the flush is stuck” – The Push Rod

“The toilet keeps flushing.” – The Float

 

Those are just some of the most common issues. Some are not so easy to spot. A slow leak, for instance, is not always obvious. But over time the slow trickle is a giant waste of water and like flushing money down the loo. A plumber can inspect the parts to detect the issue and find out what needs replacing.

Toilet Maintenance

When you notice your toilet doing anything irregular, don’t put off getting it checked out. Just like your people mover needs a mechanic, your poop mover needs a plumber. Plumbing maintenance for your toilet will prevent catastrophic “breakdowns”.