How to fix the toilet bowl: 4 common problems and how to fix

Do you like a lot of noise after flushing the toilet, constantly running water in the bowl or puddles appearing on the floor of the toilet room? All this is a consequence of improper installation and connection of the toilet, or rather, its storage capacity. It’s easy to handle the problems listed above with your own hands, you just need to know how to fix the toilet cistern.

Features of the device

In order to properly establish the cause of the malfunction, it is necessary to thoroughly study the design of the water storage tank. The filling for the toilet cistern is not particularly complex, but some information about the features of the internal structure will not be superfluous for you.

The main components and their features are presented in the table:

Note! Most of the damage to the cisterns are associated either with improper operation of the fittings, or with a violation of the device installation procedure. If a leak is formed in the tank body itself, you must immediately change it to a new one. Glue, sealant and other methods of sealing will not lead to quality results.

Faults and their removal

Problem 1. Breakage of the float mechanism

An external symptom of malfunctions with a float is water that constantly flows into the toilet bowl. The reasons for this situation may be several.

The type of problem depends on how to fix it:

1. A clogged or worn valve that blocks the flow of fluid from a water main when it reaches a certain level. To fix the problem, it is necessary to cut off the toilet from the general water supply system using valves and dismantle the valve valve. If the membrane is whole, it is enough to wash it. Otherwise, you need to buy a repair kit and change the seals.

Tip! To ensure that the valve gasket serves as long as possible, it is recommended to connect the water supply hose to the tank through an angle filter that retains solid particles.

1. The skew of the lever on which the float is installed. Everything is simple here. You just need to give it the right position. The wire of the yoke is easy to bend by hand, the plastic one is adjusted with the help of the screw present there.

The normal position is 2 cm lower than the opening of the inlet.

1. Loss of tightness float. Sometimes a hole is formed in the plastic buoy itself, into which water falls. The device becomes heavier and cannot perform the functions assigned to it.

There are two ways to restore water resistance:

• sticking a piece of plastic on the hole;
• wrapping the float in several layers of cellophane film.

Both methods are temporary. If such a malfunction is detected, it is necessary to purchase a new drain fitting or repair kit in the near future, and replace it.

Problem 2. Noise when filling the tank

The loud sounds that water makes in the tank, cause great discomfort for the inhabitants of an apartment or house.

There are two ways to eliminate noise:

• reduce the diameter of the inlet of the valve installed on the inlet pipe;
• put a plastic tube 30-40 cm long on the valve, through which water will flow inside the tank (if the noise does not disappear, it will become much quieter).

Tip! To insure yourself against such a nuisance at the stage of repair, it is recommended to buy a tank with a lower water supply. It is more difficult to install, but the liquid will fill the container absolutely silently.

Problem 3. Leakage through the mounting holes in the bottom of the tank

As you know, the tank is attached to the toilet shelf with special bolts that have tapered rubber gaskets under the caps. If the nuts from the bottom are properly tightened, water seepage is excluded. But sometimes for various reasons, the rubber loses its elasticity, as a result of which water may leak in the lower part of the sanitary fixture.

To eliminate the leak, you need to purchase and replace fasteners.

This is done as follows:

• using a local (installed on the tap) or a common (located on the riser) shut-off valve to block the flow of water into the toilet cistern;
• pour water from the tank;
• unscrew the hose or tube connecting the device with the water supply system from the inlet of the container;
• dismantle the old fasteners (if the bolts are covered with corrosion and not unscrewed, they must be greased with kerosene or sawed off with the help of a grinder);
• both fasteners should be removed, even if only one of them was the cause of the leak;
• remove the tank with a special shelf on the toilet bowl;
• we clean the joint from the remnants of old sealing gaskets, sanitary gel, traces of rust, debris and so on;
• we put on the shelf a new sealing ring, after having lubricated it from both sides with sanitary gel sealant;
• install the tank in place, carefully aligning all the necessary holes;
• we put in fasteners with rubber seals and tighten them with nuts at the bottom (we don’t need to apply too much force to break the fragile ceramics);
• after that, we reassemble the device, turn on the water, and test the new connection.

Note! Water leakage may occur after one or two days after repairing the toilet bowl. Therefore, from time to time, check the connection for tightness.

Problem 4. Constant run-off of water in the toilet bowl

This problem is quite common. It is necessary to eliminate it as quickly as possible, because the constantly running liquid not only leaves yellow deposits on the surface of the sanitary device, but also leads to excessive consumption of tap water, which cannot but affect utility bills.

The cause of the leak is the wear of the sealing membrane at the tank drain hole. It is impractical to clean it, it is better to immediately go to the store and buy a spare one.

Replacement is as follows:

• water supply is blocked and the container is emptied;
• dismantling the tank drain fittings (for this you need to unscrew the two small bolts on the bottom);
• the old and deteriorated membrane is replaced with a new one (make sure that the latter fully fits in size with your kind of drain mechanism);
• Next, the siphon is installed in place and fixed with fasteners.

Rather rarely does the membrane come into disrepair, but thrust. It is also easily replaced. If you do not want to buy a new one, a piece of steel wire is excellent with the replacement role.

On a note! In case of more serious failures, it is not recommended to repair old fittings (for example, glue spare parts, solder them, etc.). The cost of repair kits is low, and the resulting reliability is well worth every ruble spent.

Conclusion

Knowing the sequence of actions to eliminate breakages of the toilet cistern, you can independently cope with any problem that arises without resorting to plumbing from the housing department or a specialist from a private repair company. And so that troubles do not appear at all, you need to install plumbing fixtures with high quality and neatness during repairs in the apartment (see also the article Repair of the toilet bowl: features and technical solutions).

For more on this, see the video in this article.