There are many minor plumbing issues out there that can be remedied relatively easily, and a few concerns involving the toilet are good examples. Whether on your own or with some brief assistance from a professional plumber, there are a few reasons why your toilet might be failing to flush that are simple enough to resolve pretty quickly and without any major hassle or cost.
At City Creek Plumbing, we’re happy to help a variety of clients with numerous plumbing repair services in Utah, including for issues where the toilet won’t flush for any reason. What are some of the possible reasons this might be the case, and how can it be remedied either on your own or with the assistance of our plumbers? This two-part blog series will go over several themes to consider.
Lift Chain Has Excess Slack
Within your toilet, the lift chain is an important clip that connects the chain for your flush handle to the arm of the flapper, which is how it lifts up. Over time, if the lift chain has even a small level of slack at all, there can be an inadequate amount for this connection to hold well enough.
This will result in you pushing your toilet handle down and feeling no resistance, almost like pushing on a door that is open and unlocked. When this happens, the water inside will not be siphoned out of the tank, which means your toilet will not flush properly.
The good news about this issue is that it’s easy to resolve yourself – you simply need to reach down under the handle where its joint with the lift chain would be and pull any slack out. Our plumbers are happy to help here if needed.
Clogged Toilet
Another common issue that may cause your toilet to fail to flush is a clogged bowl. If waste material – such as tissue paper, baby wipes, food particles and more – has built up somewhere in the drain of your toilet, it can easily restrict its ability to function well enough for a flushing connection.
This should be fairly self-evident based on how you try to flush the toilet and how it fails to move at all. If you notice this happening, you’ll need to make plans for a way to clear out whatever is blocking your toilet in order to get back to use it normally, whether this involves a plunger or something more in-depth.
Stopped-Up Fill Valve
A less common issue, but one that’s still possible, is for your fill valve to become stopped up too. This is another part of the toilet that’s responsible for siphoning water into it when you flush, and if debris or some level of grime has built up where it attaches to the overflow tube, there may not be enough suction occurring.
This can show itself in several ways, but mainly by the toilet not filling itself with water after you flush. If this is the case, you’ll need to reach underneath and remove whatever buildup may exist on the fill valve, following it directly up to its connection point with the overflow tube.
For more on how to remedy simple toilet non-flushing issues quickly and affordably, or to learn about any of our other plumbing services, speak to the staff at City Creek Plumbing today.