Plumbing emergency? Burst pipe, no water, sewer backup. We respond day and night. Call or Text (706) 669-5727
Plumbing Problems
You flush and the tank stays empty, or it takes forever to refill. The cause is almost always in the water coming in, not the flush itself.
Short answer: A toilet tank that will not fill, or fills slowly, is short of incoming water. The cause is a partly closed shutoff valve, a clogged or failed fill valve, a stuck float, a kinked supply line, or low water pressure in the whole house.
A running toilet fills and keeps filling. Water never stops. That has its own page: running toilet: why and how to fix. This page is the other direction. The tank gets little water, or none, after a flush.
The tank only fills through one path: the shutoff valve at the wall, the supply line, and the fill valve inside the tank. If water cannot pass one of those, the tank stays low. And if the trouble is upstream, in the pipes or the well, other fixtures will show it too.
Before you open the tank, run the cold water at the nearest sink and at a shower or tub.
Is it the toilet or the whole water system?
Text Ryan what the sink and shower are doing. He can often tell you which one it is before he drives out.
The small valve on the wall or floor behind the toilet may have been bumped or only partly opened after a past repair. Turn it counterclockwise until it stops. Old valves can also get stuck or corroded inside so that the handle turns but the water does not flow. If opening it fully does nothing, the valve itself may need to be replaced.
Look at the braided or plastic line between the valve and the tank. A sharp bend restricts flow. A line can also fill with sediment from the inside. A kink usually shows. If the line looks fine but the flow is weak, the problem may be sediment, which brings us to the next part.
The fill valve is the tall part inside the tank. It has a small screen or filter, and in homes on well water, grit and rust flakes collect there. The screen clogs, and only a thin stream gets through. The fix for many fill valves is to turn off the water, flush the tank, and open the valve cap to rinse out the screen. Each brand opens a little differently, so check the instructions on the cap.
If the valve is old, cracked, or will not shut off right after cleaning, a new fill valve is a better answer than another cleaning. It is a standard part.
The float tells the fill valve when to stop. If it is stuck against the side of the tank, tangled with the chain, or set too low, the valve may shut off early, so the tank looks half full. Lift it by hand and see if the fill valve opens. If the float moves freely and the tank fills when you hold it up, adjust or replace it.
Sometimes the tank is not filling because it keeps draining. A flapper that does not seal, or a cracked tank, lets water out as fast as it comes in. If you hear water trickling into the bowl, that is the flapper. The running toilet page covers that.
When every tap is weak, the toilet is just the first place you notice it, because the tank refills slowly on low pressure. For homes on a well, the usual suspects are the well pump, the pressure tank, the pressure switch, or a clogged filter on the line.
Signs the system, not the toilet, is the issue:
Start with a filter if you have one. A clogged filter can make the whole house feel like it has low pressure. If that is not it, read low water pressure and, if the pump clicks on and off, well pump short cycling. If no water comes out at all, see no water from a well. Ryan installs well pumps and well pressure tanks, so he can tell which part has failed. See well pressure tank service.
If you are on city water and others on your street have the same trouble, the cause may be outside your house and the water utility is who to ask.
No water at all is a same-day call. Ryan runs emergency service day and night. Estimates are free, with no trip fee and no diagnostic fee. If the toilet is old and keeps needing parts, he can replace it: see toilet repair and replacement.
Not enough water is getting through. The usual causes are a shutoff valve that is not fully open, a clogged screen in the fill valve, a kinked supply line, or low water pressure in the whole house.
Check that the shutoff valve is open, then check whether other taps have water. If they do, the fill valve or the supply line is blocked or failed. If they do not, the whole house has a water problem, such as a well pump issue.
Yes. Grit and rust flakes from a well system can clog the screen in the fill valve and the shutoff valve. A whole-house filter that needs changing can also slow every fixture.
If it is clean and the water flows well, you are done. If the valve is old, cracked, or it fails again soon after cleaning, replacing it is a better move. Fill valves are common, standard parts.
Not by itself. You can still flush with a bucket of water. But if the whole house has no water or weak pressure, call or text right away, since that can mean a well pump problem.
Call or text. Tell him what the other taps are doing. Free estimate, no trip fee, no diagnostic fee.