Hey all,

This is my first post, and I confess to having very little knowledge of toilets and their operation. I know that when the flap opens, the water drains, and the toilet flushes. I also know that if the toilet gets clogged, plunge it.

That's about it

So, my toilet constantly runs, but not where I would expect. It appears as though there's something wrong with the valve post. I recorded a little video and uploaded it to youtube for clarification, because I don't know where to begin in describing it.

[www.youtube.com]

I tried to remove the black plastic cover to see where the water is coming from, but I don't want to exacerbate the problem by not knowing what I'm doing.

Please help me in figuring out (1)what's wrong and (2)how I should go about fixing it. Thanks everyone!

[www.youtube.com]
there are endless videos on this subject.

Usually the problem is either a bad flapper valve that allows water to leak by even when it is shut. Or the problem is your tank is filling too high with water and the water is running into the overflow tube that is located near the middle of the tank. Both of these causes will keep the toilet running to bring in fresh water to the tank.

If the water comes up to the top of the overflow tube you need to adjust the shutoff float so the water doesn't fill that high. You can put a little food coloring or one of those blue chlorine tablets in the tank and don't flush for a while, if the colored water shows up in the bowl below then the flapper is leaking. If you replace the flapper it is a good idea to run your finger along the hole in the tank that the flapper seals against first, make sure the rim of the hole is smooth, no mineral deposits from hard water.

When I looked at your video it appears to me that your fill valve is bad. They aren't that costly or hard to install. Just shutoff the water supply to the toilet, flush the toilet and hold down the handle to get all the water out of the tank possible. Then use an old towel or sponge to get the remaining water out of the tank. Replace the fill valve. You might want to replace the flapper valve while doing this, they are lowcost and it is probably as old as the fill valve is. You can often get a kit that has the new fill valve and flapper together in one box.

Until you can get this fixed I'd shutoff the toilet water supply valve on the wall behind the toilet after the tank is full. Then after each flush you can turn it back on for a minute while the tank refills. This will keep from wasting all that water.

[edit to fix typos]



Edited 11 times.

Thanks guys, I really appreciate the feedback. Packy, that video was very helpful.

I did as suggested and turned off the water supply to the toilet. Looks like I'll be taking a trip to the hardware store



Edited 2 times.