What to do if your toilet won’t flush
Your toilet not flushing can be an annoying issue, but it could also be an easy fix if you know how! Before we delve into the possible solutions first let’s take a look at how a toilet work.
The toilet is essentially made up of two parts, the bowl and the cistern. The cistern holds the water that is used to flush the toilet, it also contains the flush and a refilling mechanism. The bowl is attached to the external drainage pipe by a siphon tube.
How to fix the flush mechanism
First open the top of the cistern by lifting off the lid. With this removed you will be able to see the flush mechanism. Check that the handle is still connected. Usually this is connect to a little arm and chain which lift the flapper. When the handle is turned or pressed this raises the flapper to release the water into the bowl. Fixing this can be as simple as reconnecting the chain.
Your tank water is too low
If you’ve taken the top off your cistern and noticed there isn’t much water in there, this could be your issue. The water should be about an inch below the overflow tube - in a lot of cases you will be able to see a visible mark in the cistern where your water level normally sits. There could be a few reasons why the water level is low. The first easy one to check is the water inlet valve hasn’t accidentally been switched off, this is normally located on the pipe that feeds the cistern. The second thing to check would be the ball float. If this is set too low the cistern will stop filling up before it reaches the top. If the issue is neither of these there could be a leak in the pipe or water pressure issues. In these cases you may need to call out a professional.
A very weak flush
A weak flush could be caused by a build up of limescale which blocks the flow of the water from the rim of the toilet.
Your toilet is blocked
A reason your toilet won’t flush could be that is blocked. This could be from a foreign object like a kids toy or just simply too much toilet paper. If there’s a visible blockage the best thing to do is try to remove it as if you send up pushing it further down the drain you will get bigger long term issues.
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