Running Toilet: The Ten-Minute Diagnosis

10 minutes to diagnose

Straight talk: FourHome doesn't make toilet parts, so there's nothing for us to sell you here. Fix it anyway. Gwinnett County puts a constantly running toilet at 200 gallons or more wasted per day, and EPA says household leaks waste more than 9,300 gallons a year on average.

The fix

1. Run EPA's test: drop food coloring in the tank. Color in the bowl within 10 minutes means the flapper leaks.
2. Check the fill: if water trickles into the overflow tube, the float is set too high or the fill valve won't shut off. Adjust the float first.
3. Look at the flapper chain: too tight holds the flapper open; too loose catches under it.
4. A worn flapper is a cheap hardware-store part. Match it to your flush valve size, and replace it at least every five years, which is EPA's own guidance.
5. Still running after flapper and float? The flush valve seat may be pitted; that's a bigger teardown.

Call a plumber instead when

Water around the toilet base (a wax ring or a crack, not a flapper), or a flush valve replacement you'd rather not tackle.

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