A Quick Guide to Toilet Parts

While pipes and faucets are pretty simple bits of plumbing (comparatively), there are plenty of fixtures in your home that rely on water and are a bit more complicated than that. This time on the Economy Plumbing Services LLC blog, we wanted to give you a quick rundown on the various toilet parts! We’ll list them out, what they do, common problems and which parts they affect, and more. So without any more to do, let’s get into it!

Toilet Parts 

First, let’s start with the big picture. There are 4 Key Parts of the Toilet.

Bowl: The round part of the toilet that holds water and waste.

Tank: The back part of the toilet that acts as a reservoir, holding the water used for flushing. 

Stop Valve: Usually located behind the toilet on the wall fixture, this controls the water supply to the toilet. This is easily operated manually with a simple quarter turn open or close.

Supply Tube: The water supply tube connects from the toilet to the stop valve. It brings freshwater from the water supply into the tank’s refill tube.

Now, let’s go deeper! Inside the tank and under the bowl there are even more parts to consider!

Toilet Parts Within the Tank

Inside the tank is the majority of the plumbing parts of a toilet. Things like the refill tube, the lever and chains that operate the flushing mechanism, and the float.

Float: The float, also a float ball or cup, floats on top of the water in the tank and acts as a kind of low tech sensor for the water level inside the tank. When the proper amount of water is reached, the float rises with it and automatically shuts off the water from the refill tube. 

Refill Tube: When the water inside the tank (and the float ball with it) falls to a certain level, the refill tube begins to refill the tank and bowl with fresh water. When the float ball rises to the top of the tank, the water supply is shut off.

Ballcock: A valve at the top of the refill tube.

Trip Lever: When you press the handle to flush the toilet, this lever lifts the flapper and starts the whole flushing business.

Chain: The chain connects the trip lever to the flapper, allowing for the trip lever and flush handle to work.

Flapper: When the flapper is lifted by the trip lever and chain, suction is created, causing the flushing action within the toilet bowl, draining the water and waste.

Overflow Tube: This stops the toilet water from overfilling. If the tank gets too full, the extra water drains into this tube.

Toilet Parts Under the Bowl

Wax Ring: This is located under your toilet, it’s what your toilet sits on. The wax ring creates a tight seal from the toilet to the sewage line.

Trap: The trap is located under the toilet bowl. It separates the sewage line from the rest of the toilet.

Common Problems and The Toilet Parts They Impact

Problem #1 – Running Toilet

Parts Affected – Flapper, gaskets, fill valve 

If your toilet won’t stop running, you likely have a worn down or dirty flapper – or possibly the water level is set too high. If neither of these fix the problem you may need to replace the fill valve.

Problem #2 – Tank Filling Too Slow/Not at All

Parts Affected – Fill valve, shut off valve

A tank that’s slow to fill or won’t at all points to problems in either the supply line, shut-off valve, or the fill valve itself. If your valve is over seven years old it likely needs replacing.

Problem #3 –  Flush Handle Won’t Flush

Parts Affected – Chain, tank lever

If pressing on the flush handle isn’t doing anything, there are a few possible problems. The chain may have become disconnected from the tank lever. To fix this, simply open the tank and reach in, reattaching the chain to the lever. Don’t worry about getting your hands wet, the water is clean! It’s also possible the lever itself is broken in which case you’ll need to replace it.

No matter the problem, Economy Plumbing Services is here to help!

If you’ve identified the broken part but still can’t figure out how to get your toilet running again, don’t sweat it! We’re here to help. Give us a call and we can have a plumber out there in no time to diagnose and repair any problem with your toilet parts.

If water runs through it or to it, we do it!

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