Determine If Your Toilet Fill Valve Requires Replacement: 3 Things to Look Out For

If you suspect your toilet fill valve is at fault, there are three main ways you can check to see if it’s bad. To ensure the fill valve is working properly and not the other parts of your toilet, it is important to look carefully at the internal mechanisms and make any necessary adjustments.

First, check the water level inside the tank. If the water is overflowing, it could be because the float needs to be adjusted. To fix this, simply bend the arm of the float downwards so the float triggers the water shut off at a lower level. If adjusting the float arm works, it means the fill valve is working fine.

Second, look at the chain that runs from the handle to the flapper. This chain can become twisted and kinked, and if the link doesn’t extend far enough, it won’t allow the flapper to seal properly. Consequently, when the fill valve is activated, water escapes from the tank as soon as it’s replenished.

Finally, examine the flapper. Sometimes the flapper is the wrong size and won’t close properly over the drainage hole. If the flapper doesn’t sit correctly, the tank will keep filling even when the water level has risen up to the correct height. If you find yourself in this situation, the fill valve has likely gone bad and needs to be replaced.

In addition to the signs of a faulty fill valve mentioned above, you can run a few other tests to see if your fill valve is working properly. If the handle is pressed and your toilet flushes weakly or not at all, the float shut off may be set too low. Bend the arm of the float upwards and check to see if this remedies the situation. If there is no flush at all, you’ll want to check for a blockage or broken fill valve.

Finally, if you notice that the tank is taking a very long time to fill after flushing, the fill valve may be blocked. To test this out, try removing any easy to access blockages that may be stuck in the valve.

You can determine if your fill valve has gone bad by performing the above tests. Checking for water levels, a kinked chain, a flapper issue, a weak flush, and blockages in the valve are all ways you can figure out if your fill valve needs to be replaced. After careful inspection, if it looks like your fill valve is bad, head over to Amazon and get your replacement today.