5 Toilet Maintenance Tips for Bay Area Homeowners

Toilets are the kind of appliance in your home that you don’t put much thought into… until something goes wrong. Although your toilets don’t require a whole lot of maintenance, there are a few things you can do to keep them working properly and catch problems before they become bigger issues.

5 toilet maintenance tips for Bay Area homeowners

• 1. Don’t use your toilet as a garbage can. Although it might sometimes seem convenient to throw garbage in the toilet, it can often lead to clogs. Toilets are only designed to handle human waste and toilet paper. As a result, you should avoid flushing paper towels, women’s products, cleaning wipes or any other bathroom products.
• 2. Inspect your toilet for leaks. Any time you’re cleaning your bathroom, take a minute to inspect your toilet for any signs of leaks. Look for wet areas on and around the toilet, as well as on the water line that connects the toilet to the wall. If you notice any leaks, call a plumber like Cabrillo as soon as possible. Water leaks can really add up if they go untreated!
• 3. Test for leaks with food coloring. About once a year, you can check for leaks in your tank on your own. To do this, add about six drops of food coloring to your tank and let it sit for 30 minutes. When you return, check your toilet bowl and see if the water has changed color. If it has, you have a leak that should be fixed by a plumber as soon as possible.
• 4. Check the water shut off valve. Another task you can perform about once a year is to test your water shut off valve. This is the knob attached to the wall that shuts off the water supply to your toilet. Simply turn the knob to ensure that it’s working properly. A faulty knob might need to be replaced.
• 5. Make sure the fill valve is working properly. The fill valve is located in your toilet tank and is responsible for refilling your tank with water after it has been flushed. If you’re having problems with your toilet, or while you’re performing other maintenance tasks on it, lift the lid to your tank and flush the toilet. Make sure that the after the tank has refilled, the fill valve completely stops dispensing water. If it doesn’t and you can’t fix the problem on your own, call a plumber because your toilet is likely wasting water.

If you have any questions about toilet maintenance, or if you’d like a plumbing system serviced or installed in your home, contact Cabrillo, your Bay Area plumbing, heating and cooling company.