Pro Handyman Blog

I was looking at a customer’s toilet yesterday because he was complaining it was running. He said it didn’t run all the time, but when it did run it wouldn’t stop. This was a Kohler low-boy toilet, but that didn’t matter, the problem can happen with all makes and models of toilets. Although the toilet wasn’t running at that moment, he showed me the toilet and removed the lid. The problem was pretty obvious to me, but not so obvious to the customer.

When you install a new toilet flapper, you have to adjust it so that it lifts up high enough to allow enough water into the bowl, but not so high that it gets hung up on something (there are flappers that allow you to rotate a dial on the flapper for this). The chain that connects the handle to the flapper is the problem.

Once you adjust the flapper, there will be a length of chain hanging down. If the chain is long enough, it can drop in between the flapper and the flush valve (this is where the flapper rests. This creates a small gap for water to run through, and this was the case for this particular customer. To fix this, you can either trim the chain with wire cutters, or loop it back over the fastener where it connects to the handle. This is a 1 minute fix that will save lots of water.