There are many ways to stop a toilet from running all on your very own. The first step in solving your toilet from is determining if it is in fact the toilet is running. There are a lot of different plumbing related items in your bathroom and it could easily be water leaking from something nearby that is causing the noise. If that is the case, especially if it sounds like it is in the walls, you should call a professional plumber immediately as this could indicate that you have a serious water pipe breakage in your walls, that will damage your house.

Now you ask, but how do I know if it is the toilet that is running. The best way to figure this out is straight from the horses mouth so to speak. Go to the toilet in question and lift the cover for the tank off. The tank, in case you are wondering is, the big rectangular part that sits higher than the rest of the toilet. It is often where you will find magazines, crossword puzzles or decorative soaps.  When removing the tank cover be careful, as it is often made of porcelain which can break if it is dropped. Also in this case it may be wet and somewhat slippery if water is splashing.

Once the tank cover is off you will know right away if your toilet is running as you should see a pump inside the tank working to fill the tank. You ask, why has it not overflown? Well, inside you will also see what looks like a somewhat rigid balloon. This is called the float, which when it drops below a certain point the pump will start filling the tank, and when it reaches a higher point, it will signal the toilet to stop. If your toilet is running, it most likely means that water is flowing out of the tank, which will keep the float from getting high enough to tell the pump to stop working.

The most common reasons that water is flowing from your toilet would be because of an obstruction of the flapper. The flapper is located on the bottom of the tank and looks like a little door. From it there should be a chain that connects back to the flush handle. Check around the flapper to make sure that there is nothing obstructing it or keeping it from closing all the way. It could be that a piece of debris has landed itself right in the way. It could also be that your chain for the toilet is too long and is getting caught underneath the flapper, this is something to watch for especially if the problem is intermittent. If you try to shorten the chain, make sure that it stays long enough to allow the flapper to fully close, it does not make sense to fix one problem and replace it with another.

Now, if you’ve gone through all this and you are still having problems there could be a problem with the internal workings of the toilet. If that is the case you can go to a local hardware store as they often have kits that contain the entire inner workings of toilets and replace them. You could also call a licensed plumber to come in and repair it if you are unsure of taking on the task of swapping out the internal workings.

A few things to consider, while the flapper system is the most common type of toilets, there are some that are done very differently. If that is the case it is often best to just replace the inner workings as it is usually more than just an obstruction. Finally, you could also try bending very slightly the arm that the float is on, as it could be that the water level is trying to go past the internal overflow drain. If you do this be careful not to adjust the float too much, or your tank will not fill with enough water.