How to Fix a Running Toilet Easily

Jiggle the toilet’s handle at least three times. Jiggling the handle straightens out any kinks present in the chain that attaches to the arm on the other side of the handle and the top of the flapper valve in the toilet.

Remove the toilet tank’s lid and place it aside. Press on the flapper valve in the bottom of the toilet’s tank with a blunt wooden stick, such as a paint stir stick, testing whether the flapper is the source of the leak.

Replace the flapper valve if the toilet stops running when you push on it with the stick. Pull the old flapper off its mount in the bottom of the toilet’s tank, and slide its chain off the clip on the toilet’s arm. Press the new flapper’s tabs onto the mount in the tank and hook its chain onto the clip, giving the chain about three links of slack.

Adjust the level of the toilet’s float if the water level sits at or just below the height of the overflow tube in the toilet’s tank. Bend the float’s arm down, if the float sits on the end of a metal arm. If the float travels straight up and down in the toilet, loosen the screw at the top of the float or pinch the metal clip and then slide the float down before releasing the clip or tightening the screw again.

Tighten the toilet’s tank bolts by inserting a screwdriver’s blade into the tank bolt heads. While holding the bolts still with the screwdriver, tighten the nuts located on the underside of the toilet’s tank using an adjustable wrench.