Toilet bowl keeps filling

14 years ago

I have a 5 year old Gerber toilet in my basement. I went downstairs today and I saw that the bathroom was soaked in water and water seeped under the molding into my den area. After trying to figure out where the water was coming from, I found out the toilet is running at times without being flushed. It goes over the water piece that fills up the toilet and keeps running, hence, the overflow. It does not have a ball adjustment, seems it's controlled from a pump.

If I adjust the pump to make it stop filling, a few minutes later the water starts going down and then reaches a point and starts filling up again. Obviously, I have shut off the water valve otherwise I'd be having another flood.

Can this be fixed my me or do I need to call a plumber?

Thanks,

Judi

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Comments (4)

kudzu9
14 years ago
First, there are different styles of fill valves, and not all invole a ball. I don't know what you have, but I don't understand how a toilet would be controlled only by a pump. I suspect you have a valve in the toilet and it's malfunctioning.

Second, if you have water on the floor, this is likely to be an entirely different problem. Water on the floor usually means you have a faulty seal between the bottom of the toilet and the floor flange.

Third, I had three Gerber toilets in my 8 year old house, and got rid of them all because they functioned so poorly. I won't say all Gerber's are bad, but the ones I had were the most easily clogged toilets I have ever seen.

I think you have at least two separate problems, and it is probably beyond your skill level to correct them by yourself. I recommend you have a plumber come and install a new toilet and resolve everything for you at one time.
curb1
14 years ago
If the bowl is filling up and running over the top, then the toilet is plugged.

Yes, you seem to have two different problems. It is not expensive to fix the inside of the toilet. This isn't rocket science.
homebound
14 years ago
With a flashlight, check a couple areas around the toilet:

In no particular order:
* tank hold-down bolts (underneath)
* supply line (at shut-off valve
* supply line where it connects to the tank
* flush handle (not common, but if the tank is filling up to the handle for another reason (like high overflow tube), it will leak out the handle hole)
* make sure the fill hose is clipped onto the edge of the overflow tube and aimed into it.
* base of toilet all around
kudzu9
14 years ago
Judi-
The overflow you're getting is in the fill tank itself rather than that the water is coming over the top of the toilet bowl, right?