Do you notice the water pressure of your toilet often gets weak, and you have to make several more pushes to get the bowl clean from its “content”? If the answer is yes, then low water pressure toilet running is the issue.
Some people choose to ignore it, but taking many pushes wastes a large amount of clean water (a single toilet push requires 1.6 gallons!).
If you don’t fancy being shocked by the water bill at the end of the month, and you have no idea how to increase water pressure in toilet, we already have the solutions for you!
There are 5 simple things you can do at home to get more flushing power from the toilet. Let’s explore what these tips are!
Table of Contents
What to Prepare
Usually, when you decide to do something that requires a little knowledge (especially when it comes to your house appliances!), you may think that it will come with sophisticated tools and preparation. It is not really the case with our tips!
In order to adjust the water pressure of a commercial toilet at home, you only need:
- A pair of glove (You might not want to get your hands dirty while doing the job, so prepare gloves to protect your hands)
- Face mask
- Vinegar
- Duct tape
- Nylon brush (You can also use regular, thin brush. Preparing other cleaning tools
- A toilet plunger (optional)
1. Check the water valve
If you look at the wall beside the toilet, there is a water valve nearby made for turning on and off the water flow to your toilet.
If the water valve is closed loosely, there could be less water filling up the tank. Therefore, your toilet will suffer from low water pressure and cannot reach its best efficiency.
To increase the flush power of the toilet, make sure to turn the valve counter-clockwise until it stops to let the water flow at its maximum capacity. Adjusting this water valve can also flush the water at your preferred level.
2. Adjust the water level
Remove the lid of the toilet tank. Now you can see how our toilet works and how water pressure affects toilet flush. The toilet tank serves as water storage and flows into the bowl under pressure.
Starting from this point, you may begin looking for the cause of a weak flush or a low overall water level to improve toilet flush strength.
Typically, your toilet is the type with a ball float or the type with a cup float.
For the type of toilet with a ball float, you can see a round ball filled with air inside that acts as a lever to stop the water flow into the tank when it reaches the right level of the fill line.
To adjust the toilet flush pressure with a ball float type toilet, you must do as follow:
- In a clockwise motion, turn the screw above the fill valve.
- Make sure it is placed in the center of the tank (about 1 inch below the overflow tube).
If your toilet has a cylinder float valve, you can try the following:
- Squeezing the clip on the side of the float
- Drawing the clip up until the water level reaches the fill line.
For the type of toilet that has a cup float, there is nothing like a round ball floating on the surface of the water. You can see a plastic cup that is attached to the fill valve shaft, which will float up and down with the water level.
A clip (or a rod) is connected to this cup, and you can use it to modify the water level inside the tank.
Follow these steps to increase the water level:
- Turn the shut-off valve to empty the tank
- Raise the cup upwards by pulling the clip connecting the cup with the fill valve shaft.
- Ensure the overflow valve is always at least one inch under the critical level threshold.
3. Check the flapper and adjust its position
The flapper is a valve attached to the handle and located at the bottom of the water tank, which has a rod or chain connected to the handle.
When we push the handle to lift the flapper, water flushes into the bowl under the toilet pressure difference.
If the flapper is too short, there will be high water pressure toilet problems.
Meanwhile, when the chain is slack or has gotten longer, causing the flapper to close faster than necessary and water to not flush sufficiently into the bow. It obviously leads to low water pressure and the toilet won’t fill.
- To increase toilet flush power, you could easily modify the flapper by shortening the chain or rod to provide less slack using the clip, which is easily latched onto another link.
- If your toilet type has no clip in the chain, use a wire cutter to cut it.
4. Check for clogs inside the rim jets
Rim jets are another type of toilet water pressure regulator.
The rim jets are the small holes placed underneath the toilet rim that let water from the tank pour into the bowl. They can become clogged with dirt and debris, limiting the water flowing into the bowl and leaving unclean content.
Use a mirror to check for clogs in toilet jets and brush them thoroughly with a nylon brush.
Another trick you can do to clean the clogged rims is to use vinegar.
- Pour some vinegar into the tank, stick duct tape over the siphon jets, and flush to let water containing vinegar flow through the jets.
- Leave the vinegar to sit inside the jets for at least one hour or overnight for the best result. Natural acids from the vinegar will disinfect and gently dissolve any dirt and grime.
Sometimes it is not the fault of internal flushing mechanisms. It’s just that your toilet could use a good cleaning to make your toilet flush stronger!
5. Getting help from a plumber.
If none of the above solutions work, you will need to call a plumber to diagnose the problem and repair low water pressure caused by the toilet flush valve, which has been broken or damaged, or when the toilet won’t fill due to low water pressure in the fill valve.
Your toilet’s efficiency may also decrease because of old age or being decrepit. In these cases, professional help from plumbers could save you much time and effort in searching for ways to increase toilet flush pressure.
Why is My Toilet Water Pressure So Low?
The water in the bowl of a typical toilet is flushed away using gravity and water pressure from the tank behind the toilet bowl. Therefore, water pressure is the factor that affects the toilet flush.
Most of the time, a toilet won’t flush well because there isn’t enough water in the toilet cistern, or because the waste pipe, siphon jet, or rim jets are clogged.
A damaged fill valve or a blocked vent system might also be the root of your toilet’s weak and inconsistent flushing.
But don’t worry, it’s unavoidable that your toilet’s water pressure gets weakened with natural wear and tear over time!
Final Thoughts
These are our suggestions for keeping your toilet running at peak efficiency and avoiding issues relating to low water pressure in the toilet. If you feel you need more confidence about your skills in repairing things in the house, just call the repairman immediately and receive specific support and advice from them.
If you are confident and believe you can fix it yourself, simply follow our instructions on how to increase water pressure in toilets, and we assure you that your toilet’s water pressure will be as powerful as Niagara Falls!.
I’m Paulk Webb, and I work as a writer for Saveourwaterrebates. I’m happy to put in the time and effort to conduct market research to identify the most pressing issues faced by households concerning their plumbing. Feel free to check out our guides to get the most informed recommendations for how to solve your problems.