A toilet usually flushes only once to clean the bowl. However, if your toilet flushes by itself a second time, then it becomes a concern. Why does my toilet flush twice?
The reason could be from the parts inside the toilet tank, like the flapper and the fill valve. A toilet will flush multiple times when the flapper is stuck open due to the wrong setting, poor seal, and malfunctioning chain. Your fill valve may also increase the water level inside the tank, resulting in continuous flushing.
Keep reading to delve deeper into each reason for this matter.
Table of Contents
What Causes a Toilet to Double Flush
A toilet double flushes for a variety of reasons, causing a significant increase in your water bill. The good news is that this issue can be fixed with simple solutions.
1. Toilet Flapper Stays Open Too Long
One of the common reasons your toilet takes 2 flushes is that its toilet flapper opens for too long due to improper setting. When this happens, it releases a lot of water into the bowl before the flapper closes.
If your toilet is fitted with an adjustable flapper, all you need to do is make a simple toilet flapper adjustment. Raise its float or turn the dial to make it less buoyant. This little tweak will close the flapper more quickly and limit the volume of water for each flush.
In case your flapper is non-adjustable, check to see if there’s anything wrong with the installation or if you’ve installed the correct type for your toilet.
2. Flapper is Too Lightweight
When a flapper is too lightweight, it won’t drop to seal the tank’s hole properly. The water leaks from the tank and runs into the bowl continuously, forcing the toilet to flush so many times. This issue typically happens to toilets fitted with a universal or generic flapper.
A practical fix for when your toilet takes multiple flushes is to replace the old generic flapper with an adjustable or heavier one. A generic flapper is usually too lightweight to make a proper seal. Before you install the new unit, turn off the water supply and empty the tank.
3. Flush Valve Chain Malfunction
The chain is responsible for lifting the flapper when you push the flush handle. When it lifts the flapper, a rush of water flows into the bowl. Sometimes, this chain can lift the flapper twice due to too much slack; hence the toilet flushing two or three times more.
In order to solve this problem of a toilet continuously flushing, change the chain’s length. To do so, take off the chain from the float’s arm and hook a new link to the arm so that there’s only 0.5 inch of slack.
However, if the chain is broken, replace it with a new one.
4. Valve Fills Tank With Too Much Water
Another reason your toilet flushes twice after flushing is that your toilet fill valve allows a large amount of water to flow into your tank. When the water level is too high inside the tank, it releases a great amount of water each time you flush.
To fix a double flushing toilet caused by a valve, adjust it to fill less water. In most cases, turning the valve’s screw counter-clockwise will suffice. Check the model of your toilet to ensure how much water is required for proper flushing.
When adjustment can’t do the trick, you can replace your old valve unit with a new one for better flushing performance.
Conclusion
Now that you know the possible reasons for “why does my toilet flush twice?”, you know what to do when this happens. All you need to do is make a few adjustments on the flapper or the fill valve. You can repair these parts yourself or ask the help of a plumber to guarantee results.
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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.