Those in-tank cleaning discs or tablets will also shorten the life of the working parts in your toilet, says Mark Collins, a fifth-generation plumber, and the CEO of 1-800-Plumber + Air ...

When introduced into a toilet tank, these chemicals can interact with the water and the tank’s components in unpredictable ways. Over time, they can cause significant damage.

Mostly likely, you’ll be dealing with a gravity-fed toilet—and luckily, nearly all of your problems can be traced to three parts: the fill valve, the flapper, and the tank lever.

Wait 10 minutes, scrub the inside of the tank with the toilet brush, and let it sit for 20 minutes before flushing the tank clean. Cleaning Other Toilet Parts With Baking Soda.

“ When you clean a toilet, not only do you clean the inside of the toilet where all the, you know, action happens,” says Bill ...

Before diagnosing and repairing your running toilet, you must understand how it works. First, a toilet has seven parts: the bowl, tank, handle, fill valve, overflow tube, flush valve and flapper.

Ideally, the water level in the toilet tank should be 1 to 1.5 inches below the top of the overflow tube (also called an overflow pipe), an open-ended tube centrally located in the tank.

The parts inside a standard toilet tank make it difficult to clean. The fill valve, overflow tube, flapper valve and flushing handle can get in the way of your cleaning efforts.

The toilet bowl and tank can last at least a decade. However, once you notice cracks or you see water seeping onto the floor, installing a new toilet is likely in your future.