Toilet won't stop ONLY when...

[bradc]

My toilet runs continuously (after flushing) ONLY when the outside water is running, the washer is running or the shower is running. So far, it works fine when nothing is running. I have gone through the other advice with checking tangles and floater balls, etc. All seems to be working since it does work when no other water is running. Thanks for the help.

Brad

 

[Mike Swearingen]

Are you on a private well or public water?
What type of supply pipes do you have? Galvanized?
Do you know what your house water pressure is?
The toilet issue is a water volume issue.
Please describe your water sysstem in more detail, and we'll ssee how you might solve it.
Mike

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

How old is the fill valve. This is a wag from a non-pro, but most if not all new valves have a backflow preventer in them. Many old ones didn't. Is is possible that when another item is flowing, it is siphoning water out of the tank, and thus the level changes, causing it to try to refill? I don't know, just a wild guess at a remote possibility.

 

[bradc]

I am on public water and pretty sure I have copper pipes, but not 100%. Also the water pressure is not great, again I do not know exactly (I am at work) what it is but just that it is not great. Sorry for sounding so amateurish, but that is what amateurs do

Thanks for the help.
Brad

 

[hj]

toilet

Your descripton to use Mr. Spock's terminology is "illogical". Therefore you have to tell us what is happening to the water that is "not shutting off". Is it overfilling and water is going down the ovrflow pipe? Is the flapper sticking so the tank is not filling and the water is going out of the center opening as fast as it is filling? Or ???? One thing you can be sure of is that it is not an "old" fill valve siphoning water out of the tank.

 

[Plumber2000]

Check and see what the pressure is on the house, let us know what it is when you find out, it might tell us something, use a pressure gage that attaches to an outside hose bib.

 

[Deb]

Deb

I'm with hj and Spock on this one. What you are describing has no logical explanation--there has to be more to the story. There is really no way that having another fixture running will cause the toilet to keep running, in any of the ways hj has asked about.
Tell us more, tell us more!
Deb
The Pipewench

 

[bradc]

By not shutting off, I mean the toilet continues to fill the tank beyond the normal level, water goes into the overflow tube, but also leaks out where the handle is, hence water on the floor. Again, it only does this when other water is running.

I have been told by a plumber that it is because my fill valve is old. Since it is controlled by water volume, when another water source is running, the volume decreases and it does not shut off.

And does this now make sense?

 

[Bob's HandyGuy]

Yeah, it sounds like your fill valve. When water is running elsewhere, the float raises slowly. That doesn't provide enough upward force to overcome the friction in the valve. Flush the toilet then try raising the float arm manually. See if a quick upward movement shuts off the water and whether a slow movement leaves it open.

 

[Jadnashua]

Fill valves are cheap, and for most toilets are a piece of cake to install. Replace it, and see if it solves the problem. Fluidmaster works well. Should take all of about 15-minutes.