I awoke this morning to a running toilet- the ball that covers the hole in the bottom of the tank was not sitting properly and the toilet had been running all night. I repositioned the ball over the hole, the tank started to refill--- thought all was well until I realized that the water coming into the tank would not stop. The thing that senses how full the tank is and cuts off the water is apparently broken- I have tried lifting the arm up and down by hand, and it does absolutely nothing.

I turned off the water at the pipe coming up to the toilet in the bathroom to prevent it from overflowing, and left for work. I have no idea how to begin fixing this. I'm assuming some sort of valve is broken, and I will need to replace all the stuff inside the tank? How difficult is that to do? Also, what could have caused this to happen? Could it be because the toilet was running all night, or do these things just go when they get old?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. This is our only toilet in the house, so we need it fixed asap!

Hi Margog...

On your way home stop at a home supply store and pick up a fluidmaster fill valve (see image) and a flexible toilet supply tube.

Go home and empty the toilet tank of water and then remove the old fill valve and toilet supply tube.

Read the instructions on the box and replace the fill valve.. pretty easy job all in all!

Check out this video to see the job done:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7d7uZYFu_ZA&feature=related

Use a SPONGE or a wet vac. To empty the tank of extra water.. forget the pan they show at the video... OK?

Pop back if you have any difficulty...

Mark

PS...whole job takes 15 minutes...promise! Be sure to adjust the water level so it is 1"below the tube in the center of the toilet tank.

Thanks for your help and advice- how do I remove the old fill valve? I looked at it before I left, but couldn't figure out how to take it out of the tank.
Thanks again!

Hello Margog85,

Massplumber2008 (Mark) has stated in his post #2 how to remove and replace the fill valve, open his link and watch the vedio will show step by step, good luck.

John

I'm at work so I couldn't view the video- didn't know.
Thanks

Hi Margog...

Like John said, when you get a chance view the video.. shows everything step by step!

But to answer your question, it should only require you to loosen a nut on the outside of the toilet tank... also need to remove the toilet supply tube.