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toilet: the tank refills every few minutes
Two free checks settle most of this page: push the flapper down and see whether the running stops, then drop dye in the tank and look at the bowl half an hour later. Float set too high (water spilling into the overflow tube): 10 minutes, no part needed [S2] — the first of 2 causes on this page that need no part at all. On a toilet the complaint is the tank refills every few minutes, and it arrives in these words: the toilet keeps running after the flush, you hear it refill every few minutes, there is a constant trickle of water inside the tank, the flush is weak and the bowl does not clear or you have to hold the handle down to empty the tank. Until that check comes back clean, every price below is premature — the completed repairs behind this symptom run $264–$565 [S1], against a replacement from $375.
the toilet keeps running after the flushyou hear it refill every few minutes
The single most common cause, and the cheapest thing on this page: S2 puts a quality flapper at $5-15 in any hardware store and the job at ten minutes with the supply valve shut, and it names the signature that identifies it - short bursts of filling every sixty to a hundred and eighty seconds as the tank drains slowly past a tired seal. Its professional price for the same part fitted is $145-245. S2 also gives the local reason a flapper fails here sooner than the rating suggests: a flapper rated for five to seven years lasts two to three in Tampa water, because hardness coats the rubber and chlorine degrades it from the inside.
mineral scale on the flush valve seat and the rim jets [S3]
high likelihoodeasy$5–$15 partabout 40 min
the flush is weak and the bowl does not clearthe toilet keeps running after the flush
Two faults with one cause: a chalky ring on the seat where the flapper lands means even a new flapper cannot seal, and scaled rim jets mean the water dribbles instead of swirling. S3 puts the DIY route at $5-15 in supplies - a lime remover poured into the overflow tube, half an hour to sit, then a stiff nylon brush - and says the scale starts clogging the jets within twelve to twenty-four months of installation in this water. It recommends the same descale every six months as maintenance, which is the cheapest thing on this page by a wide margin. Where the scale has gone too far, the answer is a full flush valve replacement rather than a cleaner.
float set too high (water spilling into the overflow tube) [S2]
medium likelihoodeasyno part neededabout 10 min
there is a constant trickle of water inside the tankyou hear it refill every few minutes
The free one. If the water level sits above the top of the overflow tube, the tank fills, spills down the tube and refills forever, and the fix is to bend the float arm or turn the adjustment screw until the water sits about an inch below the tube. S2 describes it as a free fix that takes two minutes. It is worth doing before anything is bought, because the same symptom is produced by a worn fill valve and the level tells the two apart.
lift chain too long, too short or disconnected [S3]
medium likelihoodeasyno part neededabout 10 min
you have to hold the handle down to empty the tankthe flush is weak and the bowl does not clear
Also free, and the first thing S3 tells you to look at with the tank lid off. Too long and the chain bunches under the flapper and props it open, which is a toilet that runs; too short or unhooked and the handle pulls with no resistance and nothing happens, which is a toilet that will not flush. S3's instruction is to reattach it to the flapper and the handle lever and set the slack so the flapper rises fully, holds while the tank drains and then drops.
high likelihoodmoderate$195–$345 installedabout 60 min
there is a constant trickle of water inside the tankthe toilet keeps running after the flush
The tall plastic tower on the left of the tank decides when the water stops. When the float arm stiffens or the internal seal wears, water keeps running into the overflow tube with the tank already full, and the sound changes from bursts to a continuous quiet trickle. S2 prices the replacement at $195-345 fitted with a Fluidmaster or Korky valve and a new supply line if the old one is past ten years. The same page quotes a $279 flat rate for the job elsewhere in its own text, and a $15 DIY part in its quick answer; the ranged figure is used here and the other two are left as published.
priced as a fitted replacement at $195-345 including the valve and a new supply line if the old one is past ten years. The source prints a $15 DIY part price elsewhere in its own text and a $279 flat rate in a third place; the fitted band is what stands here and the other two are left as published rather than substituted for it
there is a constant trickle of water inside the tankthe flush is weak and the bowl does not clear
A tube that was cracked or cut too short lets water bypass straight into the bowl, so the tank never holds its level and the sound is a steady stream rather than a trickle. S2 lists it among the five causes it sees in order of frequency, and it is the one where a parts-kit answer is the honest one: the tube comes with the flush valve assembly, and once the tank is apart at that level the rebuild kit costs little more than the single part.
no source prices the tube on its own. It is part of the flush valve assembly, and the smallest job either source prices that covers it is S2's full rebuild at $245-445, which replaces the flapper, the fill valve, the flush valve, the tank-to-bowl gasket and bolts and the supply line together.
the flush is weak and the bowl does not clearthe toilet keeps running after the flush
S2's own test is age plus history plus the bowl: past fifteen years, or after two or more failures, or on a pre-1995 model using 3.5 gallons a flush, or with porcelain that is cracked or stained past cleaning, and the internals stop being the question. S3 adds the design argument - the first-generation low-flow bowls from the early 1990s never moved waste reliably, and no repair fixes engineering. Both cite the City of Tampa rebate of up to $100 on a qualifying 1.28 gpf replacement of a pre-1995 bowl, which is money against the one price on this page that is not a repair. Time basis: no source publishes a duration for a replacement, so the figure here is a book estimate.
not a repair in either source. S2's answer is a replacement (published at $375-625 installed, $450-725 comfort height) and S3 repeats the same band for a 1.28 gpf unit with the old bowl removed and disposed of, so the replacement figure in the decision block is the price of this cause.
What each fix costs
Cause
Cost
Time
DIY?
float set too high (water spilling into the overflow tube)
no part needed
10 min
easy
lift chain too long, too short or disconnected
no part needed
10 min
easy
cracked or cut-short overflow tube
not priced
60 min
advanced
the toilet itself is at the end of its life
not priced
90 min
pro
worn flapper
$5–$15 part
15 min
easy
mineral scale on the flush valve seat and the rim jets
$5–$15 part
40 min
easy
fill valve worn out
$195–$345 installed
60 min
moderate
A technician visit starts with a diagnostic fee of $0 [S1]. Completed repairs run $264–$565 [S1].
Repair or replace?
The internals of a toilet are cheap and the toilet is not, which is what makes this fault easy to decide once the free checks are done. A flapper is a $5-15 part, a descale is $5-15 in supplies, a fill valve fitted is $195-345 and a full rebuild is $245-445, against $375-625 for a new 1.28 gpf toilet installed with the old one taken away. Under fifteen years old with sound porcelain, rebuild: the internals are the wear parts and the bowl is not. Past fifteen years, or after a second failure, or on a pre-1995 bowl that never flushed properly, the arithmetic turns, because the rebuild is most of the way to a new toilet that uses a third of the water. What is never worth buying is a service call to change a flapper that the owner can change in ten minutes with the supply valve shut, and the source's own five-minute tests are what tell you which of the two you have. [S1]
The band is one published row - toilet repair and install together, 52 completed jobs, a $354 median, middle half $264-565 - so it contains both a flapper job and a whole new toilet, and the same source says so in its own text: a simple flapper and flush valve at $135-265 at the bottom, a full toilet replacement at $550-800 at the top. The per-job figures on this page come from that publisher's fault pages instead, which is a price list rather than paid invoices. The two layers are shown side by side and never blended, and the $279 flat rate the fault page quotes in its quick answer is left standing beside its own $195-345 fill valve band rather than reconciled with it.
The half-of-new-price line falls near $190-310 against a $375-625 toilet, and a full rebuild at $245-445 straddles it. That is the honest answer for this machine rather than a comfortable one: the same $195-345 fill valve is a repair on a bowl with ten years left and the last money spent on one that is twenty years old. Two things move it back towards repair, and both are in the sources: the City of Tampa rebate of up to $100 on a qualifying 1.28 gpf replacement of a pre-1995 bowl, and the fact that a running toilet is wasting 200 gallons a day or more while the decision is being made.
S2 is explicit that fifteen years is where its own advice turns: under fifteen with sound porcelain it recommends a full rebuild and another decade of flushing, and past fifteen, or after two or more failures, or on a pre-1995 bowl using 3.5 gallons a flush, it recommends replacement. No source cited here publishes a measured service life for a toilet, so the decision below uses the publisher's own age threshold and says that is what it is.
[S1]Home Therapist Cooling, Heating and Plumbing (Tampa Bay; own Housecall Pro records, 2,523 completed service visits, published under CC-BY-4.0 30 April 2026, last updated 30 July 2026) (2026-04-30). the toilet repair and install row the decision band comes from: a $354 median across 52 completed jobs with the middle half at $264-565, published together with the source's own split inside that row (simple flapper and flush valve $135-265 at the low end, full toilet replacement $550-800 at the top); the method behind the dataset (2,523 completed visits, $4,138,649 of customer-paid work, 135 ZIP codes, 24 technicians, 10 May 2024 to 30 April 2026, customer-paid totals between $50 and $50,000, free diagnostic visits excluded); and the statement that the seventeen published service rows do not sum to the 2,523 visits
[S2]Home Therapist Cooling, Heating and Plumbing (Tampa Bay; FL licence CFC1431159; page published 18 April 2026, last reviewed 24 August 2026) (2026-04-18). the five causes of a running toilet in the order the company sees them (flapper degradation first, then wrong chain length, a worn fill valve, a cracked or short overflow tube, and mineral buildup on the flush valve seat), with what each one sounds like; the three free tests it gives (listen for a minute, push the flapper down, and the food colouring test) and what each pattern points at; its prices for the jobs that follow (flapper $5-15 as a part and $145-245 fitted, fill valve $195-345 installed, full rebuild $245-445, toilet replacement $375-625 standard height and $450-725 comfort height), together with the flat $279 it quotes for the same work in its own quick answer and the $15 DIY fill valve part it quotes elsewhere; the water it says a running toilet wastes (a slow flapper leak 100-200 gallons a day, a fill valve into the overflow 200-400) and the $10-20 a month it puts on a Tampa bill; its note that a flapper rated for five to seven years lasts two to three in this water because of hardness and chlorine; the fifteen-year age threshold it applies to rebuilding against replacing; and the City of Tampa rebate of up to $100 on a qualifying 1.28 gpf replacement of a pre-1995 bowl
[S3]Home Therapist Cooling, Heating and Plumbing (Tampa Bay; FL licence CFC1431159; page published 18 April 2026) (2026-04-18). the won't-flush causes the chain and overflow causes come from (a disconnected lift chain, a clogged trap, low tank water, a flapper that closes early, mineral buildup in the flush jets, a blocked vent stack, and the pre-1995 1.6 gpf and first-generation 3.5 gpf designs that never flushed reliably); the tank water level it gives as correct (about an inch below the top of the overflow tube); the descale it describes as a homeowner job with $5-15 in supplies and the six-month interval it recommends; and its prices for the jobs that follow a blockage rather than a tank fault (a service call to clear a single clog $145-245, a wax ring and reseat $295-445, a drain camera inspection $345-495, a hydrojet main-line clear $695-1,295, and a 1.28 gpf replacement $375-625 installed with the old bowl removed and disposed of)
[S4]EPA WaterSense (U.S. Environmental Protection Agency; page last updated 16 June 2026) (2026-06-16). the maintenance interval the decision uses - toilet flappers wear out, so they should be replaced at least once every five years to keep a good seal and avoid leaks - with the annual silent-leak test it describes (a couple of drops of food colouring in the tank, ten minutes, colour in the bowl means a leak that can probably be fixed by replacing the flapper), its instruction to investigate further when a toilet runs constantly or will not flush, and the WaterSense label it recommends for a replacement toilet
Last verified: 2026-09-20. Prices are US market figures from the sources above; your quote may differ.
Built from a fact record, not from a template: every number above is tied to one of the sources and the record is re-checked against them. Editorial choices (which symptom leads, which cause is the single tell) are kept in a separate block so the facts stay auditable.
Quick answers
How much does it cost to fix a toilet with this problem?
Completed repairs run $264–$565 according to the sources cited on this page, after a diagnostic fee of $0.
How long does a toilet last?
The decision rule used on this page works from a planning life of 15 years.
Repair or replace?
The internals of a toilet are cheap and the toilet is not, which is what makes this fault easy to decide once the free checks are done. A flapper is a $5-15 part, a descale is $5-15 in supplies, a fill valve fitted is $195-345 and a full rebuild is $245-445, against $375-625 for a new 1.28 gpf toilet installed with the old one taken away. Under fifteen years old with sound porcelain, rebuild: the internals are the wear parts and the bowl is not. Past fifteen years, or after a second failure, or on a pre-1995 bowl that never flushed properly, the arithmetic turns, because the rebuild is most of the way to a new toilet that uses a third of the water. What is never worth buying is a service call to change a flapper that the owner can change in ten minutes with the supply valve shut, and the source's own five-minute tests are what tell you which of the two you have.