Signs it needs a plumber
- Water keeps trickling into the bowl long after the flush has finished.
- The cistern hisses, or refills on its own when nobody has used it.
- Water on the floor around the pan, or a stain spreading out from the base.
- The pan moves when you sit down.
- The button sticks, or one flush no longer clears the bowl.
- A crack in the pan or the cistern, even a hairline one.
- The bowl fills high and drains slowly: that is usually a blockage, covered on our blocked toilets page.
What a plumber will do
A plumber will first work out where the water is going. A leak inside the cistern runs into the bowl, so it wastes water quietly but stays contained. A leak at the pan seal, the connector or the flexible hose ends up on the floor, and that one matters more because water soaks into flooring and wall linings.
For worn parts, a plumber will usually replace the inlet valve, the outlet seal or the button mechanism, then check the cistern fills to the right level. For a cracked pan, a broken cistern or a suite with no parts left, they will measure up for a new toilet. Then they fit it, seal the pan to the waste pipe and test it.
If the toilet keeps running, our running toilet page explains how to tell the inlet side from the outlet side before anyone arrives.
Repair or replace?
| Usually fixed by | Replacing makes more sense when | |
|---|---|---|
| Water running into the bowl | A new inlet valve or outlet washer | The cistern is old and parts no longer fit it |
| Water on the floor | Resealing the pan or a new connector hose | The pan itself is cracked |
| Weak or double flush | Adjusting or replacing the flush mechanism | You were planning a more water-efficient suite anyway |
| Pan moves on the floor | Refixing and resealing the pan | The pan base or its fixings are broken |
What changes the job
The style of toilet matters. A cistern sitting on the pan is easy to reach, while a concealed cistern inside the wall is reached through the button plate and takes more care. Less common brands can mean a wait for parts.
For a new toilet, the plumber will ask where the waste pipe leaves the pan: into the floor or into the wall. They will also measure how far its centre sits from the wall behind. That measurement, called the set-out, decides which new pans fit without moving pipes. Moving a toilet to a new spot is renovation work: see bathroom plumbing.
What you can do, and where the line is
You can
- Lift the cistern lid and watch a flush: it shows you which part is not sealing.
- Turn the toilet's own stop tap, low on the wall near the pan, clockwise to stop a leak while you wait.
- In Queensland, the QBCC's DIY plumbing guide lists "repairing or replacing a drop valve washer, float valve washer or suction cup rubber in a toilet cistern" as unregulated work. It still has to meet the minimum standards.
- Western Australian homeowners may do the "replacement of a cistern washer" and clear a blocked fixture with a plunger, according to Building and Energy.
- Other states differ, and several have no published homeowner list. Check what you can do yourself before you pick up a spanner.
Leave to a licensed plumber
- Replacing a pan, a cistern or the whole suite.
- Anything to do with the waste pipe or its connection to the sewer.
- Repairs inside a concealed cistern.
- Any work that is not on your state's homeowner list.
The rules that touch toilet work
In South Australia, a plumber who carries out plumbing work on a property must issue an electronic certificate of compliance (eCOC) and give it to the customer within 7 days. The regulator's list of covered work includes sanitary plumbing and drainage.
In Victoria, only licensed plumbers can issue compliance certificates. A registered plumber can do the class of work they are registered for, so ask which one you are getting if paperwork matters to you.
Each state sets its own paperwork rules. Our compliance certificate guide goes through them, and our licence check guide shows where to look a plumber up.
Red flags
- A quote for a whole new suite before anyone has looked inside the cistern.
- No licence number, or a business name that does not match the licence when you check it.
- Pressure to decide on the spot because the toilet is supposedly about to fail.
- Silicone smeared around a leaking base instead of finding where the water comes from.
What we would do
If water is reaching the floor, turn off the stop tap and get it looked at this week, because floor leaks spread out of sight. If it is only running into the bowl and you live in Queensland or WA, a cistern washer is a reasonable thing to try first. For a cracked pan, or a suite you are tired of fixing, replace it, and use a plumber who fits toilets often enough to know which models suit your set-out.