If your toilet needs to be flushed twice once in a while, that's pretty common. Sometimes you just need a couple of flushes to ensure everything heads where it's supposed to go. But if you find you have to flush twice more often than not, then something is up. This can range from a broken part to a clog to even the age of the toilet.

A Broken Flapper in the Tank

The water in the tank is held in by a flapper that covers the pipe into the rest of the toilet. If the flapper starts to deteriorate and lets water leak out of the tank into the bowl, that lowers the amount of water in the tank. In turn, that sends less water into the bowl when you flush, and you have to flush a second time after the tank refills.

Another possible issue with the flapper is if the mechanism that lifts the flapper when you flush (so the water can travel out of the tank and into the bowl) could be failing, and the flapper is dropping down and cutting off the water from the tank. That again leads to less water entering the bowl for the flush.

Blocked Rim Jets

If you look under the rim of the bowl, you'll see holes. These are rim jets or rim holes, where water from the tank is released into the bowl. If these holes become clogged, then the water coming through doesn't have the same force because less of it is coming through evenly. These holes can become clogged with scale, the debris left by high-mineral hard water. You can clean these out using a variety of methods, but consulting a plumber first is a good idea.

Is Your Toilet an Older Low-Flush Model?

When low-flush toilets were first introduced, they weren't very powerful. The amount of water they stored in the tank often wasn't enough to move everything in the bowl over into the siphon leg, and you'd often have to flush twice. If this is something you've had to do the entire time you've had the toilet, then you're dealing with an older low-flush toilet that wasn't very well-made. If the problem is new, though, then it's likely a specific part that's gone bad or had some other trouble.

Call a plumber if you want to replace that older low-flush toilet with a newer version that works very well. If the problem isn't the age and doesn't seem to be due to anything you can handle yourself, call a toilet repair service such as Maitland Winter Park Plumbing to have the toilet checked out.

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