Toilet bowl chain broke

When a household appliance breaks, such as your toilet, it's often intimidating to try to fix it yourself. However, doing your own repair would save time and money, and may actually be quite simple. It isn't uncommon for a toilet chain to break or come loose, and consequently, fixing or replacing the chain is an easy task. When a chain breaks, the flush lever will hang down or simply bounce back and forth.

Table of Contents Show

When Should I Fix or Replace My Toilet Lift Chain?
1. Your Toilet Chain Broke
2. Your Toilet Chain Keeps Coming Off
3. Your Toilet Is Always Running
4. Your Toilet Doesn’t Flush Completely
How to Adjust a Toilet Chain in 5 Steps
How to Replace a Toilet Lift Chain in 6 Steps
Can you flush a toilet with a broken chain?
Can the chain in the toilet be replaced?
Why do toilet chains break?

1.
Remove the lid from the tank. Place the lid out of the way on the floor or sturdy table to avoid knocking it onto the floor.
2.
Turn off the water supply running to your toilet. Locate the knob behind your toilet and turn it clockwise until it's tight. Flush the toilet manually to drain the water from the tank. When a toilet flushes, the flush lever pulls the chain to lift the flapper valve at the bottom of the tank, releasing the water. Lift the valve by hand, or with the broken chain if it's still connected to the flapper, and allow the water to run out of the tank. This will give you better access to fix the chain.
3.
Identify the problems with the chain. If a chain is rusty and broken, it should be completely replaced. However, it could simply have a loose link that must be reattached. If the chain has come disconnected from the flush lever bar or the flapper valve, it will have to be reattached.
4.
Reattach the chain to the flush lever bar or the flapper valve if it has come loose. The chain connects to the flush lever bar with a small metal clip and attaches to the flapper valve with a small metal ring. Slip the chain back onto the clip or ring and use needle-nose pliers to tighten the link or ring.
5.
Fix broken links in the middle of the chain if both ends are still attached but the chain has snapped in the middle. Slip the two middle pieces back together and use needle-nose pliers to bend the links back together. Be sure to get them as straight as possible to prevent them pulling apart again. If the chain breaks again, replace the entire chain.
6.
Replace the rusted or broken chain with a new one. New chains can be purchased at your local plumbing or hardware store. Use needle-nose pliers to remove the old chain from the tank, including the metal ring on the flapper valve and the small clip on the flush lever bar.
7.
Open the small metal ring that came with the new chain. Insert the metal ring into the hole at the top of the flapper valve. Put the last link of the chain onto the open ring and squeeze it closed with needle-nose pliers. Be sure it's pushed together tightly to avoid it coming loose.
8.
Thread the opposite end of the chain onto the metal clip and attach the clip to the hole on the end of the flush lever bar. If the chain is too long or has a lot of slack in it, try adjusting the clip, moving it down the chain to tighten the slack. Remove the extra portion of the chain by opening a link with the needle-nose pliers.
9.
Turn the water supply on by rotating the knob counter-clockwise. Flush the toilet to make sure everything works. Adjust the tightness of the chain, if necessary. Replace the tank lid.
Things You Will Need
- Replacement chain, if necessary
- Needle-nose pliers
Tip
If you do need to replace the chain, consider replacing the flapper at the same time. Both parts wear out, and as long as you're down in there it doesn't take much longer to replace both. Most replacement flappers come with a new chain.

Once water fills the toilet tank after a flush, a floating ball prompts the water to stop flowing. When the toilet flush is pressed, the lift chain pulls a rubber flapper, which opens a hole in the bottom of the toilet tank allowing water to enter the toilet bowl.

The toilet chain is a small but mighty component of your toilet that works on a simple mechanism. But this vital component of your plumbing system is also the source of many plumbing problems. That’s why it’s important to know how to replace the toilet lift chain.

Before you stress, you don’t need to be a professional plumber to do this job. Our simple, four-step guide will show you how.

When Should I Fix or Replace My Toilet Lift Chain?

If your toilet is experiencing any of these symptoms, it’s likely time to replace the lift chain.

1. Your Toilet Chain Broke

Over time, the lift chain will experience regular wear and tear and corrosion. You may notice that when you flush the toilet you hear the sound of a metallic chain falling inside the tank.

2. Your Toilet Chain Keeps Coming Off

It’s not uncommon for the toilet chain to come off. If the toilet chain detaches from the flapper, you may be able to reattach it. But if you reattach the chain and it continues to come off, we recommend replacing the part.

3. Your Toilet Is Always Running

There are lots of things that can cause a toilet to run constantly, but if this issue is caused by the lift chain, it’s because the lift chain is either too short or too long.

If the chain is too short, it won’t have enough slack to allow the flapper to settle on its seat. Similarly, if the lift chain is too long, it will hang off the flapper. During flushing, it can go underneath the flapper, preventing proper sealing, leaving your toilet to run constantly.

4. Your Toilet Doesn’t Flush Completely

If you have to hold the toilet handle down for the toilet bowl to empty, the lift chain likely has too much slack. This can cause the flapper to be pulled up too easily or fall down too quickly. Adjusting the chain as seen in our tutorial below should remedy the issue.

How to Adjust a Toilet Chain in 5 Steps

If your toilet chain keeps coming off, it could have too much slack and may just need to be adjusted and not replaced.

Step 1. Turn the water to the toilet off by closing the shut-off valve, located under the toilet tank and where the water comes out of the wall. Turn this valve clockwise to stop the water flow.

Step 2. Remove the lid from the toilet tank.

Step 3. Unhook the pin in the chain located at the end of the handle arm. Put the pin down a few links in the chain. You want to move this toward the flapper to make the chain shorter.

Step 4. Reinstall the pin onto the end of the handle. Return the lid to the toilet tank.

Step 5. Turn the water valve back on and let the tank fill up. Flush the toilet to see if this remedied the issue. If the problem isn’t fixed you may need to adjust the toilet chain again.

How to Replace a Toilet Lift Chain in 6 Steps

Step 1. Turn the water to the toilet off by closing the shut-off valve, located under the toilet tank and where the water comes out of the wall. Turn this valve clockwise to stop the water flow.

Step 2. Remove the lid from the toilet tank.

Step 3. Disconnect the chain from the handle arm and remove the old flapper and the old chain. These are attached so they need to be replaced together. Remove by sliding them off the mounting arms, then discard.

Step 4. Put the new flapper on the mounting arms the same way you removed the old one.

Step 5. Determine how much slack you need to attach the chain to the handle arm. This is a critical step for the proper operation of the toilet. As you know, if there is too much slack it might not lift the flapper properly which can cause continuous water flow, or it can prevent your toilet from flushing altogether.

You can make sure that you have enough slack by adjusting the toilet flapper so that it sits flat. Then, hold the chain up towards the arm handle. Give the chain a little slack and attach it to the handle arm with the clip pin.

Step 6. When the chain and the flapper are in place turn the water to the toilet back on and test it by flushing. If it doesn’t flush properly, adjust the slack in the chain until it works as it should.

Can you flush a toilet with a broken chain?

However, you can still flush a toilet with a broken chain. All you need to do is remove the toilet tank lid, reach down to the bottom of the water tank, and lift the flapper. Remove the toilet tank lid. Reach down into the tank water and flip the flapper up to flush the toilet.

Can the chain in the toilet be replaced?

Identify the problems with the chain. If a chain is rusty and broken, it should be completely replaced. However, it could simply have a loose link that must be reattached. If the chain has come disconnected from the flush lever bar or the flapper valve, it will have to be reattached.

Why do toilet chains break?

One of the most common reasons why the chain and flapper keep falling off is that the chain has far too much slack. You need to make sure the chain has enough slack so it can completely open and close when you flush the toilet.