Toilet repairs and replacement on the Central Coast
Call 0476 000 533
Running, leaking and blocked toilets fixed, usually in one visit
ZC Plumbing repairs running, leaking and blocked toilets and replaces old toilet suites across the Central Coast, from Terrigal and Erina to Gosford. Toilets are the most common repair we do, ahead of taps, showers and blocked drains, and most are fixed in one visit.
In business hours there's no separate call-out fee, and most toilet repairs invoice at around $200 or more depending on the part, with the figure given to you before we leave. Every job carries our lifetime warranty on labour and workmanship. Call 0476 000 533, or send a photo through the form of the toilet and the cistern with the lid off.
Toilet running or leaking? What is usually wrong
A toilet that keeps running after a flush, or refills by itself every so often, almost always has a worn washer or seal inside the cistern. Either the inlet valve isn't shutting off, or the flush valve at the bottom of the cistern is letting water trickle into the bowl. It's the most common leak in a house, and because it's quiet it can run for months, adding to your water bill the whole time.
You can check for the slow kind yourself. Put a few drops of food colouring in the cistern, don't flush, and look at the bowl after fifteen minutes. If the colour has reached the bowl, the flush valve is leaking.
Water on the floor at the base of the pan is a different fault. That's usually the pan collar, the rubber connector between the toilet and the drain, or the seal under the cistern. Don't leave it, because water sitting under a toilet gets into the floor and the waterproofing, and that turns a toilet repair into a bathroom renovation. If you can't see where it's coming from, leak detection finds it without lifting the tiles.
Should I repair the toilet or replace it?
Most toilets are worth repairing. Cistern parts are cheap and fitting them takes less time than a replacement. It's worth replacing when the pan or cistern is cracked, when the parts for an old cistern are no longer made, or when the toilet is a single-flush model from the 1970s or 80s, which can use somewhere between 9 and 12 litres every flush.
A new suite has to be dual flush and carry a WELS water rating. Most sold now are 4 star, 4.5 litres for a full flush and 3 for a half, so a family swapping out an old single-flush toilet uses noticeably less water from the first week. The Water Efficiency Labelling Scheme explains what the stars mean.
If the rest of the bathroom is tired too, it's usually cheaper to replace the toilet as part of a bathroom renovation than to do it now and disturb the floor again later.
Toilet replacement: close-coupled, back-to-wall or wall-hung
Replacing a toilet means taking the old suite out, checking the drain connection and the floor under it, fitting a new pan collar, and connecting and testing the new suite. When the new pan lines up with the existing drain it's usually a couple of hours.
The thing that decides whether a toilet is a simple swap is the set-out, the distance from the wall to the centre of the drain, and whether the drain comes out of the floor or the wall. A new suite with a different set-out may need the drain moved, which is why we ask for a photo of the old toilet and, if you've picked one, the model of the new one.
Back-to-wall suites hide the pipework and are easier to clean around. Wall-hung toilets need an in-wall cistern frame built into the wall, so they're usually done during a renovation rather than as a swap.
Blocked toilet that keeps coming back
A plunger clears most one-off blockages. Avoid chemical drain cleaners, they don't shift what's usually causing the problem and they're hard on older pipes.
If the toilet blocks again within weeks, or gurgles when the shower or the washing machine drains, the problem is further down the line. On the Central Coast that's tree roots in old earthenware sewer pipe most of the time. We clear it with a high-pressure jetter and put a camera down the line so you can see the cause. That's $385 including GST, and the full story is on the blocked drains page.
If sewage is coming up into the shower or out of the gully outside, call 0476 000 533 rather than using the form.
How much does a toilet repair or replacement cost?
In business hours there's no separate call-out fee. Most toilet repairs, a new inlet valve, a flush valve seal or a pan collar, invoice at around $200 or more depending on the part, and you're told the figure before we leave.
A toilet replacement depends on the suite you choose and whether the new one lines up with the existing drain. Send a photo of the old toilet and the model of the new one and we'll give you a price before the day.
After hours, the 24/7 emergency call-out is $300, $350 on a Sunday and $450 on a public holiday.
Toilets for older people and NDIS participants
Raised toilets, a grab rail fixed into the wall structure rather than the tiles, and enough room beside the pan for a carer make a toilet usable for longer. We fit these as one-off jobs and as part of accessible bathroom renovations built to your occupational therapist's plans.
Toilet repair questions
It depends mostly on the suite you choose and whether its drain position matches the old one. In business hours there's no separate call-out fee, and we'll give you a price for the fitting once we've seen a photo of the old toilet and know the new model.
Usually a worn washer or seal in the cistern, either the inlet valve not shutting off or the flush valve leaking into the bowl. It's a common, quick repair, and worth doing because a running toilet adds to your water bill every day it runs.
A running cistern isn't, you can turn the stop tap behind the toilet off until we get there. Water spreading across the floor, a toilet that's overflowing, or sewage coming up anywhere in the house is, and that's when to use the 24/7 emergency call-out.
You can flush it, but get it fixed soon. Water leaking from the pan collar goes into the floor and the waterproofing under the tiles, and the longer it runs, the bigger the repair.
Not just because of its age. If it flushes properly, doesn't leak and parts are still available, a repair is usually the better value. Replace it if it's cracked, single flush, or the cistern parts are no longer made.
Yes. In NSW anything connected to the drainage or the water supply has to be done by a licensed plumber, and that includes taking a toilet off and putting a new one on. ZC works under licence 386374C.
Related services: Hot water, Blocked drains, Emergency plumbing, Bathroom renovations, and everything else we do.
Get a toilet fixed
Call 0476 000 533, or send a photo of the toilet and the cistern with the lid off, and we'll tell you what it's likely to be. If sewage is coming up inside, call rather than using the form.
We fix toilets across Terrigal, Erina, Gosford, Kincumber, Avoca Beach and the rest of the suburbs on our service areas page.
