Based on aggregated data, replacing a toilet fill valve costs $60 to $300, with a typical professional job landing near $125. The valve itself accounts for $10 to $90 of that and labor for $50 to $210. The work takes 30 to 60 minutes, and no permit is typically required.
The fill valve is the vertical assembly bolted through the tank floor, fed by the supply line, that lets water back in after a flush and closes when its float rises to the set level. It is one of three moving parts in a standard toilet tank, and the three price very differently: a flapper is a clip-on part, a fill valve is a half-hour swap, and a flush valve means lifting the tank off the bowl. This page prices all three, because the call that starts as “the toilet keeps running” usually ends as one of them, and occasionally as all three on the same visit.
What the $60 to $300 Covers
| Component | Low | Typical | High |
|---|---|---|---|
| Fill valve and small parts | $10 | $20 | $90 |
| Labor (30–60 minutes) | $50 | $105 | $210 |
| Total | $60 | $125 | $300 |
Labor is about 84 percent of a typical job — $105 of $125. That is the highest labor share of any bathroom job priced on this site, and it follows from the arithmetic of a short call. A plumbing visit commonly carries a trade minimum of $75 to $200 before any work is counted, and a fill valve takes an hour or less. So the invoice is mostly the visit, and the part is close to a rounding error.
Spread across the time actually worked, the typical $105 labor figure implies roughly $105 to $210 per hour. That is not a premium hourly rate; it is a fixed call-out cost divided over very few minutes. The same structure is why the valve chosen moves the invoice less than the call does: the $80 spread in part prices sits beside a $160 spread in labor, and the labor moves with who is called and when, not with the valve.
What those 30 to 60 minutes contain is short: the water is shut off at the angle stop behind the toilet, the tank is flushed and sponged dry, the supply line is disconnected, the locknut under the tank is released, the old valve lifts out, the new one is set to the tank’s height and fastened, the supply is reconnected, and the float is adjusted until the water stops about an inch below the top of the overflow tube. The final full refill cycle, watched for a drip at the tank shank, is what separates a finished job from a return visit.
Fill Valve Cost by Type
The part is the one variable a homeowner controls completely, and it spans a nine-fold range.
| Valve type | Part price | Installed by a plumber | What the extra money buys |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard adjustable plastic valve | $10–$25 | $90–$150 | Fits most standard two-piece tanks; height adjusts to the tank |
| Anti-siphon standard valve | $10–$25 | $90–$150 | Priced in the same band as a standard valve; many current universal valves are anti-siphon designs |
| Quiet-fill or high-performance assembly | $35–$90 | $135–$300 | Faster, quieter refill; adjustable fill rate |
| Brass-shank valve | $35–$90 | $135–$300 | Metal threads at the tank connection instead of plastic |
Most universal valves fit most standard two-piece tanks, which is why the standard row is the common case and why the typical job lands near $125. Some one-piece, dual-flush and designer toilets use a manufacturer-specific fill valve, and those parts sit in the upper band. Where the toilet’s make and model are known before the visit, the right part arrives on the first trip; where they are not, a second trip for a model-specific valve is a second call-out.
Two situations cost less than a replacement. A tank that keeps running into the overflow tube is sometimes a float set too high, which is an adjustment with no part at all. And some valves accept a replacement cap seal. At $10 to $25 for a complete standard valve, though, most professional repairs replace the whole assembly rather than service it, because the labor to rebuild and the labor to replace are the same visit.
Fill Valve, Flapper or Flush Valve: Three Jobs, Three Prices
A running toilet is a symptom shared by three different parts, and the price depends on which one it turns out to be.
| Part | Part price | Professional time | Professional total | What the job involves |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Flapper | $5–$15 | About 30 minutes or less | $50–$120 | Tank stays on the bowl; the flapper unclips from the overflow tube and chain |
| Fill valve | $10–$90 | 30–60 minutes | $60–$300 (typical $125) | Tank stays on the bowl; supply line and locknut underneath |
| Flush valve (two-piece toilet) | $20–$40 as a kit | 45 minutes–2 hours | $100–$450 (published average near $270) | Tank comes off the bowl; new tank bolts, tank-to-bowl gasket, re-seated tank |
| Tank-to-bowl gasket and bolts only | $10–$40 | Similar to a flush valve | $80–$200 | Same tank separation as a flush valve, without the valve |
| Handle or trip lever | A small part | About 30 minutes or less | $50–$120 | Chain length and lever; tank stays on |
The flush valve row is the one that explains the rest of the table. On a two-piece toilet, the flush valve is the large fitting in the bottom of the tank that the flapper closes onto, and it is clamped between the tank and the bowl by a single large nut. There is no way to reach it with the tank in place. Replacing it means draining the tank, removing the tank bolts, lifting the tank off, fitting the new valve and a new tank-to-bowl gasket, and then re-seating the tank level on new bolts without cracking the china. The part costs about the same as a fill valve; the job is a different job, which is why the professional total runs roughly twice as high.
Flush valves on one-piece and dual-flush toilets are frequently manufacturer-specific assemblies rather than universal kits, and that, together with corroded tank bolts that have to be cut free, is what carries a flush valve job toward the top of its $100 to $450 band.
What the Symptom Usually Costs
| What is seen or heard | The part most often responsible | Part only | Professional repair |
|---|---|---|---|
| The toilet refills by itself between uses, or dye added to the tank shows in the bowl | Flapper | $5–$15 | $50–$120 |
| Constant hiss; water keeps trickling into the overflow tube | Fill valve, or a float set too high | $0–$25 | $60–$300 |
| Tank takes several minutes to refill | Fill valve clogged with debris or scale, or a partly closed shutoff | $0–$25 | $60–$300 |
| New flapper fitted and the leak continues | Pitted or warped flush valve seat | $20–$40 | $100–$450 |
| Water dripping from under the tank | Tank-to-bowl gasket or tank bolts | $10–$40 | $80–$200 |
| Water at the base of the toilet | The wax seal or flange, not a tank part | $3–$25 in seals | $75–$450, typically $200 |
The last row is the one that leaves this price list entirely. A leak at the base means the toilet comes off the floor: a new seal on a sound flange is priced in toilet wax ring replacement cost at $75 to $450, typically $200, and the flange and subfloor figures behind a worse outcome are on the toilet installation cost page. How long each tank part typically lasts, and the dye test the EPA describes for finding a silent flapper leak, are covered in how long a toilet lasts; a fill valve typically serves 5 to 10 years and a flapper 3 to 5.
Who Does the Work, and What Each Route Costs
The valve costs the same whoever fits it. The labor line is what changes, and it changes with the pricing model more than with skill.
| Route | Part | Labor | Total | How the labor is billed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part only (DIY) | $10–$90 | $0 | $10–$90 | An hour of the owner’s time and an adjustable wrench |
| Handyman | $10–$90 | $50–$150 | $60–$240 | Hourly, commonly $50 to $150, often with a one-hour minimum |
| Plumber, standard hours | $10–$90 | $80–$210 | $90–$300 | A trade minimum of $75 to $200, then $75 to $150 per hour |
| Plumber, evening or weekend | $10–$90 | $130–$210 | $140–$300 | 25 to 50 percent above the standard rate; more overnight |
Three points fall out of the table:
- The low end of the $60 to $300 range is a handyman price. A like-for-like tank-part swap is routine enough that many handymen take it, and their hourly rates start lower than a licensed plumber’s.
- A flat rate hides an hourly figure. Many plumbing companies quote one figure covering the trip, the first hour and a standard valve. It lands inside the standard-hours row, because it carries the same economics; it only moves the risk of a job running long from the customer to the company. The structure of trip fees, minimums and flat pricing is set out in what a plumber charges per hour.
- Timing moves the price more than the valve does. Applying the 25 to 50 percent evening-and-weekend uplift to the $105 typical labor figure gives roughly $130 to $160; overnight and holiday rates at 1.5 to 2 times standard reach the $210 top of the labor band. A running toilet rarely has to be an after-hours call, because the angle stop behind the toilet shuts off its water.
Doing It Without a Plumber: The Numbers
| Item | Typical cost |
|---|---|
| Standard adjustable fill valve | $10–$25 |
| Premium quiet-fill or brass-shank valve (instead) | $35–$90 |
| Braided supply line, if replaced at the same time | $8–$20 |
| Flapper, if replaced at the same time | $5–$15 |
| Adjustable wrench, sponge, bucket, towels | Commonly already owned |
| Part-only total, fill valve plus supply line | $18–$45 standard; $43–$110 premium |
| Professional fill valve replacement | $60–$300, typical $125 |
The saving is the labor line, $50 to $210, and nothing else. What it does not cover is the risk that sits outside the tank. An angle stop that has not been turned in years may not close fully, and an old supply line can crack when it is disturbed; both turn a $20 part into a call anyway. A seized shutoff is typically a $10 to $25 part plus up to an hour of labor, and a supply line that fails under pressure falls into burst pipe repair pricing at $200 to $2,000.
The DIY margin here is the reverse of most fixture jobs. On a toilet installation, the fixture is half the bill and DIY saves the other half. On a fill valve, the part is about a sixth of a typical job and DIY saves the rest, which is why published figures for this repair range from a $10 part to a $300 invoice without either figure being wrong.
Bundling: One Visit or Three
Because the trade minimum is charged per visit, not per part, the order in which tank parts fail decides a large share of what they cost.
| Scenario | Parts | What is paid | Approximate total |
|---|---|---|---|
| Flapper, fill valve and flush valve on three separate calls | $35–$80 | Three call-outs | About $480 at typical prices (flapper midpoint $85, fill valve $125, flush valve near $270) |
| Whole tank rebuild on one visit | $30–$65 | One call-out, one tank separation | Published near $300 |
| Fill valve added to a flush valve job already under way | $10–$25 | Minutes, not a visit | The part plus a small time increment |
The difference is roughly $180, and it is almost entirely call-out charges paid once instead of three times. The parts barely change, since a flush valve kit at $20 to $40 commonly includes a flapper, and a standard fill valve adds $10 to $25. Where the tank is already coming off for a flush valve or a tank-to-bowl gasket, the fill valve is the cheapest possible addition to that job; replaced on its own a year later, it costs a full visit.
The same logic runs across fixtures. A running toilet fixed on the same call as a dripping faucet shares one minimum between the two jobs — the faucet side is priced in bathroom faucet replacement cost, and a basin and faucet together in bathroom sink installation cost.
What Not Fixing It Costs
A fill valve or flapper that leaks inside the tank damages nothing; it wastes water, and the water is billed. The EPA’s WaterSense program reports that nine percent of homes have leaks wasting 50 gallons or more per day, that a worn flapper can silently leak thousands of gallons a year, and that fixing easily corrected household leaks saves homeowners about 10 percent on their water bills.
At a combined water and sewer rate of $8 to $15 per 1,000 gallons, a leak at that 50-gallon-a-day threshold runs:
| Period | Gallons | Cost at $8–$15 per 1,000 gallons |
|---|---|---|
| Per day | 50 | $0.40–$0.75 |
| Per month | About 1,500 | $12–$23 |
| Per quarter (a typical billing cycle) | About 4,550 | $36–$68 |
Set against those figures, a $10 to $25 fill valve pays for itself in a month or two, and a typical $125 professional repair in roughly five to ten months. A toilet that runs continuously into the overflow tube can exceed the 50-gallon threshold by a wide margin, and the payback shortens with it. Every fill valve in a house also sits downstream of the supply pressure at the main, and the device that holds that pressure down is priced in water pressure regulator installation.
Cost by City
The valve is a national product and costs the same in every metro; only the labor portion moves. Applying the formula City Adjusted Cost = National Average × City Labor Adjustment Factor to the $105 typical labor figure, with the $20 typical part held flat:
| City | Labor Adjustment Factor | Typical Job (part flat + labor scaled) | Labor Range | vs. National |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chicago, IL | 1.33 | $160 | $67–$280 | +33% |
| New York, NY | 1.23 | $150 | $62–$260 | +23% |
| Denver, CO | 1.07 | $130 | $54–$225 | +7% |
| Dallas, TX | 0.89 | $115 | $45–$185 | −11% |
| Tampa, FL | 0.87 | $110 | $44–$185 | −13% |
Labor adjustment factors are derived from BLS Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (May 2025): the median ratio of local to national hourly wages across the trades that do this work. How this is calculated.
Chicago carries the highest labor factor in the dataset at 1.33, ahead of New York at 1.23, because trade labor tracks local wages and union density rather than cost of living.
On a job with about $105 of labor in it, though, the whole spread between the most and least expensive metros is roughly $50. The trade minimum in a given market matters more to this invoice than the metro factor does. The methodology page explains how each factor is derived.
When the Repair Stops Making Sense
A single fill valve at a typical $125 is about a third of a typical $400 toilet installation, and a flapper is less than that. A whole professional tank rebuild near $300 is about three quarters of the same installation, and more than the low end of the $200 to $700 installed range. That is the band where the question changes from which part to whether the tank parts are the problem at all.
Three conditions tip it toward replacement: a crack in the china, which no tank part fixes; a pre-1994 toilet flushing 3.5 gallons or more, where the water saved by a new toilet outweighs any repair; and a toilet already coming off the floor for a flange or seal repair, where the labor is paid either way. The arithmetic for each is worked through in the toilet lifespan data, and replacement pricing by toilet type is on the toilet installation cost page.
What Drives the Price
- Who is called — $50 to $210 in labor. A handyman at $50 to $150 an hour sits at the bottom of the band; a licensed plumber with a trade minimum of $75 to $200 sits in the middle and top.
- Valve type — $10 to $90. A standard adjustable valve at $10 to $25 against a quiet-fill or brass-shank assembly at $35 to $90.
- Which part failed — $50 to $450. A flapper at $50 to $120, a fill valve at $60 to $300, a flush valve at $100 to $450 because the tank has to come off.
- Timing — 25 percent to double. Evenings and weekends commonly add 25 to 50 percent to labor; overnight and holiday calls 1.5 to 2 times standard.
- Supply line — $8 to $20 in parts. Often replaced at the same time, because an old line is the connection most likely to fail after it is disturbed.
- A shutoff that will not close — $10 to $25 in parts, plus up to an hour. Common in older homes where the angle stop has not been turned in years.
- Model-specific parts — the top of each band. One-piece, dual-flush and designer toilets frequently need the manufacturer’s own valve.
- Bundling — roughly $180. The difference between three separate visits for three tank parts and one visit for all of them.
- City labor rates — Chicago 1.33 at the top of the dataset, San Antonio 0.85 at the bottom. Applied to labor only.
Related Bathroom Costs
- Toilet installation cost — $200 to $700 installed, including the flange and subfloor figures behind a leak at the base
- How long a toilet lasts — part-by-part lifespans and the cost of a toilet per year of service
- Bathroom sink installation cost — the other fixture most often repaired on the same call
- Shower valve replacement cost — a valve job where the wall, not the part, sets the price
- Bathroom faucet replacement cost — $150 to $680, and how a shared visit changes the labor line
- All bathroom costs · Methodology
Last updated: October 2026. All figures reflect aggregated national cost data and are not a quote for a specific toilet. Actual pricing depends on which tank part has failed, the valve chosen, the toilet model, and the local market. See the methodology page for how figures are calculated and sourced.