There’s a tiny, constant current of water running from the tank to the bowl. The bowl never gets any fuller, which makes sense. What does not make sense (to me, anyway) is that the tank never gets lower. It’s been doing this for a week now and I’ve not once heard the tank refilling without a flush. Today I took the top off the tank and watched… the level in the tank remains constant, with no addition of water that I can perceive. There’s no sound, no water movement, nothing to indicate that the water in the tank is circulating at all. It’s as if the water is coming straight from the supply line into the bowl.
There should be a tube that runs into the overflow pipe. Pull it out and see if it’s dribbling water. I’ll bet that the valve isn’t closing all the way.
When I had a leaky flap, that’s what appeared to be happening to my toilet. I’d never hear the tank refill but the level seemed to remain constant. What I think was happening is that the float would drop down just a hair and water would seep into the tank but it wasn’t audible.
Anyway, you should fix it. I let it drag on for a month or so and my water usage tripled. (from 1300 gallons to 4500 gallons) :eek: I had no idea how much water a leaky toilet could consume. Replaced the flap ($3) and my water usage is back to normal.
I don’t know if letting it drag on for a month would count, but our water dept mentioned somewhere that if you had a plumbing problem that caused you to go through an excess amount of water, they would give you a credit if you can show that you fixed the problem. But I always figured that’s more for something like you went on a vacation and a water pipe ruptured causing you to go through many thousands of gallons over a few days.
When you push the lever to flush, a flap on the bottom of the tank opens and releases the water all at once, with a whoosh. That is then supposed to seal and the tank fills till the float reaches the top of its arc.
But if the flap isn’t making a good seal, the tank can’t fill to the point where the float shuts it off. Probably an easy DIY repair.
Yeah, my water department does the same thing. In fact, I had called them about possible leaks when I first got the excessive bill and they were the ones who told me that it was probably the toilet; I knew it was leaking a little but never realized it would add up to so much. So I fixed it and they did credit me.
It looks like it’s the flap. If I reach down and push it against the seat, the leak stops. I shall endeavour to locate one at the hardware store tomorrow. Thanks.
I haven’t replaced one in a long time and don’t know how much variety you’re going to find. You may want to shut off the water supply, remove the old one, and take it with you to Home Depot etc. so you get the right one.
Welcome to the world of toilet repair. Get used to it. All my toilets have had their insides completely replaced, bit by bit, several times. Fortunately parts are fairly cheap and the repair is simple. And the flapper is about the easiest part to replace.
Assuming you have something quasi-standard, a Fluidmaster flapper would be your best choice. The regular ones are black, the ones for hard water are a burnt umber color, and if you have a low flow toilet, they have a dial-a-flush flapper which is adjustable (big improvement over the plastic timing cup).