The toilet is the biggest water consumer in the house. The toilet uses almost a quarter of all the water used in the house. And we are talking about a non-leaking toilet. Consider how much water a leaking toilet will use. That is why you should always inspect your toilet carefully from time to time to ensure that it's not leaking. Toilet leaks can be caused by many factors. A crack in the toilet bowl or the toilet tank can cause the toilet to leak. This leak is easy to spot and solve. You just need to look at the floor area around the toilet bowl or the wall area around the toilet tank to see the dampness. You can then decide whether to have the leaking toilet bowl or toilet tank repaired or replaced. But there is another more obscure toilet leak that occurs between the tank and the bowl. Water seeps through the flapper in the toilet tank to the toilet bowl even when the toilet is not being flushed. This is a very tricky leak because it's very hard to notice especially if it’s a slow leak. But there a few ways to tell whether the toilet tank is leaking and we are going to discuss all of them below. We are also going to look at the best solutions for this kind of toilet leak.
There are two main ways that you can use to test or detect a leak in the toilet tank. You can listen for funny sounds or you can use food coloring. Let us see how this works.
A leaking toilet tank will produce faint hissing or gurgling sounds. The pitch of this noise depends on the level of leaking. A slow leaking tank will produce very faint sounds that you can easily miss. A heavy leaking tank will produce louder sounds that you can hear. You should always look and listen to your toilet when cleaning the bathroom.
If you can't hear or see anything but you still suspect a leak, then there is a more effective way of testing the toilet tank. You will need to add a few drops of food coloring to the water in your toilet tank. Let the toilet stay for about two hours without being used or flushed. Then come back and look at the water in the toilet bowl. If you find any food coloring there, then your toilet tank is leaking.
The most common cause of a leak in the toilet tank is a damaged flapper. The flapper is a cover or seal at the base of the toilet tank. The flapper is used to prevent the flow of water from the tank to the bowl unless the toilet is being flushed. Rust, sediment buildup, or dirt or any other damage to the flapper can cause a leak. This is how you fix it.
You can remove and inspect the flapper to determine whether it needs replacing or not. You can then visit your local hardware store and buy a toilet flapper kit. Follow the instructions and replace the rubber flapper.
If you inspect the flapper and realize that its functional, then there could be other problems in the tank. Call a professional plumber who provides DC sewer services to help inspect and repair or replace your toilet.