Leaky Toilet

[Clark Griswold]

Take some Scotch-brite and rub the area where the flapper seals with the base. Just had this problem two nights ago and that was the fix.

[PrecisionMachinisT]

Begs the question.....

Tried moving it back upstairs yet ???

[eckhard4]

Help please,

We just had a bathroom put in our basement of our old house. We reused the toilet from upstairs bathroom that we had remodel 2 years ago. The problems the flapper allows water to run from the tank into the bowl and cause it to" flush" itself we replace the flapper which did not help. It did not have this problem when had the toilet upstairs.

Thank you very much~~~!!!!!!!!! jim

[Tony Hwang]

Hi, Maybe not the flapper. The what is not shut off tight when float rises? Tony

[eckhard4]

I am sorry I do not understand.

[Mikepier]

You have a toilet that flushes itself and you want to stop it? I wish I had a toilet that flushes itself!

All kidding aside, if you tried cleaning the valve seat with scotchbrite as the other poster said, and it still does not work, maybe your toilet does not work with aftermarket replacement flappers. Some toilets only work well with the OEM flappers. My Eljer toilet had this problem.

[David Martel]

Jim,

As others have suggested clean the flapper's valve seat. It should feel smooth. If the float is not properly positioned the water may not shut off so lift the float gently and see if the water shuts off. If it does stop then you need to bend the float arm down near the float. If the water level in the tank is too high water will run into the overflow tube constantly. Bending the float arm down as described above will fix this. If the ballcock valve is worn it can also cause the problem you describe. Look at the one in your toilet and find the right rebuild kit at the store. These kits come with directions.

Dave M.

[Mikepier]

Sounds like maybe the wax seal was not put on properly. You pretty much have to take the toilet off to look. If it was put on right, check for any cracks underneath that might cause the leak.

[dickwells]

It is a pain when the tank to bowl bolts start to leak. I have successfully fixed them by drying out the tank well and coating the top of the bolt well with silicone caulk. Be sure to use enough. Good luck, RW

[Mikepier]

Yeah, I just read it again. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

[pgdickerson]

This might be plumbing heresy, but here's what I did. I bought new tank to bowl bolts. They came with FOUR rubber washers, FOUR steel washers, and FOUR nuts. So, I figured why not use them all? I put it together so that I have a rubber washer INSIDE the tank and another OUTSIDE the tank. With the tank off the toilet, I tightened each bolt with a washer and a nut. Then, I put the tank back one and secured it with the remaining steel washers and nuts.

That way, the hole in the tank is "washered" on both sides and the bolts are held in place independently of the toilet. So, I don't have to tighten the whole tank assembly to hold the washers.

Don't know if this is the right thing to do, but it has worked well for me several times...

--Phil

The Dave© wrote:

[Joe]

This may be obvious, but how did you assemble the tank to the bowl? The proper sequence is to put the rubber washer on the bolt, slide it through the tank hole, put a metal washer and nut on the bolt and tighten it down to seal the tank hole. Don't over tighten. Then place this tank assembly on the bowl, add another washer and another nut to hold it in place.

[Joseph Meehan]

I would just add that the mounting bolts don't leak. They just hold it steady. As Mike wrote, there are only two things that can leak there. The wax ring and a crack in the toilet.

[Joseph Meehan]

Back again. Sorry I misread the original message. Looks like Mike may have also.

You may need new washers between the tank and the bowl as the old ones may have dried out and cracked when the toilet was moved to fix the wax ring.

[MTLnews]

There are many qualities of wax rings. The plain one, then the reenforced one which has a small fiberglass meshing to avoid it compacting too much, and keeps integrity. And then there is a smiilar reenforced one with a PVC cone/cup which I usually prefer. Especially since the price difference from the cheapest to the most expensive is maybe $1 or $2 at most anyhow. Anyhow that is fixed.

For the leak between the tank and the bowl, it could be 2 things.. Is it leaking from the bolts area, or from the area between the tank and the bowl (ie: water flow area)? If it is the bolts area, just get a set with new washers and bolts (about $5 for the kit), and use them all as one other person suggested, this should solve the problem. If it is between the tank and bowl, then I'd say to replace the rubber seal ring which is used between the tank and bowl. I've seen these in 2 varieties. One is your typical basic one, which I find too flimsy, and the other is ALOT thicker. At the home depot here (in canada), the basic one is black, and the heavy dudty one is colored red (yours may not be red, but it does say "Heavy Duty". I use the RED one, and then press down on it when you put it together, and tighten. Be carefull not to overtighten, as to NOT crack the bowl or tank :)

If it still leaks, then I'd say you have a crack somewhere probably. If you really can't tell where it is coming from, then they have little tablets you can add to the water to color it, which will allow you easier to see where the source of the problem is. At Home Depot near my house, those coloring tablets are free of charge :)

Good Luck...

[RICARDO AQUINO]

I've tried changing that darn washer and it still leaked. So I went with the quick-fix as well. Emptied the tank, dried it out well, then applied a fair amount of silicone on and around the tank's nut/bolt and washer. Let it dry and my leak is gone for good.

[Art]

Turn off water and flush to drain tank. Physically push down on the tank while tightening nuts gently. You do not want to crank the tank or toilet so do not over tighten. Tighten them evenly. Turn water back on and hopefully leak is done. THe trick is to push the tank down and using the nut to absorb the slack you created instead of making the nut pull it down as you tighen.

[PaPaPeng]

I would have thought that would be the normal set-up. I dread the thought of applying hard metal pressure (the bolt and metal washer) directly on ceramic. Its an invitation to cracking the ceramic with just one turn too many.

That said is your water feeder tube from the c*ck the rigid type by any chance? There is a possibility that this may be just a mite too long and pushes up against the tank. This can happen when you replace a toilet wax seal and the old dimensions are slightly different. Then tightening the tank to bowl nuts may give a wrong sense of seal integrity.

[stretch]

Toilets are usually sold as a complete set. It is hard to buy just a tank. There are fitzall tanks, but they usually look like crap. No pun intended :-) What you want for a leak between the tank and bowl is called a close couple kit.

Stretch

[The Dave©]

It is the old rigid type. I have since decided that the tank may indeed be cracked and will go buy a new one tonight. I plan to get a new flexible hose at the same time.