mysterious toilet tank question

[<no_spam_4me_rise4peace]

Howdy,

I've recently noticed that the tank on one of my toilets seems to mysteriously empty itself over a period of a couple of hours.

When I go to check on the tank it's empty and requires a jiggling of the flusher in order for the water to refill the tank.

The toilets are kohler and I've just purchased the repair parts online and hope that installing these new parts will fix the problem, the toilets themselves are about 4 years old, but I am still curious how the water is getting out of the tank w/o me flushing the toilet. Could the toilet itself be cracked?

Thanks for any and all help.

Best Regards,

rise4peace

[David Martel]

rise,

I think you have 2 problems: 1) the water is leaving the toilet tank and

2) the toilet valve is not replacing the water as it leaves the tank. Let's look at the first problem. Flush the toilet and let it go through it's cycle and refill. Add vegetable dye (left over from coloring the Easter eggs) to the water in the tank. Go away for a few hours. Look in the toilet. Is the water in the toilet now colored? If so your flapper valve needs to be replaced. This is the black rubber thing at the bottom of the tank. If the water in the toilet is not colored then look for a pool of colored water on the floor around the toilet. If you find a pool look for a cracked tank(unlikely) or a bad seal where the toilet and the tank bolt together(likely). On to problem #2. Remove the lid from the tank. Is the float arm hanging in mid air? If so there is dirt or grit binding things up. Clean or replace the float arm. Of the float arm is down then there is dirt or grit in the valve itself. Clean or replace it. Your local library has DIY books which will cover all of these repairs. They are easy to do. Porcelain fixtures will chip or crack So, don't over tighten things , don't drop wrenches on the fixtures, et c.

Good luck, Dave M.

[<no_spam_4me_rise4peace]

Thanks Dave for the incredibly helpful suggestions. I will try out your suggestions first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks again for responding.

cheers,

rise4peace

[Travis Jordan]

Don't be so quick to assume that the fill valve is broken. Some fill valves have a 'leak sentry' feature that prevents them from automatically refilling the tank. That's actually a good thing; otherwise, your toilet would be refilling itself all day long because of the float valve leak. It is possible that the fill valve is working as it is designed to.