What would cause the water in the toilet tank to drain out completely? There isn't any outside leak. Would it be the gasket at the bottom of the ballcock? I put in a new ballcock thinking that this was the problem but the water is still draining out. Any suggestions would be appreciated. Thanks.
Best let a plumber "pipe up" on this group, but when that happened to me, I found that my roof vent pipe had been plugged with leaf litter, so that when another part of the house or street sewer piping created a partial vacuum due to normal water outflow, the bowl was sucked dry. The ballcock is not the problem in your case, as far as I know. Check for clogs in vent pipe.
He asked about the water in the tank, not the bowl. It has the be the flapper valve at the bottom of the tank. I'm wondering why the water is not coming on as the tank empties.
Al
I ought to stop watching tv while trying to read these posts. Sorry, J and K! Ignore my answer. Roger
I'll try again. Right, this is an emty tank; not bowl! Check the flapper - does it leak? Does the ballcock turn on the water when you lower the ball? It should. There may be a clog/plug in the pipe, or the inlet valve itself is defective. Roger
It would help if I would tell the story right. I didn't mean the ballcock but the flush valve. It all started with a hissing noise coming out of the tank. I turned off the water to the tank and by the next morning the water was down to the bottom of the tank. I went to a shop to get a replace flush valve and the owner talked me into replacing the red gasket on the flush valve first because that is what usually gets worn out first. Did that and still a hissing noise and water drainage. Went back and got a complete flush valve kit and replaced the whole thing. Filled up the tank, no outside leak, no hissing sound. Turned the water off to make sure the water wasn't leaking out from the inside and next morning, tank dry. Your turn. Thanks
The hissing was the ballcock throttling, allowing just enough water into the tank to replace the water at the rate it was lost through the leaky flapper or flush valve.
BTW: Sometimes just cleaning the flapper and seat, and checking for proper alignment, can be a lifesaver. This is a common problem in areas with hard water!
However, old worn-out parts should be replaced. There are kits available to allow replacement of most internal parts without removal of the tank (separation from the bowl).
You may need a new toilet, then. ;-(
If the water is not showing up on the floor, then it's exiting via the bowl. That's either a leaky flush (flapper) valve, leaky threads/seat at the tank-to-bowl union, or cracked porcelain.
You may have to at least separate the tank from the bowl to see what is going on, and at that point, you are probably just better off replacing the entire commode. Unless you have a very gaudy/rare/sentimental model, crappers aren't all that expensive...
...and you'll save water with the newer models, anyway.
Plumbing is a lot like a poker hand: It is impossible to simultaneously have a full house and a straight flush!
-- -john wide-open at throttle dot info
~~~~~~~~ "The first step in intelligent tinkering is to save all the parts." - Aldo Leopold ~~~~~~~~
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