toilet leak

[badgolferman]

One of our toilets has a slight leak into the bowl. The bathroom is attached to the bedroom so during the night I hear the tank fill itself back up very quickly. I have swapped flappers with the other toilet and even bought two new flappers. The first flapper was a Korky but my plumber friend said it was for other model toilets and I needed a Universal type Korky for the Universal - Rundle toilet in question. The toilet still leaks despite the new flapper. Do I need to replace the flush valve now? If so what do you suggest? Any gotchas to be wary of?

[Ed Pawlowski]

Did you put in the right flapper? Did you check that is is seating properly? There could be some buildup not allowing it to properly seal when it goes down. There should also be a little slack in the chain when closed too.

[Dean Hoffman]

Is it overfilling? Maybe the intake valve is letting the water level to rise too far and then the water is running out the overflow.

[badgolferman]

As far as I can tell the flapper is correct, at least according to my plumber friend. He sent me a picture of the Korky Universal 2001CM flapper. And yes, I took the scratchy side of a sponge and wiped the lip of the valve seat real good to get any crud off it. It feels smooth to me. There is about half inch slack in the chain.

[hubops]

Over-filling wouldn't cause it to fill quickly in the middle of the night - it would be constantly slowly filling. John T.

[invalid unparseable]

Could also be tank to bowl connection. I had to replace the seal once. I would also check the bolts of tank to bowl although leak with corroded bolt is normally outside. If you replace the seal, I would also replace the bolts.

[badgolferman]

Don't the bolts go outside of the bowl? There is no water on the floor or at the nuts.

[invalid unparseable]

Yes, I was thinking that a broken bolt might not leak on floor but cause a slight imbalance on the tank to bowl seal. It was many years ago that I had to replace a tank to bowl seal and cannot recall the problem as it presented itself but must have been a leak.

Cannot imagine a flapper not sealing if it fits the opening. I do have a Toto that requires an OEM flapper but problem is in the flush itself.

[Anonymous]

The leaking refill flush valve would not cause your problem of intermittent refills. It would cause overfilling, with water running down the overflow tube, and no need for a "refill".

If your convinced the new flapper is sealing OK, you could test for a leak in the tank-to-bowl seal.

1. Shutoff the cold water line valve.
2. Flush the toilet normally
3. Some water should remain in tank up to the lip of the flapper seal.
4. Add a small bottle of red food coloring to the water in tank.
5. Wait awhile to see if red water shows up in bowl.

Good Luck...

[trader_4]

Sounds like that is the best option now. Replace the whole assembly, they are cheap and it's not that hard to do, unless I guess if bolts won't come off, etc.

[danny burstein]

[snip]

We had a really hard to diagnose similar problem. Yes, thanks to the "food dye" test, we confirmed that water was slowly seeping from the tank into the bowl.

After much agonizing work, including removing the unit, separating the tank and the bowl, putting it back together, etc., etc., we discovered that...

... that the gasket between the tank and bowl had disintegrated enough that water was seeping through it and into the bowl.

Fortunately not onto the floor.

Solution: I stopped by the local shoe repair place, picked up a 5 inch square of rubberized material, cut a hole in it, and used it as a replacement "O ring".

(Any similar material would have worked; the shoe place was the most convenient).

What caused this?

We were using a pseudo chlorine tablet in the tank for sanitary purposes (yeah, save me the arguments about whether they work), and that little bit of chlorine ate away at the gasket.

If you go a'serch'in for:

"chlorine tablets eating away toilet gaskets"

you'll find lots of stories..

(if you're not using these then the chances of an "o ring" degradation are slimmer, but still could behappening).

[badgolferman]

I believe you have pointed me in the right direction. Indeed there was colored water in the bowl after trying the above method.

Now I will need a new bowl seal, bolts and seals. Do you think the ones at the box store are sufficient for my Universal-Rundle or should I go to a plumbing store?

Thanks!

[Anonymous]

Personally I always get these types of items from ACE Hardware. A nearby plumbing store would be next choice.

Good to hear you found the source :-)

[Anonymous]

Also I would suggest you disassemble toilet and take old seal and bolts to store to match. Appears that U-R may use different sizes.

[invalid unparseable]

That's what I would do. I recall my parts came from a hardware store.

[rbowman]

Are you sure it's leaking into the bowl and not around the base of the tank?

[rbowman]

I got mine from Home Depot but I took the old seal to be sure. If you're lucky the two mounting bolts won't be completely corroded. That's why the kits have new ones.

[micky]

I read this thread with great interest because I think I have the same problem. I looked in the tank and saw the bolts, and the thought of taking the whole thing apart this week didn't seem good. But that was about 30 hours ago and it doesn't seem to have leaked or run since then.

Some time after I moved in, I saw that the bathtub leaked when it drained, and water went down the chain to the dining room light's glass sphere. I finallly noticed when there were 2 inches of water in it. But that stopped after a few months and never leaked again. I concluded that the dirt in the bathtub, my dead skin and whatever else, had plugged the leak.

Isn't it possible that this could happen with this toilet leak, and isn't there a way to speed that up, to do what radiator stop-leak or raw eggs would do? I don't mean those products because radiators are hot, and leaks open into the air. (Maybe this toilet leak also opens into the air?)

But something else. Powdered something, even dirt, that would gradually fill the leak, which is certainly small to begin with. And any "powder" that doesn't go into the leak would be flushed down the toilet with the other water.

My problem just started about 4 weeks ago -- I noticed it just after I posted about replacing the valve -- and may have ended already. I'm certainly going to wait another month before I do anything.

And my water is pretty clean, so clear it's hard to tell if the tank is full or empty. Imagine how fast the leak would end if the water had dissolved or suspended solids of some sort. While I wait, I'm going to try to think of something to plug the leak with, some powder or something.

Any suggestions?

[Arlen Holder]

Hi badgolferman,

I do NOT have the solution to your issue. o All I can do is commiserate with your problem set

To illustrate why, I snapped this illustrative photo for you just now o

That's just the Korky & Kohler flappers & FluidMaster valves I had handy. o That's how bad the situation is (and yes, I have lots of bathrooms).

I believe they all have "lifetime warranties" where I'd love to know if you, or anyone else, has ever bothered to take them up on their bluff.

[gfretwell]

Kohler worked with me on the one piece I had and sent me a new flapper. They are also the ones who told me the link you use on the flapper chain is critical. One off in either direction will fail.