Toilet leaking question

[Jack Hays]

Hello,

Hope no one minds a question from a newbie but I have a rather odd problem with my toilet and am curious if anyone has ideas of what might be wrong. First off I guess the term leaking should be quotes as I’m not sure the problem. But at the beginning of last week I had the maintenance guy from my complex stop by as my toilet was running all the time and dripping into the bowl. Turns out it was the flapper, he fixed it, took less than 5 minutes. Problem solved or so I though. Every day when I come home from work now the water from the toilet bowl has almost all drained out and dropped several inches. It is a puzzle to me as when I’m home the water doesn’t act in the same way. I check several times during the evening when I’m home and the water level stays near the same level or on a couple of occasions it will drop to the low nearly empty level rather rapidly, within ten minutes or so of flushing. From doing google searches the only solution I can seem to find is that something is cracked and I need a new toilet but I can’t shake the idea that nothing was wrong with the level at all before the flapper was fixed so I am thinking maybe the guy did something in the tank to cause this problem. I know he did bend and adjust the float to change the water level in the tank and it does seem the water in the tank drops slightly when the water in the bowl does as well. Anyone have any ideas for my puzzle?

I have some pics of the low and just after flushed levels of the bowl and a look inside the tank as well!

[phoneaplumberParticipant]

I suggest you to consult any professional Plumbing company so that you can get good advice from them.

[plumberincanterburyParticipant]

Do you use wipes down the toilet as this could be the problem or it might be a hairline crack in the bowl.

Plumbers in Canterbury, Kent

[nicktheplumberParticipant]

Toilets are pretty simple devices, but you need to understand how they work to troubleshoot problems. Common residential toilets consist of two main parts: 1) a tank, that holds a couple of gallons of water; and 2) a bowl, which holds a smaller amount of water and maintains a trap water seal. The tank is connected to a cold water supply and uses a float valve to maintain a level of water needed to “flush” the bowl. The tank is connected directly to the bowl and water is sent to the bowl by opening the “flush valve.” The flushing action depends upon gravity. In some toilets, usually in commercial applications, the tank is dispensed with and flushing is accomplished by a high-flow high pressure water supply.

If you understand the way toilets work, you can logically diagnose their problems. A falling water level in the tank has to be due to a leaking flush valve or some other leak from the tank (either a crack or a leaky connection to the tank). If there is a crack in the tank, you’d expect to find water leaking onto the floor. One way to check for a leaky flush valve is to put a dye in the tank and see if that dye enters the bowl (when you don’t flush it).

A falling water level in the bowl can be due to a cracked bowl. Again, you’d expect to see water leaking onto the floor or subfloor. Putting dye into the bowl may help identify such leaks.

There are some other ways water can drain from the bowl without a crack in the bowl itself. All of these other ways involve what is called “siphonage.” The two most common causes of this are: 1) faulty toilet venting; and, 2) a partial blockage in the toilet trap caused by something (such as a rag) that wicks water out of the bowl. This can usually be fixed by using a closet auger.   

[moopyParticipant]

It looks to me as though you might have a partial blockage. The water level is dropping to the correct level. The water is higher to start with because there is a slight blockage. Flush the toilet and as flushing throw down a large bucket of water too. Repeat several times to see if this removes the blockage.

[Author]

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