Say “No!” to a Leaking Toilet
A leaking toilet is costly, annoying, and can wreak a lot of damage by the time you notice it. You might not know anything is wrong … until you see a wet floor, or even damage on the ceiling on the floor below the toilet. If you are lucky, you might hear or see a problem when it keeps running or flushing on its own. But whenever you do notice you have a leaky toilet, please act immediately. The water you are wasting is costly, but the damage that can occur if you don’t take care of a leaky toilet now is even worse.
Add some colour
One of the most common toilet leaks (which can make it tricky to find) is caused by a worn or defective flush valve (flapper) ball located at the bottom of the toilet tank. If the flapper or the ball valve doesn’t form a tight seal, water will begin to leak around it, and into the toilet bowl.
To detect a leak, a simple food colouring test can help. To do this, follow these steps:
Remove the tank lid and flush
Wait for the flapper/tank ball to drop, and for the tank to refill
Add a few drops of food colouring once the toilet has stopped filling
Wait at least 20 minutes
If any colour appears in the toilet bowl, you have a leak
Water shut off valve
If you do notice a leak and are waiting for a repair, you should turn off the water to your toilet in the meantime. There is a shut off valve, usually behind the toilet and mounted to the wall. Turn the valve clockwise to turn off the supply of water to the toilet until you the problem has been repaired.
If the valve itself is leaking, you may just need to tighten the packing nut. If you don’t feel comfortable with that repair, you might want to wait for us to come remedy the leak.
Wobbly toilet
Sometimes the leak isn’t the toilet itself, but the wax seal on the base of the toilet, where it meets the floor. This might be accompanied by an unpleasant smell. For this, you must remove the toilet from its place to fix the seal. This is best done by a qualified professional (and it might be a great time to look at a new higher efficiency toilet while we are there!).
Time to call a professional?
Some problems with a leaky toilet can be fixed on your own. The problem is the diagnostics-usually people think the problem must be the one that fits the solution they know how to administer! However, there can be cracks in the tank, broken seals or valves, malfunctioning floats, or leaking supply lines, and each of these requires a different fix.
If you aren’t sure what the issue is, and how to easily solve it without potentially causing more damage, it’s always best to call in the Action team to have a look!