Not every project goes as well as planned. We would be happy to spend a few minutes answering your questions.
Current Articles | RSS Feed
If you suspect a toilet leak but really can't pinpoint it, all you have to do is head towards the kitchen pantry. I know what you're thinking. Why head to the kitchen pantry when the toilet is in the bathroom? Because that is where the food coloring is.
There are kits you can buy to tell if you have a toilet leak from the tank to the bowl, but they are basically a means to color the water in the tank to see if you get some bleed through into the bowl. You can certainly buy one of those kits, but food coloring will accomplish the same thing, and you probably have some in your pantry.
Here's how you do it...after you flush the toilet and the flapper drops back down to start refilling the tank, add some drops of food coloring to the tank (you will have to remove the tank's lid for this). Add enough drops to color the water. Darker colors are easier to see. After you wait 10 minutes, look into the bowl to see if you have any colored water in the bowl. If you do, you have water escaping from the tank into the bowl when it shouldn't be.
To fix the problem, you might want to start with replacing the flapper and fill valve and repeat the test. If you still get colored water in the bowl, try replacing the flush valve.
Allowed tags: <a> link, <b> bold, <i> italics
