Slow toilet leak question


  #1  
Old 06-08-08, 05:14 AM
G
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Slow toilet leak question

I've tackled these before but this one I am having trouble with.
Mother in Laws house has an upstairs bath. Sister in Law was staying over one time and thought she heard water running a few times at night (beware though because we could never duplicate this concern from this toilet. SHE assumes it was the toilet upstairs, based on WHAT I don't know).
So the water was shut off to it as it isn't used much. Finally wife put this on my honey-do list.
Went to the house, the toilet was dry, I don't know if the water was shut off THEN flushed empty, or if not will a toilet dry out by itself after awhile? I think the sleep-over and complaint was from last summer or fall.
OK, so I turn on the water and it fills and nothing real obvious is happening, no trickling noise from the tank or anything. I shut water off and come back a few hours later (honey-do list to work on remember), and level is the same or maybe down an 1/8" if that. Turn water on and not low enough to refill. I do remember hearing you can add dye to the tank to spot a leak (look in bowl), so I snitch some red food coloring and add to tank and swish it around, so water now looks like automatic trans fluid. I did this on Tuesday, no red in bowl. Plus I have water shut off and still has not had to refill when turning water on, although level has dropped maybe a bit more, 1/2 inch at most, but still not enough for fill valve to open. I am in the mind set that sheesh if it is losing that small of an amount is it worth going after? And what did my sister in law hear running? (I don't expect an answer to that one).
Can leaks of this nature be intermittent? My thought was maybe the tank seals (where the tank bolts to the bowl), but wouldn't I also get red water in the bowl if it was leaking there, or does a leak in that area go somewhere else? Toilet is an oldish looking American Standard, I am only guessing 60's or 70's toilet.
Gilly
 
  #2  
Old 06-08-08, 06:31 AM
S
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If the toilet was unused and off for 6 months it might have evaporated dry.I've seen that.Suggest putting in a new flapper as this is the most likely source of a leak.It can be intermittant and also can be so slight that the coloring dilutes in the bowl.Tank to bowl gasket would leak onto the floor.A flapper isn't hard to do and good idea in a long unused toilet.
 
 

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