Detect If You Have a Toilet Leak Inexpensively

In a perfect world toilet tanks would only move water from the tank to the bowl when flushed by a human. However, we do not live in a perfect world and some toilets have little gremlins that flush them without our knowledge. In some cases your toilet leak will flush the toilet so much that you will notice a spike in your water bill thus leading you to fixing the problem. In other cases the toilet leak is moderate to where you never notice the slight spike in your water bill. No matter how slight or how major your toilet leak the thing is you are still losing money you do not have to lose.

Obviously if you hear the toilet flushing and no one is in there then you can rest assured you have a toilet leak. However, some leaks from the tank to the bowl do not produce an audible flushing sound. There is a simple and inexpensive way for you to detect if your toilet is leaking from the tank to the bowl. A few places online that address this issue recommend placing few drops of food coloring into your toilet tank and then check it in 30 minutes. If you notice any of the coloring in the bowl this is your indicator that there is a leak.

Once you know that you have a leak you will need to determine where the leak is coming from. Obviously it is coming from the tank into the bowl but is it coming from the refill valve or the flush valve? According to toiletology.com a quick and inexpensive way to test whether the leak is coming from the refill valve or the flush valve is to use a pencil. All you need to do is draw a line at the water level in the tank and then check it in around 30 minutes. If the leak is from the refill valve then the water level would not have moved. However, if the leak is coming from the flush valve the water will have moved below the line.

Now that you know how inexpensive it is to determine if you have a toilet leak there is no reason not to perform periodical tests on your toilets. By conducting periodical tests on your toilets you can head a leak off before it happens thus saving yourself money in the long run. So head into your bathroom armed with food coloring and a pencil and see for yourself if you have any toilet flushing gremlins lurking around.