Sometimes, the most annoying part of the bathroom or the home that gets broken, damaged, faulty, or not functioning, is the toilet. More often than not, toilet tank leak is the culprit. A lot of homeowners may not be aware that they have an undetected toilet tank leak. Before you know it, your water bill soars through the roof. Well, not that high of course, but the difference between your previous and current water bill is so evident that you have no clue how you consumed all that water. In fact, there are about 80,000 gallons of water wasted annually because of undetected toilet tank leak. Aside from wasting your money on high water bills, you are also wasting environmental resources. So if you’d like to learn how to do toilet repair, here is a helpful guide that you may find useful.
Check for leaks
It is always important to regularly check your toilet and your toilet tank for leaks even if you don’t suspect anything going on. Most of the toilets work the same way. The tank is composed of two valves where there is a flush valve and a refill valve. The refill one is most commonly called the ballcock. When your flush valve doesn’t close properly, then water flows from the tank to the bowl. When your tank doesn’t have enough water, the refill valve replenishes it with water. So for as long as the flush valve isn’t closed properly, the refill valve will continue to replenish your tank with water. That is a lot of wasted water!
On the other hand, if it’s the refill valve that leaks, it will continue to refill your toilet with water until the tank overfills. When that happens, the excess water won’t run out of the tank but rather go into the overflow pipe into your toilet bowl, flushing water down the drain once more. More gallons of water wasted! Note however that your tank can also overflow even if the refill valve is properly functioning. The probable cause could be a waterlogged float.
To be able to check for a leaky toilet, simply shut off the water supply to your toilet. If you check under the toilet, you will see a shutoff valve. Simply turn it to close the water supply. Now check the tank and mark the water level. After thirty minutes to an hour, go back and check the water level once more. If the water level has fallen below the mark, then your flush valve is the one leaking. Thus you need to replace your flush valve. If the water level is still the same, but you notice that there’s water flowing in the toilet when you turn back on the shut off valve, then it’s the refill valve that’s leaking. So that’s what you need to replace.