Mr. Plumber

[bluegargantua]

Hey,

So a few years ago I fixed the flapper in my toilet (the bit that clamps down and seals the tank so that water doesn't flow into the bowl). This was a serious leak that improved my water bill immensely when I fixed it.

Over the past year, my water bill has been inching up again. I know I'm probably using more water in general than I have in the past, but it still felt weird that it would be going up so consistently. Today, when I was cleaning the toilet, I realized that there was the hiss of water leaking. It could be that the flapper/seal is still faulty and is leaking, but I suspect that it might be the float because if I put my hand in the tank, that displaced enough water to raise the float a bit and stop the hiss.

It doesn't sound like the float is leaking or has water in it. Perhaps I need a new arm for the float with a better angle in it or something. Any ideas from the internet on how to troubleshoot this (to prove it's the float or the flapper) and what I could do about it (other than install new equipment, I expect to do that, but is there some trick of the trade I should be aware of)?

Thanks
Tom

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_meej_/]

A lot of the float-arms are adjustable; might be able to click it to a different angle enough to stop things. (Might be that the level right now is juuuuuust a hair over the top of the outflow pipe or something.) Don't know if you've given that a try or not. (Assuming you haven't and/or don't know what I mean - if there's a little plastic knob that can turn, try it.)

[macthud]

If you just put your hand in the water -- didn't move any hardware when you did -- then you've already proven it's the float.

So just bend or otherwise adjust the float and/or its arm a bit.

Alternatively, you can put a rock about the size of your hand in the tank, where it won't disturb any of the hardware, just raise the water.