Could your toilet be plotting against you?

There it sits, day after day unassuming and innocent looking. It supports you in your time of need, and is always there for you. But what is it really up to. A toilet is a pretty simple device, it stores water in a tank, and when you flush it, it fills the bowl with water which raises the water level above the drain which causes the water to flow out the bowl and causes a siphon action to remove the waste.
But if your tank flush valve flapper or other type of flush valve seal is old or out of adjustment, it could be costing you money. Flush valve flappers and seals can get hard over time from age and chlorine. When this happens they do not seal as good and let small amounts of water trickle from your tank to your bowl. This not only waste water but could also be dangerous to your property. An easy way to check for this is to pour some food coloring in your toilet tank, and then without flushing it, check back in a couple hours to see if the water in the bowl is showing any of this color. If your tank is leaking real bad you may hear your toilet refill itself ever so often with out even being used. Sure this may waste a little water, but how could this be dangerous to your property?  Well like the Joe Diffie country song Third Rock from the Sun, it’s all about a chain of events. As I have found out on my own, a chain of events can lead to a major disaster. Under normal conditions, the water leaking from the tank to the bowl slowly fills the bowl until the water level starts to over flow the drain, and the water flows harmlessly down the drain. The trouble starts when someone clogs up the toilet and leaves it clogged up. The extra water can no longer go down the drain, and continues to fill the bowl. The bowl will eventually start to over flow onto the floor, and if left undetected for long enough, will cause minor or major flooding. If your flush valve is out of adjustment, such as the chain to short to let the valve close completely, or too  long and gets caught under the valve when you flush and holds the valve open a little, this problem can happen a lot faster. I once worked for a property management company that had some three story apartment buildings. One Christmas season some Christmas carolers came and the hall toilet on the third floor ended up clogged. As luck would have it, the flush valve hung up and failed to close completely. Since the residents seldom used this rest room, the toilet eventually filled to over flowing and started making its way down the hall undetected. With the help of gravity, it then proceeded to the second floor and then down the walls and stairs to the first floor. By the time it was discovered it had already causes several thousand dollars in damage.
So what should you do to prevent this?
First, check your flush valve to see if it is adjusted correctly. It should have enough slack in the chain to let it close completely, but not so much that it can get caught under the flapper when flushed. Just remove the lid from the tank and watch it when it flushes.
Second, you can check your tank for leaks with the food coloring, or just simply replace your flapper with a new one if has been a while. A little tip for you, if the flapper was originally red and now is yellow, it probably has chlorine damage and may be getting stiff or in some cases they get sorta gummy. Replacing the flapper is pretty simple, if you have a different kind of flush valve you may have to replace a large rubber washer instead. If the new flapper does not fix the leak, the seat of the flush valve that the flapper lays on could be rough or chipped. Your home improvement store should have seat repair kits for flush valves that will fix the problem without having to replace the whole flush valve.
Third, never leave your toilet clogged up. As long as the toilet is not clogged you are only wasting water, if the toilet is clogged, you could be flirting with disaster.
    If you have restrooms that are seldom used, or are not used for long periods of time, such as a vacation home, you may be interested in some water saving fill valves that have an extra feature. These fill valves will not continue to fill the tank if the water leaks out, because the flush handle has to trip a little lever to let the fill valve work. So if the handle is not used, the fill valve stays in the off position.
   If you have problems with your toilet, or would like all the flappers replaced on your property, let us know and we can take care of it on our next visit. If you are not already a client, maybe you would like to become one, just give us a call or click on the button below.