Tiny leak into bowl, but already changed flush valve and flapper

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parker02

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Hi all, I've been stuck figuring out a tiny leak into toilet bowl. Sorry for the long post, I'm grateful if anyone can help me out :)

I have a 10 year old American Standard from the builder, I replaced all the parts with Universal replacement kit from fluidmaster, fill valve, flush valve, flapper and rubber gasket. Afterwards it was still leaking, so I re-tightened the flush valve, no change. I've gone over the instructions so the Flush valve is 1" below the critical level, the overflow tube ends above the flush valve. When I installed the product i cleaned the surface of the tank will a fine sandpaper to make sure the surface was clean and smooth.

I shut off the water supply and left it, water drained all the way down to the flapper level. Called fluid master and they sent me a new flapper. After the 2nd flapper I still have a tiny leak and shutting of water supply the water levels stops at about the flapper level. Called fluidmaster again and they were very nice and said they would send me a new flush valve with a different flapper.

Anyways, I couldn't wait for the new part, I went and got a new korky flush valve. Everything seems fine, but I still see a tiny leak into the bowl again. I shut off the water supply for a night, and the next day the water level was basically the same. I added blue dye into the tank to see if anything seeped into the bowl from the tank. After 30 min no color change in the bowl. I'm at lost of where is tiny leak is coming from, the only reason i notice it is because there are water stains from that one area. I did notice that on occasion some drops will flow from the over flow tube into the flush valve.

Is there something I'm missing? Thanks in advance.
 

Jadnashua

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Where is the end of the tube that goes to the overflow pipe? It MUST end above the pipe - it comes with a clip to hold it there. If you push the hose down INTO the overflow, it can siphon water from the tank.
 

parker02

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Thanks Jim, I checked and the end of the tube is attached via the clip so it ends above the tube.
 

WJcandee

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It actually sounds like the Korky flush valve solved your problem. If you turned off the water and it stayed at the same level in the tank, and you put dye in and none showed up in the bowl after sitting a few hours, then I think there is nothing running through the flush valve. If there is a little drip from the refill hose into the top of the overflow riser, then that's going to be what you are seeing in the bowl. It's not a leak from the tank (which would be the color of the dye), it's a drip off the fill valve (which would be clear if it wasn't siphoning, and it isn't siphoning because you daylighted the refill hose above the overflow riser).

If your home water pressure is high, or if you have a closed system without a properly-functioning expansion tank that results in periods of high water pressure when water is being heated, that high pressure will find its way out of the system through the weakest link. Sometimes, that's the pressure relief valve at the heater but the pressure has to get pretty high before that lets go, so it's often a weaker spot, like an outside hose spigot that needs packing or a drippy sink or -- you guessed it -- the toilet fill valve.

You might try swapping what you have for an appropriate Korky 528 fill valve. The 528MP MaxPerformance fill valve lets you adjust the amount of water that runs through the refill hose when the tank is filling, so you don't waste any by overfilling the bowl. It is very easy to install -- much easier than putting in that flush valve. There is a link to the instructions on the page I linked to above.
 
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hj

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The "refill tube" rises higher than the water level in the tank, so IF the fill valve WERE leaking, the water would go into the tank before it could go up through the refill tube.
 

parker02

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The "refill tube" rises higher than the water level in the tank, so IF the fill valve WERE leaking, the water would go into the tank before it could go up through the refill tube.

I see what you are saying, at the same time, wjcandee made a good point, the water dripping into the tank wasn't colored. I've had the water supply shut off since yesterday and there is now no more water dripping into the bowl.
 
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