Dripping noise from toilet

[AMarkham40]

Started hearing a dripping noise from the one of my toilets a few weeks ago. I shut the water off to the toilet one night & when I woke up the next morning the tank was empty. The toilet has some age to it so I purchased a Korky Toilet Repair kit from Lowes. For about two weeks everything was fine but now it is doing the exact same thing again. Any ideas?

 

[Smooky]

If you replaced the flush valve/overflow a few weeks ago, then it should be fine. Make sure the rim is smooth and there is nothing stuck on the edge of the flush valve or flapper. Make sure the chain has a little slack. Make sure the overflow tube is installed as required, not too long etc. If doing those things doesn’t prevent the tank from draining, I would replace the flapper and see if that solves the problem.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Reach4]

The toilet has some age to it

If you have any other reason to not like the toilet, (clogs occasionally, don't like the looks, uses too much water in a desert location, you want a different height), this could be a good time to consider a new toilet. This is not to say that you cannot repair your flush valve with the tips that Smooky provided.

With the water level down to a couple of inches and the water still, you might try dropping some drops of food color. From seeing the flow, you could maybe tell if the flow was between the seat and the flapper or between the seat and the tank.

 

[Gary Swart]

Sometimes there can be a buildup of crud where the flapper seats. This will allow water to gradually seep out of the tank. Try cleaning that seat and see if that stops the leak. I doubt if it is just an old toilet problem.

 

[Jadnashua]

Depending on how the flapper is packaged, and in a kit, who knows, if it is exposed to any bending, it can take a set, and not make a good seal. A frequent issue about sealing is the amount of slack or lack of it in the chain adjustment, and if there's any excess hanging down, that sometimes getting caught underneath the flapper rim, creating the leak. Either cut off the excess, or loop it through the fastener so it can't hang down and get caught underneath the flapper valve. If your toilet has lugs to attach the flapper, and you used the ring on the replacement flapper around the overflow tube, that can distort things...you can't use both the lugs and the ring, and most are designed to be able to cut the ring out, if not needed. It could take a few weeks for that extra stress to distort it enough to then leak.

 

[Flapper]

Make sure the refill tube is not shoved down the overflow pipe,