4 Reasons why your toilet might be leaking
A leak is never a good sign but a leak from a toilet can sometimes be particularly worrisome, however not all leaks are a sign of impending doom and gloom. In this post we are going to look at the most common reasons why a toilet might leak and what are the signs you should never ignore.
If you have a misbehaving toilet at your place it could be a simple fix to get it back in line and operating normally as there’s some common leaks which are relatively easy to repair yourself if you have the right replacement parts at hand. However, if you suspect your toilet cistern is leaking but can’t prove it definitively, have a read of our post on 3 Ways to test if your toilet cistern is leaking. Want to learn the possible causes for your leaky loo? Read on!
4 Common reasons why your toilet might be leaking
Cistern keeps running as though toilet was recently flushed
Does your toilet sound like it is constantly filling? Is there an ever present hissing sound from water topping up your cistern even though you haven’t flushed it? These are signs that could point towards there being a problem with the float valve or the float arm needing to be adjusted. The float valve is also known as a ballcock and is the mechanism that floats up and down with the water level in the cistern, when the cistern is full the float valve is at such a level that it will stop the flow of water to fill the cistern, subsequently if this is not working properly you may find your cistern is constantly filling.
Trickling water into toilet bowl
Are you noticing water trickling down the back of your toilet bowl even though the cistern is full and you haven’t flushed it recently? If you have experienced this then it can be particularly grating to learn that a leaky toilet can waste on average 5 full bathtubs of water daily - that’s a lot of water and money going down the drain. If the back of your toilet bowl has a slow trickle of water leaking from the cistern tank then it is possible you may need to replace your flapper. If you don’t address this, water will continue to enter the cistern and any overflow will be what you see trickling down the back of your bowl.
The toilet is ‘sweating’
When you’ve been running, you get sweaty, a sweating toilet is an indicator that it is running correctly… Just kidding! Describing a toilet as sweating certainly sounds strange but what this is simply referring to is the condensation that has collected on the outside of your cold porcelain toilet. This is often more so in the colder months (think of condensation on windows in winter), however there are steps you can take to minimise this from happening. Lowering the level of moisture in the air through using an exhaust fan, opening a window to let cool air in and steam out and having cooler showers are all ways to lessen the likelihood of a sweaty toilet.
Toilet is leaking at the base near the floor
Is your toilet leaking from the base? Does a small pool of water gather at the point where your toilet touches the floor? If this sounds like your misbehaving loo then the seal under your toilet may have failed. A toilet is a fixed object in your bathroom but through use over time it may shift and start to wobble. Sometimes a simple tightening of the bolts that hold the toilet to the floor can fix this seal back into place but if it has been wobbling for some time then it could have exacerbated the deterioration of the toilet seal that connects the toilet to the floor. It is important to mend this as soon as it is identified as a wayward leak can often turn into a more serious (and more expensive) fix the longer it is left unaddressed.
If your toilet is experiencing a leak, no matter how small, it is important to identify the cause and rectify it as quickly as possible. We have an extensive range of toilet parts and spares for you to fix the smaller leaks yourself. Some leaks like those mentioned above can often be easy to fix with a bit of help from the internet but other more serious leaks are best left to the professionals before the situation deteriorates into something worse than a simple trickle of water.
