penningtron wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:27 am Has anyone ever dealt with a toilet basin that refills every couple of hours for no reason? I'm guessing there's a slow drip near the seal but I haven't been able to detect it when I open it up. It seems to happen more when the temperature changes although it's been more frequent in recent weeks. Could this be as simple as replacing a rubber ring around the seal or do I need a whole new assembly? (bonus points if you know the actual names of these parts)

So there is usually a rubber gasket between the tank and the stool that can leak. You'd find moisture under the tank on the floor if that were the case. Generally there's two gasketed bolts holding the tank to the stool and they can also leak. Tightening those a bit can fix either or both leaks of this type. Does anyone in your house lean back against the tank whilst copping a squat? That will cause a leak if things are loose enough...a leak that stops as soon as lazy leaning Mofo gets up.

The flush lever opens a valve (the flapper) that dumps the tank. Could be that flapper inside the tank leaks a little bit. The tell there is you might see a little bit of dribbling from the top of the stool bowl down into the pool of water below. The level of the pool is basically set by the tank level and gravity. You can adjust the tank level and the inlet water shutoff point by adjusting the float in the tank. That won't fix a wonky dump valve though, you'd have to replace it. Got rusty water? Buildup on the tank bottom can make the flapper not seal well.

Fresh water generally enters the tank from the bottom and it goes into a standpipe in the tank that the float attaches to. The standpipe often has a gasket where it meets the bottom of the tank. That can leak slowly if the connection isn't tight. Again, this would be a leak external that you'd more than likely see on the floor under the stool.

Worst case, the big wax ring that seals the bottom of the stool from the floor is bad and is leaking. That may be leaking under whatever the visible floor surface is and you find the leak the hard way when the floor under the stool rots out. I'm not sold that this is your problem UNLESS you notice that the level in the bowl drops slowly over time. That can drop if the wax ring leaks, but the tank doesn't know that water has left the bowl. Since the tank keeps refilling, your leak is more than likely the internal flapper valve or the tank-to-stool connection.

penningtron wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 7:27 am Has anyone ever dealt with a toilet basin that refills every couple of hours for no reason? I'm guessing there's a slow drip near the seal but I haven't been able to detect it when I open it up. It seems to happen more when the temperature changes although it's been more frequent in recent weeks. Could this be as simple as replacing a rubber ring around the seal or do I need a whole new assembly? (bonus points if you know the actual names of these parts)

So there is usually a rubber gasket between the tank and the stool that can leak. You'd find moisture under the tank on the floor if that were the case. Generally there's two gasketed bolts holding the tank to the stool and they can also leak. Tightening those a bit can fix either or both leaks of this type. Does anyone in your house lean back against the tank whilst copping a squat? That will cause a leak if things are loose enough...a leak that stops as soon as lazy leaning Mofo gets up.

The flush lever opens a valve (the flapper) that dumps the tank. Could be that flapper inside the tank leaks a little bit. The tell there is you might see a little bit of dribbling from the top of the stool bowl down into the pool of water below. The level of the pool is basically set by the tank level and gravity. You can adjust the tank level and the inlet water shutoff point by adjusting the float in the tank. That won't fix a wonky dump valve though, you'd have to replace it. Got rusty water? Buildup on the tank bottom can make the flapper not seal well.

Fresh water generally enters the tank from the bottom and it goes into a standpipe in the tank that the float attaches to. The standpipe often has a gasket where it meets the bottom of the tank. That can leak slowly if the connection isn't tight. Again, this would be a leak external that you'd more than likely see on the floor under the stool.

Worst case, the big wax ring that seals the bottom of the stool from the floor is bad and is leaking. That may be leaking under whatever the visible floor surface is and you find the leak the hard way when the floor under the stool rots out. I'm not sold that this is your problem UNLESS you notice that the level in the bowl drops slowly over time. That can drop if the wax ring leaks, but the tank doesn't know that water has left the bowl. Since the tank keeps refilling, your leak is more than likely the internal flapper valve or the tank-to-stool connection.

Thankfully there's no sign of water outside of the toilet or underneath it (the basement under it is unfinished and leaking would be easy to spot). Upon further googling it might be as simple as the chain being a little too tight (it's taut to the point you could probably strum a note out of it, hah). I loosened that a bit and shall see. The next thing to try would be the seal of the flapper. How long are those supposed to last? My guess is this one is 10-20 years old, and yeah our water seems to be heavy in minerals.

sorry for the dbl post. I got that weird error after submitting it.

Yeah, tight chain on the flapper can totally do this. Good luck.

djimbe wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:51 am sorry for the dbl post. I got that weird error after submitting it.

This happens to me every time too.

Tight flapper chain could def be a band name.

I never expected to enjoy how deep into the weeds I've gotten on both water pump options, and crawl-space optimization.

I have a house from 1929 with a tiny, gross, mold-smelling dirt pile crawlspace with a variety of construction materials left in it that hopefully today stays dry with my new pump setup. From there, once it gets truly dry I'll be putting in a french drain outside, digging trenches inside and then hauling old pipe, water bottles, and dirt through a 18x24" access.

There's two things I didn't consider enough when purchasing a house - the experience while working in the crawlspace or attic. Both are tremendously claustrophobic

thecr4ne wrote: Mon Mar 20, 2023 3:34 pm
Apologies if this wasn't helpful

Just want to follow up that this was extremely helpful!

Of course, just as I was getting ready to try doing this work, it turned out I have a fractured accessory bone in my left foot, so I'm in a boot for the next 6 weeks, and the last thing I want to do is stand on anything high off the ground. So, my badass wife went ahead and changed out the light fixture!

I'm fixing to do something mildly crazy in terms of diy ambition. My daughter's bedroom closet is dark, I'm going to install a light fixture and a new switch for it.

I've done half a dozen light fixture replacements and have dealt with light switches and junction boxes a bit.

The good thing is I've seen all of the wiring in the attic.

The challenge is pulling new romex cable down 4 feet to get the new switch and to wire it properly so the room light and the new closet light are independently switchable.

penningtron wrote: Fri Mar 24, 2023 10:41 am Thankfully there's no sign of water outside of the toilet or underneath it (the basement under it is unfinished and leaking would be easy to spot). Upon further googling it might be as simple as the chain being a little too tight (it's taut to the point you could probably strum a note out of it, hah). I loosened that a bit and shall see. The next thing to try would be the seal of the flapper. How long are those supposed to last? My guess is this one is 10-20 years old, and yeah our water seems to be heavy in minerals.

as stated above, a new flapper might fix it for you. I had an old toilet that was running constantly. I replaced the flapper, then the whole valve/flushing thing. Turns out it was the seal between the tank and the lower part. A plumber friend said "you could fix it but its a pain in the ass - I would just buy a new toilet." And he was right. New toilets are $2-300 at home depot and easy to install.