Author Topic: Leaky Toilet - Sky high Water Bill...Help!  (Read 3573 times)

jimithng23

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Leaky Toilet - Sky high Water Bill...Help!
« on: May 20, 2013, 02:14:17 PM »
My water bill has doubled in the last 6 months, subsequently causing my sewer bill to double as well.

This is very anti-mustachian and I need to fix it.

The toilet in question runs every 15-20 minutes for 10-15 seconds at a time.  I replaced the flapper and the seal, dropped some food coloring in the tank, and the water filling the bowl wasn't colored.

I'm a handy guy but I don't have the knowledge to identify the problem...any advice or direction you can point me in will help tremendously. 

Welmoed

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Re: Leaky Toilet - Sky high Water Bill...Help!
« Reply #1 on: May 20, 2013, 02:44:39 PM »
One "ghost flushing" toilet shouldn't double a water bill. You might have some leaks elsewhere.

Here's a couple of things to try. First, if you have another toilet you can use, shut the water off to the suspect toilet and see if that reduces your water usage. If it doesn't, then you've got issues elsewhere.
Look in the toilet tank. If the water level is very high, you could be spilling water into the overflow tube, bypassing the bowl altogether, which could be the reason for the dye not showing up in the bowl.
If it turns out that the toilet isn't the culprit, you'll have to do more detective work. Here's one way to try and track it down. Shut the water off at the meter and leave it off for a few hours. Now, stand somewhere central in the house and have a friend turn the water back on. Listen very carefully (have any other noise sources turned off -- radios, fans, AC units, etc.). You should be able to hear where the water is rushing to; these are the suspected leakage areas.
--Welmoed the Home Inspector

Spork

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Re: Leaky Toilet - Sky high Water Bill...Help!
« Reply #2 on: May 20, 2013, 03:07:12 PM »
just a tiny addition to Welmoed's post...  I've had the float assembly spring a leak.  As he mentions, it will either spill over the overflow tube or go down the overflow tube with the refill tube.  (There is usually a flexible tube from the float assembly that points down the overflow tube.)

In my case, I had a tiny leak in my float assembly that caused water to go down the overflow tube every 20-30 min.  I just bought a new float assembly -- usually about $10-15. 

I have also had cases where bits of "junk" from the fresh water get stuck in the float assembly and block it slightly open.  This usually occurs with new plumbing.  A bit of dried solvent weld will get in the line.  You can turn off the toilet supply, open the top of the float assembly, put your hand over it (!) and crack the supply open.  There is potentially a big fountain coming!  But that can flush it out.  Modern float assemblies usually just have a quarter turn to open the top.  (Don't open it with the water on!)

BlueMR2

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Re: Leaky Toilet - Sky high Water Bill...Help!
« Reply #3 on: May 22, 2013, 07:36:49 AM »
One "ghost flushing" toilet shouldn't double a water bill. You might have some leaks elsewhere.

Look in the toilet tank. If the water level is very high, you could be spilling water into the overflow tube, bypassing the bowl altogether, which could be the reason for the dye not showing up in the bowl.

Running as frequently as the OP said, it may very well double a small water bill.

I had problems with the fill tube assembly in mine that was making it run way too long and periodically run on it's own.  It's a cheap/easy fix if that's really the problem.