Howdy,

I've recently noticed that the tank on one of my toilets seems to
mysteriously empty itself over a period of a couple of hours.

When I go to check on the tank it's empty and requires a jiggling of the
flusher in order for the water to refill the tank.

The toilets are kohler and I've just purchased the repair parts online and
hope that installing these new parts will fix the problem, the toilets
themselves are about 4 years old, but I am still curious how the water is
getting out of the tank w/o me flushing the toilet. Could the toilet itself
be cracked?

Thanks for any and all help.

Best Regards,

rise4peace

rise,

I think you have 2 problems: 1) the water is leaving the toilet tank and
2) the toilet valve is not replacing the water as it leaves the tank. Let's
look at the first problem. Flush the toilet and let it go through it's cycle
and refill. Add vegetable dye (left over from coloring the Easter eggs) to
the water in the tank. Go away for a few hours. Look in the toilet. Is the
water in the toilet now colored? If so your flapper valve needs to be
replaced. This is the black rubber thing at the bottom of the tank. If the
water in the toilet is not colored then look for a pool of colored water on
the floor around the toilet. If you find a pool look for a cracked
tank(unlikely) or a bad seal where the toilet and the tank bolt
together(likely).
On to problem #2. Remove the lid from the tank. Is the float arm hanging
in mid air? If so there is dirt or grit binding things up. Clean or replace
the float arm. Of the float arm is down then there is dirt or grit in the
valve itself. Clean or replace it.
Your local library has DIY books which will cover all of these repairs.
They are easy to do. Porcelain fixtures will chip or crack So, don't over
tighten things , don't drop wrenches on the fixtures, et c.

Good luck,
Dave M.

Thanks Dave for the incredibly helpful suggestions. I will try out your
suggestions first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks again for responding.

cheers,

rise4peace


"David Martel" wrote in message
ink.net...
rise,

I think you have 2 problems: 1) the water is leaving the toilet tank
and
2) the toilet valve is not replacing the water as it leaves the tank.
Let's
look at the first problem. Flush the toilet and let it go through it's
cycle
and refill. Add vegetable dye (left over from coloring the Easter eggs) to
the water in the tank. Go away for a few hours. Look in the toilet. Is the
water in the toilet now colored? If so your flapper valve needs to be
replaced. This is the black rubber thing at the bottom of the tank. If the
water in the toilet is not colored then look for a pool of colored water
on
the floor around the toilet. If you find a pool look for a cracked
tank(unlikely) or a bad seal where the toilet and the tank bolt
together(likely).
On to problem #2. Remove the lid from the tank. Is the float arm
hanging
in mid air? If so there is dirt or grit binding things up. Clean or
replace
the float arm. Of the float arm is down then there is dirt or grit in the
valve itself. Clean or replace it.
Your local library has DIY books which will cover all of these repairs.
They are easy to do. Porcelain fixtures will chip or crack So, don't over
tighten things , don't drop wrenches on the fixtures, et c.

Good luck,
Dave M.

Posted and mailed.
wrote:
Thanks Dave for the incredibly helpful suggestions. I will try out
your suggestions first thing tomorrow morning.

Thanks again for responding.

cheers,

rise4peace


"David Martel" wrote in message
ink.net...
rise,

I think you have 2 problems: 1) the water is leaving the toilet
tank and 2) the toilet valve is not replacing the water as it leaves
the tank. Let's look at the first problem. Flush the toilet and let
it go through it's cycle and refill. Add vegetable dye (left over
from coloring the Easter eggs) to the water in the tank. Go away for
a few hours. Look in the toilet. Is the water in the toilet now
colored? If so your flapper valve needs to be replaced. This is the
black rubber thing at the bottom of the tank. If the water in the
toilet is not colored then look for a pool of colored water on the
floor around the toilet. If you find a pool look for a cracked
tank(unlikely) or a bad seal where the toilet and the tank bolt
together(likely). On to problem #2. Remove the lid from the tank.
Is the float arm hanging in mid air? If so there is dirt or grit
binding things up. Clean or replace the float arm. Of the float arm
is down then there is dirt or grit in the valve itself. Clean or
replace it. Your local library has DIY books which will cover all
of these repairs. They are easy to do. Porcelain fixtures will chip
or crack So, don't over tighten things , don't drop wrenches on the
fixtures, et c.

Good luck,
Dave M.

Don't be so quick to assume that the fill valve is broken. Some fill
valves have a 'leak sentry' feature that prevents them from
automatically refilling the tank. That's actually a good thing;
otherwise, your toilet would be refilling itself all day long because of
the float valve leak. It is possible that the fill valve is working as
it is designed to.