"Van Chocstraw" wrote in message
...
On Thu, 01 Jul 2010 13:15:11 -0400, JoeSpareBedroom wrote:

Or maybe not a leak, per se. My first floor toilet began running
constantly between flushes 3 days ago. Not full blast, just a trickle to
remind me of how I'll be spending part of my Saturday. Or so I thought.
Just noticed a small puddle in the cellar below the toilet. It's the
sewage pipe that's wet, but the puddle smells clean. My first thought
was that the supply pipe got so cold from running constantly that what I
was seeing was condensation, but as far as I can see (because part of
the supply pipe's hidden), that's not the case.

Next thought: The cold water contracted part of the sewage pipe assembly
enough to leak. But again, based on the lack of smell, that's not it.

Nightmare thought: Wax ring. I don't want to think about that.

There's little or no condensation on the tank itself, and the floor in
the bathroom is dry. Luckily, it's not humid here today.

The wax ring will not cause the toilet to 'run'.


What I meant was this: I'd heard (and seen, once) that sometimes people will
pour a bucket of hot water down the toilet to un-stuff it, and that this can
expand the sewage pipe enough to cause seepage. So I wondered if the reverse
could also happen: A constant stream of cold water contracting part of the
sewage pipe joint, or even the wax ring, and causing seepage.

Something like that.