On Fri, 20 Nov 2020 03:33:42 -0500, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 18 Nov 2020 21:29:42 +0000 (UTC),
"badgolferman" wrote:

wrote:

On 11/18/20 12:32 PM, badgolferman wrote:
Ed Pawlowski wrote:

On 11/18/2020 11:21 AM, badgolferman wrote:
One of our toilets has a slight leak into the bowl. The
bathroom is attached to the bedroom so during the night I hear
the tank fill itself back up very quickly. I have swapped
flappers with the other toilet and even bought two new
flappers. The first flapper was a Korky but my plumber friend
said it was for other model toilets and I needed a Universal
type Korky for the Universal - Rundle toilet in question. The
toilet still leaks despite the new flapper. *Do I need to
replace the flush valve now?* If so what do you suggest? Any
gotchas to be wary of?


Did you put in the right flapper? Did you check that is is
seating properly? There could be some buildup not allowing it to
properly seal when it goes down. There should also be a little
slack in the chain when closed too.


As far as I can tell the flapper is correct, at least according to
my plumber friend. He sent me a picture of the Korky Universal
2001CM flapper. And yes, I took the scratchy side of a sponge and
wiped the lip of the valve seat real good to get any crud off it.
It feels smooth to me. There is about half inch slack in the chain.


The leaking refill flush valve would not cause your problem of
intermittent refills. It would cause overfilling, with water running
down the overflow tube, and no need for a "refill".

If your convinced the new flapper is sealing OK, you could test for a
leak in the tank-to-bowl seal. 1. Shutoff the cold water line valve.
2. Flush the toilet normally
3. Some water should remain in tank up to the lip of the flapper seal.
4. Add a small bottle of red food coloring to the water in tank.
5. Wait awhile to see if red water shows up in bowl.

Good Luck...

I believe you have pointed me in the right direction. Indeed there was
colored water in the bowl after trying the above method.

Now I will need a new bowl seal, bolts and seals. Do you think the
ones at the box store are sufficient for my Universal-Rundle or should
I go to a plumbing store?

Thanks!

I read this thread with great interest because I think I have the same
problem. I looked in the tank and saw the bolts, and the thought of
taking the whole thing apart this week didn't seem good. But that was
about 30 hours ago and it doesn't seem to have leaked or run since then.

Some time after I moved in, I saw that the bathtub leaked when it
drained, and water went down the chain to the dining room light's glass
sphere. I finallly noticed when there were 2 inches of water in it.
But that stopped after a few months and never leaked again. I concluded
that the dirt in the bathtub, my dead skin and whatever else, had
plugged the leak.

Isn't it possible that this could happen with this toilet leak, and
isn't there a way to speed that up, to do what radiator stop-leak or raw
eggs would do? I don't mean those products because radiators are hot,
and leaks open into the air. (Maybe this toilet leak also opens into
the air?)

But something else. Powdered something, even dirt, that would gradually
fill the leak, which is certainly small to begin with. And any "powder"
that doesn't go into the leak would be flushed down the toilet with the
other water.

My problem just started about 4 weeks ago -- I noticed it just after I
posted about replacing the valve -- and may have ended already. I'm
certainly going to wait another month before I do anything.

And my water is pretty clean, so clear it's hard to tell if the tank is
full or empty. Imagine how fast the leak would end if the water had
dissolved or suspended solids of some sort. While I wait, I'm going to
try to think of something to plug the leak with, some powder or
something.

Any suggestions?
Leaking that allows water to flow into the bowl GENERALLY does not
require splitting the tank and bowl. Often just cleaning the flapper
valve and its seat does the job, but even replacing the flapper is
generally a simple quick job. (not to mention low cost)
The leaks also tend to be intermittent - depending on how the flapper
seats