I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.

Sounds like maybe the wax seal was not put on properly. You pretty much
have to take the toilet off to look.
If it was put on right, check for any cracks underneath that might
cause the leak.

Mikepier wrote:
Sounds like maybe the wax seal was not put on properly. You pretty
much have to take the toilet off to look.
If it was put on right, check for any cracks underneath that might
cause the leak.

I would just add that the mounting bolts don't leak. They just hold it
steady. As Mike wrote, there are only two things that can leak there. The
wax ring and a crack in the toilet.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia's Muire duit

It is a pain when the tank to bowl bolts start to leak. I have
successfully fixed them by drying out the tank well and coating the top
of the bolt well with silicone caulk. Be sure to use enough. Good
luck, RW

Joseph Meehan wrote:
Mikepier wrote:
Sounds like maybe the wax seal was not put on properly. You pretty
much have to take the toilet off to look.
If it was put on right, check for any cracks underneath that might
cause the leak.

I would just add that the mounting bolts don't leak. They just
hold it steady. As Mike wrote, there are only two things that can
leak there. The wax ring and a crack in the toilet.

Back again. Sorry I misread the original message. Looks like Mike may
have also.

You may need new washers between the tank and the bowl as the old ones
may have dried out and cracked when the toilet was moved to fix the wax
ring.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia's Muire duit

Yeah, I just read it again. Sorry for the misunderstanding.

I've tried changing that darn washer and it still leaked. So I went with
the quick-fix as well.
Emptied the tank, dried it out well, then applied a fair amount of silicone
on and around the tank's nut/bolt and washer. Let it dry and my leak is gone
for good.

Rich
http://www.garagedoorsupply.com

wrote in message
oups.com...
It is a pain when the tank to bowl bolts start to leak. I have
successfully fixed them by drying out the tank well and coating the top
of the bolt well with silicone caulk. Be sure to use enough. Good
luck, RW

On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 03:19:39 GMT, The Dave? wrote:

I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.


This may be obvious, but how did you assemble the tank to the bowl?
The proper sequence is to put the rubber washer on the bolt, slide it
through the tank hole, put a metal washer and nut on the bolt and
tighten it down to seal the tank hole. Don't over tighten. Then
place this tank assembly on the bowl, add another washer and another
nut to hold it in place.

Turn off water and flush to drain tank. Physically push down on the tank
while tightening nuts gently. You do not want to crank the tank or toilet
so do not over tighten. Tighten them evenly. Turn water back on and
hopefully leak is done. THe trick is to push the tank down and using the
nut to absorb the slack you created instead of making the nut pull it down
as you tighen.


"The Dave©" wrote in message
...
I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.

This might be plumbing heresy, but here's what I did. I bought new
tank to bowl bolts. They came with FOUR rubber washers, FOUR steel
washers, and FOUR nuts. So, I figured why not use them all? I put it
together so that I have a rubber washer INSIDE the tank and another
OUTSIDE the tank. With the tank off the toilet, I tightened each bolt
with a washer and a nut. Then, I put the tank back one and secured it
with the remaining steel washers and nuts.

That way, the hole in the tank is "washered" on both sides and the
bolts are held in place independently of the toilet. So, I don't have
to tighten the whole tank assembly to hold the washers.

Don't know if this is the right thing to do, but it has worked well for
me several times...

--Phil

The Dave=A9 wrote:
I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last
night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this
seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.

On 8 Apr 2005 09:25:45 -0700, wrote:

That way, the hole in the tank is "washered" on both sides and the
bolts are held in place independently of the toilet. So, I don't have
to tighten the whole tank assembly to hold the washers.


I would have thought that would be the normal set-up. I dread the
thought of applying hard metal pressure (the bolt and metal washer)
directly on ceramic. Its an invitation to cracking the ceramic with
just one turn too many.

That said is your water feeder tube from the cock the rigid type by
any chance? There is a possibility that this may be just a mite too
long and pushes up against the tank. This can happen when you replace
a toilet wax seal and the old dimensions are slightly different. Then
tightening the tank to bowl nuts may give a wrong sense of seal
integrity.

There are many qualities of wax rings. The plain one, then the reenforced
one which has a small fiberglass meshing to avoid it compacting too much,
and keeps integrity. And then there is a smiilar reenforced one with a PVC
cone/cup which I usually prefer. Especially since the price difference from
the cheapest to the most expensive is maybe $1 or $2 at most anyhow. Anyhow
that is fixed.

For the leak between the tank and the bowl, it could be 2 things.. Is it
leaking from the bolts area, or from the area between the tank and the bowl
(ie: water flow area)?
If it is the bolts area, just get a set with new washers and bolts (about $5
for the kit), and use them all as one other person suggested, this should
solve the problem. If it is between the tank and bowl, then I'd say to
replace the rubber seal ring which is used between the tank and bowl. I've
seen these in 2 varieties. One is your typical basic one, which I find too
flimsy, and the other is ALOT thicker. At the home depot here (in canada),
the basic one is black, and the heavy dudty one is colored red (yours may
not be red, but it does say "Heavy Duty". I use the RED one, and then press
down on it when you put it together, and tighten. Be carefull not to
overtighten, as to NOT crack the bowl or tank

If it still leaks, then I'd say you have a crack somewhere probably. If you
really can't tell where it is coming from, then they have little tablets you
can add to the water to color it, which will allow you easier to see where
the source of the problem is. At Home Depot near my house, those coloring
tablets are free of charge

Good Luck...



"The Dave©" wrote in message
...
I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.

PaPaPeng wrote:
That said is your water feeder tube from the cock the rigid type by
any chance? There is a possibility that this may be just a mite too
long and pushes up against the tank. This can happen when you replace
a toilet wax seal and the old dimensions are slightly different. Then
tightening the tank to bowl nuts may give a wrong sense of seal
integrity.

It is the old rigid type. I have since decided that the tank may
indeed be cracked and will go buy a new one tonight. I plan to get a
new flexible hose at the same time.

wrote:
This might be plumbing heresy, but here's what I did. I bought new
tank to bowl bolts. They came with FOUR rubber washers, FOUR steel
washers, and FOUR nuts. So, I figured why not use them all? I put it
together so that I have a rubber washer INSIDE the tank and another
OUTSIDE the tank. With the tank off the toilet, I tightened each bolt
with a washer and a nut. Then, I put the tank back one and secured it
with the remaining steel washers and nuts.

That way, the hole in the tank is "washered" on both sides and the
bolts are held in place independently of the toilet. So, I don't
have to tighten the whole tank assembly to hold the washers.

Don't know if this is the right thing to do, but it has worked well
for me several times...

I like this adea.

Toilets are usually sold as a complete set. It is hard to buy just a
tank. There are fitzall tanks, but they usually look like crap. No
pun intended :-)
What you want for a leak between the tank and bowl is called a close
couple kit.

Stretch

Most leaks of this nature are caused because the installer tightens the
screws from inside the the tank rather than tightening the nut from
underneath and holding the screw head in place while firmly applying
downward pressure (as one poster already suggested) on the tank.
Turning the screw head from the inside totally distorts the rubber seals.



Joe wrote:
On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 03:19:39 GMT, The Dave? wrote:


I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.



This may be obvious, but how did you assemble the tank to the bowl?
The proper sequence is to put the rubber washer on the bolt, slide it
through the tank hole, put a metal washer and nut on the bolt and
tighten it down to seal the tank hole. Don't over tighten. Then
place this tank assembly on the bowl, add another washer and another
nut to hold it in place.

Most leaks of this nature are caused because the installer tightens the
screws from inside the the tank rather than tightening the nut from
underneath and holding the screw head in place while firmly applying
downward pressure (as one poster already suggested) on the tank.
Turning the screw head from the inside totally distorts the rubber seals.

Joe wrote:
On Fri, 08 Apr 2005 03:19:39 GMT, The Dave? wrote:


I have a new toilet that was put in about three weeks ago. Last night
it started leaking around the base. Not having time to sort it out I
just called a plumber to fix it. Well, that was fixed, but now it's
leaking from one of the mounting bolts between the tank and the bowl.
I tried tightening it and that helped a little. I tried taking the
bolt and rubber washer out and re-seating them, but that made no
change. Is there anything easy that I am forgetting to help this seal,
or is it just a continual hit-and-miss type thing? Thanks.



This may be obvious, but how did you assemble the tank to the bowl?
The proper sequence is to put the rubber washer on the bolt, slide it
through the tank hole, put a metal washer and nut on the bolt and
tighten it down to seal the tank hole. Don't over tighten. Then
place this tank assembly on the bowl, add another washer and another
nut to hold it in place.