Why is the toilet leaking Three reasons

Today, dear friends, I want to analyze with you the 3 most “popular” reasons why the toilet is flowing. Although it would be more correct to say that the toilet bowl is flowing ...

At the end of the article, as usual, you can also watch a video about all this on my YouTube channel. In the process of preparing the article, I remembered another reason that I made a video about 4 years ago. I won’t analyze it in the text of this article, but ... at the very end I will also give a link to it.

So...let's go!!!

The first reason why the toilet is flowing

Let's start from the very beginning - the flow of water into the tank ... The inlet valve is responsible for this, the opening and closing of which occurs due to the effect of the float on the valve lever.

In the photo below, I am holding the same lever.

If the valve is faulty and leaks water, then ...

... then we look at the emergency water discharge pipe. Surely the water level in the tank has risen to the “critical level” mark and through this tube the water is discharged into the toilet.

In my case, as you can see, the water level is 2 cm lower. That is ... the inlet valve is working.

Nevertheless, in the photo below, a red coating is clearly visible on the inner cavity of the tube. This suggests that my tank once faced this problem. Therefore, I will disassemble the valve to show you the possible cause of the leak.

The valve nut is unscrewed freely by hand ...

Having dismantled the upper part, we see the membrane, which actually shuts off the water under the influence of the valve lever. We take it out.

As you can see, the membrane has already been "improved" by me.

The fact is that in the factory version, there is a silicone gasket. Over time, it either dries out, or furrows from the lower surface appear ... But in the end, this gasket stops holding water ... no matter what you do ... It didn’t work to replace it - several plumbing stores told me that they don’t have such a gasket and It never happened…

I had to cut it out of ... a bicycle tube!

However ... the solution turned out to be viable! I did not remove the silicone, but placed a rubber gasket on top of it!

By the way, limescale can form on this gasket, which, when the valve is triggered, will let water through. So…wipe this seal with a rag, removing all excess from its surface.

The second reason why the toilet is flowing

Now let's turn our attention to the water release system.

First, we need to dismantle this device: grasp the rack tightly with your hand and turn it counterclockwise.

There are 4 protrusions at the bottom of the rack (I marked them with yellow arrows) ...

… they engage with the slots/locks shown in the photo below.

Be careful when installing or dismantling this rack so that these elements are not broken by excessive force.

Pay attention to dark spots (plaque) on the conical part of the outlet. This "seat" contacts the rubber exhaust valve. There will be no leakage in this place as long as the contact between them is tight.

And if even on the “saddle”, even on the rubber valve, a plaque appears, water will be guaranteed to run.

In my case, “on the saddle” there is clearly plaque in two places. I will remove it with a regular washcloth for washing dishes.

But on the rubber valve ... limescale covered the entire surface:

Most of all, it accumulated on the conical part, which is in contact with the "saddle" discussed above.

The plaque was also removed with a regular washcloth for washing dishes.

Now we mount the exhaust system in its rightful place, not forgetting to control our forces: do not break the protrusions and fasteners of this rack.

The third reason why the toilet is flowing

Again, let's pay attention to the rubber valve of the water release system, which we just cleaned from plaque.

4 years ago, I ran into this problem...

The rubber of this valve no longer fits snugly against the “saddle”, as if something did not allow the valve to fully “lie down” on the “saddle”.

I noticed that the edges of the valve ... are slightly bent up! Deformation of the working surface has occurred! Well, okay ... The valve still had to, under its own weight and under the weight of water, close the outlet.

And then I saw that the valve was not allowed to fall below ... two stops, the locations of which are indicated in the photo below. I removed them immediately. They are no longer in the photo, but the locations are indicated by arrows.

After this procedure, an additional 3-4 mm of free play appeared at the valve stem. Now its course at the lowest point was limited only by the ring on the surface of the tube. This was enough to reliably block the water leak.

After removing the plaque from the bottom of the exhaust system, I installed the system in place.

We open the water and make sure that none of the above reasons is no longer "trembling on our nerves."

And now the promised videos: First, the video version of this article:

And the fourth reason for a toilet cistern leak : https://youtu.be/iS0L3Ko5CwE