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Leaky toilets are always a cause for inconvenience. They can also mean extra costs for repairs and replacements. To help you avoid this annoying problem, it may help to know the most common reasons why toilets leak.
Here are your most common reasons for leaking:
Cracked bowl or cracked tank.
Any form of cracks in the toilet bowl or on the tank is an obvious cause for leaks. Either way, a replacement is necessary. There is no other remedy for cracking and there’s no point in delaying. Shut off the valve and cease use of the toilet at the first sign of leaks from cracking.
Corrosion and rusting.
Corrosion results from many factors, but mostly it’s the chemical reaction of your toilet hardware (plumbing parts and the toilet and tank itself) to particles, chemicals, and other impurities in the water. This is common among submerged parts and parts that are constantly in contact with the water. Rusting is the result of corrosion on the metallic parts of your toilet. The corroded and rusted parts would need immediate replacement.
Worn-out washers and bolts.
The toilet tank is held onto the bowl with washers and bolts. When the washers are worn out (they come with aging or may be the result of improper installation), the water from the tank leaks elsewhere. The washers and bolts must be replaced (if old and damaged) or just reinforced.
Worn out or defective gasket.
Aside from the washers and volts, the tank and the bowl are kept together through a gasket. This three-inch contraption can corrode and therefore leak. It would need replacement.
Failed wax ring.
There are a few small things that sit between your toilet and your floor, mostly to keep the toilet ‘glued’ to the floor. One of them is the wax ring. When the wax ring fails, there is no more barrier between the toilet and the drainage pipe, so the water (dirty water) leaks out onto the floor. It should be replaced.
Malfunctioning float.
The float is the little buoy-like thing inside your toilet’s tank. Sometimes, it falls off its main line or gets stuck, or just mainly malfunctions for whatever reason. Because its main job is to control the flow of flushed water into the toilet, when it malfunctions, water overflows into the bowl.
Loose or worn feed line.
The feed line is the little tube that brings water from the tank to the bowl. When this gets loose or gets old and worn out, it starts a leak.
Blockage on the overflow tube.
The overflow tube’s main job is to stop an overflow. When something gets stuck in it, water pours over and might start a spill.
A leaky toilet should not be taken lightly. It is a waste of clean water (which can cause your bill to skyrocket), can cause damage to your flooring, or worse, can spill dirty toilet water. When you see leaks, don’t hesitate to call Fort Lauderdale’s most reliable emergency plumber, 4 Star Plumbing Services!
Our personnel is available 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, including holidays. Call us at 954-776-9888 to solve your toilet problems stat!
Sean Hasle is a third-generation plumber and he and his family have been serving the South Florida area since 1957. He is a licensed plumbing, underground utility, and fire contractor. Sean is married with two young boys and he spends time giving back to the community through Rotary International and coaching his son's little league baseball.
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