New to the forum, and I certainly appreciate it. Being one of the most popular topics, I searched, but I got 14 pages or so. Most of them dealing with older toilets, so I start a new thread.

I have a 5 year-old toilet whose tank drains slowly. I have replaced the flapper with 2 different brands, and the leaking continues. There is no water on the floor, so the leak is happening on the inside. After the 2 flapper replacements, I went to my nearby Home Depot, and they suggested a buy a flapper seal---a plastic disk that glues on to the original flapper hole to make it smooth. I installed it, sealed it with silicon, and sure enough the tank continues to drain. When I added food coloring, however, I did not see the red fluid in the toilet bowl. Strange.

What do I try next? I shut off the water line every day to avoid the waste, but I would like to fix it once and for all.
Thank you.

Nothing works better then Original Equipment Manufactured parts. (OEM) You did not mention the brand or model of your toilet. One piece or two piece toilet? It appears that the flapper and flush base are not mating properly. To prove this use 3 oz or more of dark food dye in the tank after its full and settled. Wait 20 minute and see if any of the dark dye has migrated into the bowl. Replacing the flush valve is more difficult then just changing the flapper, but will yield better results.

Best Wishes

I have a Briggs, 2 piece toilet.

Thanks wheelchair. You are thinking it's the seal between the top and bottom and not the flapper, right? If I add dye to the water, and I see it in the bowl after 20 mins, what will that prove? Another bad flapper or a bad seal between top and bottom?

I just came across this flapper and have had very good luck with it (after years of fair-to-middlin' luck with Korky flappers). Four in a row have held 100% so far.

But if you've added dye and don't see it in the bowl, then you should be seeing it on the floor. There aren't any other places for it to go, under normal circumstances.





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yes, a valid point. That water must be going somewhere, right?

I am using Korky at the moment. Will continue testing tonight.

thanks

Check the refill tube from the fillvalve to the overflow. If its to long it could be siphoning the water out.

I agree with wheelchair. It's a little more effort to replace the whole flapper seat/fill tube assy, I've never had a problem with one after doing so. Adjusting the pull chain is important, too. It needs a little bit of slack, say about a quarter of the handle pull should be ok. I always cut off and remove any excess chain so it does not interfere with anything. Also, check that the nut on the handle mount is snug. (it's a left-hand thread, usually) to make sure the handle can drop fully every time. Hope this helps.



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Another area that I have seen that can cause the flapper to be raised a little is the gasket around the flush valve itself. I have seen it more in town water, when there is chlorine in it. The gasket will fold up in a wave like pattern. You can trim some of the gasket so that the flapper sits all the way down.

Turn off the water supply valve and see what happens to the water level in the tank. If it drops to a certain level and stops, then the small refill tube is inserted too far down into the overflow pipe. If it drains completely, then you either have a bad flapper, (rare), or a cracked overflow riser pipe, (most likely).

I have been using Korky flappers for over 50 years, and have NOT had fair to middling results with them. In fact, they are the only ones that ALWAYS work.

One question. WIth the new flappers, are you cutting the "circle" off and just using the two ears?

Thanks for all the replies.

I have cut off the circles of all flappers, so as to only use the 2 holes.
I have the refill tube clipped to the very top of the overflow tube. I have noticed that when the water is off, and the tank drains, it often only drains halfway or so. So perhaps there is some siphoning going on. The overflow tube is the original size, so what do I do?

Give us a picture if the inside of the tank, but if the refill is clipped to the top of the overflow pipe, there is no siphoning occurring. But whatever is happening, it is at the point where the water level stops dropping.

the end of the refill tube must be slightly higher than the top of the waterline when the tank is full. how you accomplish this depends how high the water level is in respect to the top of the overflow pipe.
this is the more common type available...

i think i see what my problem is. I think.

My refill tube is clipped to the top of the overflow tube, but the other end of the refill tube sits at a level below the top of the overflow tube and close to the same level of the water.
I wish I could attach a pic that I have on my phone. The refill tube has to arch up (not too much) to reach the top of the overflow tube.

Could that be part of the problem?

no, that is not the problem.

Pull it up until it is just below the top of the overflow pipe. Cut it off if it is too long to do that and still be below the toilet tank lid.