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Tips For a Properly Working Toilet

admin • Mar 25, 2014

Check Your Toilet’s Operation Regularly

If you are going to have a slow leak someplace in your plumbing system it is probably going to have something to do with your toilet.  There are a lot of moving parts, and a lot of ways that the toilet can leak water, and that means you need to spend a little bit of time looking at its operation to be sure that it is working properly.  These three tips will help to ensure that your toilet is in tip top shape and will help to save you money on your water bill.

 

Obvious Issues

 

You should start checking your toilet’s operation by carefully inspecting all of the parts of the toilet for obvious damage.  See if there is any water on the floor around the toilet and look for cracks or other signs of severe damage.  Even a small crack in the base of the toilet tank can case a slow leak that will cost you hundreds of dollars a year in wasted water.

 

Hidden Leaks

 

food color There are a lot of places where your toilet can leak, and those small leaks are almost impossible to find with the naked eye.    The best way to find the hidden leaks in your toilet is to use food coloring to trace the flow of water through the toilet tank and bowl.  For this test you will want to use a brightly colored food dye, usually a red or a purple, and you need to be sure that you have any kind of toilet cleaning chemicals out of the bowl.  Put the dye in the toilet tank and wait for the results.  You will be able to see any slow leaks in the system if you notice that the food coloring has moved from the toilet tank to the bowl within an hour.

 

Flushing Issues

 

Over time you may have gotten used to the toilet not flushing as well as it used to.  The damage to the flapper valve and the other internal parts of the toilet tank happen slowly, and you might not even notice that something has changed.  Check to be sure that the handle is not loose and that you are not holding the handle down for more than a second or two to get the toilet flushed.  Every second that you spend holding down the handle wastes a lot of water, and this cost adds up very quickly.

 

The plumbing Alexandria VA homes have need to be maintained to work as intended.  A careful inspection of the toilet every few months will ensure that you notice any leaks or issues before they become catastrophes.

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