I hear my toilet dripping down into the drain pipe, where is the leak?

Question

I live in an old house, and the toilet is also quite old. I replaced the wax ring a couple of years ago. When my toilet sits idle and is not being flushed, I hear a dripping inside the drain pipe under the house. That doesn't sound like the wax ring to me. That sounds like some sort of crack on the underside of the toilet bowl where it holds water.

Answer 1

There is an overflow tube in the tank, adjust the float so that the water level is just below the top of that tube. There may also be a seapage tube going from the valve to this tube. If the valve is going bad and not shutting off completely the seapage will go through that tube and down the drain. If that is the case, replace the valve and float assembly.

Answer 2

All valid answers so far.

The first thing I'd check are the tank mechanics. Number one would be the flapper, or whatever means is in the tank to block the drain port. Then the overflow mechanism. Water line set at 1 inch below the top of the tube is industry standard.

Check the bowl. Do you notice what might seem a constant but moderate flow into the bowl? Check your water useage meter, try to determing amounts being used that you might not explain. It doesn't sound like this is critical, but certainly can be annoying.

The mechanisms of a toilet, no matter it's age, are as basic as any in the are subject to being submerged 24/7, hence they degrade. Replacement parts should probably become a scheduled habit for any home owner, even if only once a year. Certainly the costs are minimal. The elements residing in your water, beyond the water itself, are what attack the plumbing. Perhaps a check up on a regular basis, and a tank wash out, to remove grit, slime, etc. wouldn't hurt.

Answer 3

There are only a couple of places that a toilet holds water: in the bowl and in the tank. It's unlikely that the wax ring would have anything to do with a drip that you would hear when the toilet is NOT being flushed, because when the toilet is sitting idle, no water is going past the wax ring.

A question that may help you to diagnose your problem is this: Do you hear a "phantom flush" occasionally? That is, does the tank start to fill itself (you hear water running) when no one has flushed the toilet? If so, your flapper is probably bad. This is the flexible rubber thing that keeps water from going from the tank to the bowl. When you flush, the flapper lifts and water rushes into the bowl, flushing the toilet. Flappers are cheap and easy to replace.

Other than that, the toilet doesn't have many opportunities to leak. It's possible that the bowl or the tank is cracked, but you would see a crack of that size. Do you see any cracks?

Hope this helps. Sorry if I explained anything that you already knew, but I hate to be unclear.

Answer 4

Your water level may be set too high. If you have the old "Ball Float" you need to bend the rod downward - so it shuts off the water inlet at a sooner point in time.

You may have a leaky "Flapper" that is allowing a steady slow stream of water to flow.

Furthermore, I think if you had a crack in either the tank or the bowl that it is "Possible" but very unlikely that water would leak and all of it would go into the bowl and down the pipe. I do think it more likely you would get some of the water in the bowl, and some of it would be on the floor about the toilet. I also believe, over time the crack would grow in size - so would your puddle on the floor.

Answer 5

Toilet Leaking From Pipe

Answer 6

It could be several things: 1) The float is set to high and allowing the tank to over fill and raise the water level in the bowl until it drips into the drain. 2) The flush valve in the bottom of the tank is not sealing. 3) The intake valve is not seating correctly.

Correct #1 or 3, by bending the float bulb rod or turning the adjustment screw on the intake valve.

Correct #2 by cleaning or replacing rubber part of the flush valve.

If none of the above work, Replace intake and flush components. They are readily available and not expensive.



My terminology may not be correct but descriptive enough to be understood

Answer 7

Most likely your tank is slowly draining into the bowl and the overflow is just leaking down the drain. One way to find out is to put a few drop of food coloring into the tank on top and wait a few minutes WITHOUT flushing. If the tank is leaking then you should be able to see the colored water slowly draining into the bowl. Sometimes just replacing the flapper will fix the problem and it's pretty simple to do. Other times you'll need to replace pretty much everything inside the tank, not hard to do if you are somewhat handy. if you have any more questions feel free to send me a message, no guarantees on how soon I'll be able to reply though.

Answer 8

probably the flush valve. there is a small pipe [hose] sticking down in the tube that the flapper is attached to and it is probably constantly leaking. when you hear the sound look down in the tube with a flashlight and see if you can see it dripping. [the pipe is usually attached with a plastic or metal clip so you can just pull it out and see if it is leaking] also when you hear the sound reach in with your hand and mash down on the flapper and see if that will stop the dripping.