Toilets That Run, Rock Or Leak

A toilet is the fixture most used and least looked at in a property, and it fails in three ways that get confused with each other.

Knowing which one is happening decides whether it is a part, an afternoon or a tiling job.

The cistern that keeps running

Water running into the pan continuously, or a cistern that refills every twenty minutes with nobody using it.

Two parts can cause it.

The outlet valve, meaning the seal at the bottom of the cistern that holds the water in. When that perishes, water trickles into the pan constantly and the inlet keeps topping it up. This is the common one and it is the larger water waster.

The inlet valve, meaning the float-controlled valve that fills the cistern. When that fails to shut off, the cistern fills past its level and the surplus goes down the overflow into the pan.

Telling them apart takes a minute. Put a little food colouring in the cistern and wait without flushing. Colour appearing in the pan means the outlet valve. No colour, with water still running, means the inlet.

Both are replaceable parts. On a cistern more than fifteen years old, both get done at once, because the second one usually fails within months of the first.

A running toilet is the single biggest water waster in a property, and in a sub-metered building it shows up on a bill before anybody reports it, which is one of the things [water meters and leak detection](/blog/water-meters-sub-metering-and-leak-detection) is for.

The pan that rocks

A toilet that moves when somebody sits on it.

This is the one to deal with quickly, because the movement is working the waste connection loose every time it happens. A rocking pan eventually breaks the seal at the floor, and then it leaks into the slab or the ceiling below rather than onto the floor where somebody would see it.

Causes, in order of frequency.

Floor fixings loose or never properly fixed. Easy, provided there is something to fix into.

The pan bedded on silicone alone instead of being mechanically fixed. Common in quick installs.

An uneven or deteriorated floor under the pan, often where an old vinyl or tiled floor has failed around the base.

A cracked pan, which is a replacement and not a repair.

In an apartment the consequence of ignoring it is a leak into the unit below, which is the start of the whole argument covered in [water coming through a ceiling](/blog/water-coming-through-a-ceiling-in-an-apartment).

Water on the floor

The hardest of the three to diagnose, because the water appears some distance from where it comes out.

Condensation on the cistern in humid weather, which looks exactly like a leak and is not one. It runs down the cistern and the pan and pools at the base.

The inlet connection, which drips at the wall or at the cistern and runs behind the pan.

The pan collar at the floor, which is a real leak and usually accompanied by a smell.

The seal between cistern and pan on a close-coupled unit, which leaks only during a flush and is dry the rest of the time.

Watching a flush cycle tells you most of this. Dry between flushes and wet during one points at the flush path. Constantly damp with nothing happening points at the inlet or at condensation.

Smell

A persistent smell near a toilet is almost never the toilet bowl.

It is a dry or broken trap, a failed floor connection, or a vent problem in the stack. Cleaning harder does nothing. The source has to be found, and a smell with no visible water is often the first sign of a floor seal that has gone, which belongs with [blocked drains and what the blockage tells you](/blog/blocked-drains-and-what-the-blockage-tells-you).

Replacing rather than repairing

Worth doing in three situations.

A cracked pan. A cistern where parts are no longer made, which is common on anything with an unusual flush mechanism. And a single flush unit in a property where water usage matters, because a dual flush replacement pays for itself on the water bill in an occupied apartment.

Replacement in an older bathroom is rarely a straight swap. The waste position, the floor finish around the old pan footprint, and the inlet height all have to suit the new unit, and the old pan usually leaves tile or vinyl damage that has to be made good. Which is why it is scheduled alongside the tiling rather than treated as a plumbing visit, in the same way as [bathroom work in an occupied apartment](/blog/bathroom-work-in-an-occupied-apartment).

Ample repairs and replaces toilets across apartments and houses in the eastern suburbs and inner city, with the tiling, waterproofing and floor repairs handled by one team where the pan comes up.