Toilet refilling periodically

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pasfromage

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Hi all

I'm having some toilet issues. About a month ago, the plastic chain on the flapper valve broke, so I put in a new flapper with a nice metal chain. The flapper worked fine as far as I could tell, but then for some reason--maybe turning the water off and on to the toilet, lord knows that last time that was done in my rental--toilet started squealing about half an hour after every flush. Google research suggested the culprit was the fill valve, so I went ahead and replaced that too.

Now I have a new problem. Somehow water is leaking from the tank into the bowl--I can tell because there are mineral deposits down the side of the bowl, which never happened before--and the toilet will refill itself every so often. Sometimes it's only a few seconds, sometimes almost a minute long; usually about an hour or so apart. Searching on google tells me to replace the flapper valve, but I just did that, and there wasn't a leak before I replaced the fill valve. I didn't make any alterations to the flapper either. So what's going on?

Thanks for your help
 
It sounds like you pushed the refill tube to far down into overflow tube. If the end of refill is below the water level of the tank it will siphon the water from the tank into the bowl.

John
 
I don't think that's it. My Fluidmaster valve kit came with a little plastic clip that holds the end of the hose well above the top of the tube. That said, the little clip in the box was different from the little clip in the illustration. So maybe I put it in the wrong way.

I took a few pictures, maybe a practiced eye can see whatever I've missed. Thank you so much for your help.

Emily

IMG_20111213_140323.jpg

IMG_20111213_140336.jpg
 
That flapper looks old and worn out. If you don't purchase a new one, I would at least lift the flapper and run your fingers around both the underside of the flapper and the top of the rim to knock off any calcium which would cause a slow leak into the bowl.

Also, it looks like your chain slack is falling under the flapper which would break the seal to the bowl. If this is the case (hard to verify through the pictures) then cut that off and it will solve your problem.
 
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Thanks Havasu. The flapper and chain are brand new, and worked great until I replaced the fill valve. Unless I was supposed to replace parts other than the red flapper?

And though you can't tell it from the picture, I did clip the extra chain up and out of the way of the flapper. I will admit that it took me awhile to think of that after I first put it in.

Thanks anyway. Any other ideas?
 
your flush valve probably needs replaced along with all the gaskets involved with that. I am not a plumber. just a drain cleaner. But mine at home was doing the same thing i think and i pulled the tank and replaced tha valve and bolts. No problems since.
 
In the first photo, the right side of the flapper doesn't appear to be completely connected to the overflow tube. I don't think that is the actual problem with water leaking into the bowl from the tank, just pointing it out to be sure the flapper seats fully over the flush valve. I do agree that the entire flush valve probably needs to be replaced. It is too often that a new flapper doesn't do the trick and water still gets through.
Since you live in a rental, shouldn't these issues be the land lord's responsibility?
 
I would think these things come under your landlord's sphere of responsibility like Caduceus said but good for you for getting on with it.
It does sound like maybe the flapper isn't sitting correctly, although it's hard to see from the pictures. That would explain the slow seeping of water into the bowl from the tank and the needed refills. I would probably go back to the original flapper installation instructions to check them over. In the mean time, would putting vasoline around the lip of the flapper help in keeping the seeping to a minimum and save on your water bills?
 

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