How to Perform a Toilet Leak Test

[Albert Muldowney]

Hey Bigger Pockets Family!

Did you know that 27% of the water used daily in a home is used by the toilet? One of the largest tenant complaints for PMI Georgia is high water bills for an unknown reason. I would say that 8 out of 10 times the cause is a leaking toilet. A leaking toilet can result in thousands of gallons of water loss each month and a hefty increase on the bill. The most interesting part is most water companies will not provide a leak credit if the cause of the high bill is a toilet.

Testing the toilet monthly is a great way to make sure that the fill valve and flush valve on your toilet is in working order. It is an easy and cheap test that could save you tons of money on your bill if it catches an issue before it gets out of hand.

There are a few things to look for to determine if your toilets are having issues without doing a test, do you hear it fill over and over when it hasn’t been flushed? Do you see water movement in the bowl when it has not been flushed in a long time? Maybe you should do a simple test to see if there is a leak.

How to perform a Leak Test:

• Remove the top off the back of your toilet and drop a few drops of food coloring or a no sugar Kool-Aid pack into the water. If you are on a septic tank please be sure that you use only items with nothing that can harm the septic balance. Place the lid back on and wait 10 minutes. Do not flush the toilet, just be patient. After 10 minutes look into the bowl of your toilet and if the color has moved from the tank to the bowl there is a good change that there is a leak. If this happens, we suggest you submit a maintenance request and let them know that there is a leak in your toilet. The insides of the toilet can easily be replaced to stop the leak and bring your bill back to normal.