can anyone help me with a plumbing problem?

my water consumption has doubled over the past few months and the only thing i can think of is that each toilet i have (there are 3 in the house) makes a sound as though there's a faucet slowly leaking.

i can't 'see' any water leakage, but is this something that could be causing the water consumption to increase, and it is being wasted somewhere?

what can i do to fix it?

(i'm heading out in a minute for an hour or so, but i'll check for replies as soon as i'm back. thanks in advance for all your ideas.)

Well toilets should definately not do that. Sounds like the float in the tank is not shuting the valve off completely.
You can take the lid off the tank and adjust the float lower a bit and that should solve that problem, if that's the problem.

Or the flapper might be worn

so is the float the buoyant bulb thingie in there?

Yes it is.
And the flapper is the flappy thing on the bottom of the tank.

You can test the float just by pulling up on it.

You have to replace the flappers every few years anyway so you might as well do that. The rubber seal against the big hole in the bottom of the tank warps and leaks water. They only cost a couple of bucks and takes only a minute to unhook it's little ears and hook the new one in place.

There is a pipe that sticks up in the middle of the tank with an open top. If the tank gets too much water in it, the water will overflow into the top of the pipe. It is easy to see if the water is running into the top of the pipe all the time. There is a screw at the base of the float arm that adjust the height of the water but it is usually rusted and won't turn. Most people just grab the float and bend the arm "gently" to make the float a little farther down into the water which make the water shut off a little quicker and stops the water before it overflows into the top of the open pipe.

As mentioned, either a bad flap or a the 'bouyant bulb thingie' , which connects to the shutoff switch, is not working properly.

If the flap is bad, then water escapes out from under and the water runs to fill up the tank. If the arm is not adjusted right or the switch is bad, the water will run continuously.


If the water running is intermittent, then it's likely a bad flap that is leaking slowly.

If it runs most of the time, then it might be a bad flap that leaks quite a bit or the switch/arm is bad/not adjusted.

Steps to solve:

1. lift up the arm and see if you can get the water sound to stop. If you can, the switch is working. If you can't, you'll need to replace the mechanism. They don't cost much and it's not a really difficult repair, but I don't know your level of comfort here.

2. If the switch is good, then bend the metal arm down a bit (or, as metalwing just suggested, adjust with the proper adjustment screw, lol ) and see if that fixes it. Getting the arm to set lower will make the switch cut off at a lower level. If that fixes it, you're done. If not, you've got a bad flap. Usually you can replace just the flap and you can get one at your hardware store for a few bucks. You might take the time to clean around the where the flap sits to make sure there's no buildup there which prevents sealing, though I've only seen that happen once.

my comfort level?

haha my comfort level includes sitting down on toilet, flushing toilet and leaving the room.

but i'll go ahead and see if i can manage to change all the flaps this weekend.

thanks for your advice everyone.

update: i changed 3 toilet flappers and so far, so good.

thanks guys

Did the noise stop?

Is there where I'm allowed to laugh at the thought of you changing toilet flappers? For some reason, it just makes me giggle.
BTW.......good job! I always use the word "thingie" too on this stuff. Who comes up with these terms anyhow?

yes, the noise stopped! (i'm hoping that it's reflected somehow in my next water bill statement )

heather, you should have seen me buying the items - i was dressed up for work (in leather pants and silk blouse) and felt so out of place shuffling around the plumbing section.

I hear it's a great place to pick up men