Leaky Toilet tank

Q: I have a leaky toilet tank. Yesterday, I heard water trickling sounds intermittently between flushes. I tried the food coloring test and it confirmed the tank is leaking. It is not running always – but just makes a trickling water sound now and then.

Is this something I can fix myself ? If someone has experience, can you please share with me. ( I tried locating the flapper, but my tank doesn’t seem to have the regular chain and flapper. The trip handle is integrated with a central big pipe/structure which joins to the base of the tank)

Do you have any good ( and inexpensive) plumber recommendations?

A: When you push the handle do you see anything move in the tank? There has to be something at the bottom of the tank that controls when the water goes in... I replaced my broken filler with a FluidMaster which can best be described as a ‘big pipe structure thing’ since I no longer have a floating ball in the tank, but that still connect via chain to the flapper.

A: I’m having roughly the same problem. I think water is leaking into the actual toilet from the tank, but I’m not 100% sure. Who is a good person to call?

A: It could be the “flapper,” the thing at the bottom of the toilet tank (rubber device) that forms a seal between the tank and the toilet. Try pressing down on it (gently) with a ruler or some other long object (so you don’t get your arm wet) and see if you still hear gurgling. If not, then the flapper is worn out and needs to be replaced. You can check on the internet to see how this is done (links below).

If you still hear gurgling when you press down on the flapper, then it could be that the float needs to be adjusted. The float is the balloon-like thing that is screwed to a bar that connects to the left side of the toilet (usually; at least on my toilet). Try lifting the float just a little bit to see if the gurgling/bubbling noise stops. If it does, then the bar may need to either be bent up a little bit so the float goes “higher” or otherwise adjusted.

My toilet (a Mansfield) has a screw that you could adjust to raise/lower the float. I had the same problem as you describe below, and was able to fix it by adjusting the height of the float. Now, the toilet is nice and quiet.

You could try http://www.familyhandyman.com/ and a few other sites like This Old House, diynetwork.com, etc. to search for toilet repair tips, and I think they will have stuff like this outlined. I found this info in a Home Depot DIY book I bought from Home Depot ~2 years ago.