T’is the season to save water and lower your bill. An easy way to find water loss is to take the Toilet Test! A bad toilet leak can easily waste well over 1,000 gallons a day. Some leaks are obvious—you can see or hear them—but others can easily go unnoticed (except on your water bill).
One of the most common types of "silent" toilet leaks occurs when water from the tank continues to quietly seep into the bowl even after a flush is complete. To check for this type of leak, put a few drops of food coloring into the tank. If the coloring shows up in the bowl without the toilet being flushed, you know you have a leak. Sometimes a simple adjustment to the float and flap inside the toilet tank can fix this type of leak.
Need to replace the flapper? Bring the old flapper (or a picture of it) to the hardware store to make sure you buy the correct one for your toilet model. Pay attention to the width of the flapper and whether it has a foam float on it that may also need to be replaced.
Watch this video tutorial from EPA WaterSense:
