I know it's a bit strange asking about this kind of problem but this is pretty much my first port of call for household things.

Anyway, over the last few days I've noticed some water on the floor next to the toilet. There doesn't seem to a leak surrounding the toilet so I need to figure out where the leak is coming from, and how to rectify it.




The blue circle is meant to be the puddle. It's very light and barely noticeable but sizeable (about 5-8cm dia). I tried watching it whilst flushing the toilet several times but I can't seem to detect where the water is coming from. The other thing I've noticed is the toilet doesn't flush with its usual vigour. Sometimes the flush reminds me of one of those "ecofriendly" toilets that flush a small amount when flushing urine, except there's only a handle so only one type of flush.

Is there a common problem with toilets that I'm not aware of? Is there a way to detect it, maybe by dying the water in the tank thing?

My first thought, from the position, would be the pipe going into the cistern is not 100% water tight, does it drop slowly? How quickly does the puddle build up?

Second thought is, does somebody in the house have a poor aim?

Is it a continuous leak i.e. does it appear even when nobody uses the WC, or is it flush-related? Assuming the porcelain isn't cracked anywhere, in a WC there's only two or three joints where water can leak from; cistern inlet & overflow, cistern/flush pipe and flush pipe/pan.

Is the pipe connecting to the cistern above the leak the inlet or the overflow? I'd say it's likely to be a slow leak from either the cistern inlet/overflow or where the flush pipe connects to the cistern; if the cistern isn't mounted level on the wall any water would collect and drip off the corner of the cistern that's lowest - I'd guess the left-hand side in this case, and is how you get a puddle in the middle of the floor that doesn't seem to be connected to anything. If the puddle actually extended to the base of the pan (which it could have done, and just dried out at the edges) then it's more likely to be the seal between the flush pipe and the pan that's dicky - though in this case it would only leak when the WC was flushed.

If it's not obvious, then wrap some kitchen towel around the likely joints and see if it gets wet - though allow for condensation as a possible source as well.

HTH Pete

Condensation on the corner of the tank dripping on to the floor?

Mark

Drunken tramp with a bad aim.

(8+)

Mark

Bag woman whose presence in the smallest room is more by luck than judgement.

cloaked_wolf's gimp?

Mark

I've had a similar problem where the leak was at the L-shape to bowl connection. Only happened when it flushed.

Paul, isn't that Bratty 10 years from now?

Mark

Edited for you

I'd be very surprised if this thread got bested today.

Mark

+1

The threat title is asking for it, really.

And now everyone in the office is looking at me, and wondering why I'm giggling like a small girl!