This adventure started when the most recent water bill landed. Not that the extra 600 gallons (2271 Litres) of usage cost that much more but the fact that we have been here for over a year and our water usage is pretty much the same most months and probably has not varied more than 20 or so gallons adjusted for seasons. As we are well into the summer and we are running the lawn sprinklers twice a day for five minutes each time just to keep the grass from completely turning brown and dead as the last rain we had was in May, and out daily routine has been stable for a few years, the extra 600 gallons is an anomaly.
The first place to look is the toilets. A small leak can go unnoticed pretty easily and add up, this was a bit larger than a small leak but it still adds up quickly. Lets look at what 600 gallons looks like in a month.
For a container it would be 64 inches (163cm) round and 50 inches (127cm) high.
At the other end of the size scale it would be 51,200 shots (1 1/2 ounces or 44ml) at a bar.
Now to split that up over the month it works out to just over a shot every two minutes.
You would think that amount of water running would be noticeable but it wasn't. Not until we got the bill.
All things home DYI have a few unofficial rules, one of them is that the minimum required trips to the hardware store is two. If you only need to make a single trip they it is not really a DIY repair, it is a repair that anybody could do. Anybody.
So I put on my deerstalker hat and proceeded to start my investigation of the leak. OK, maybe it was more like Columbo because it always seems that there is "Just one more thing". The first place I looked was the bowl area, if there is a leak you will usually find a trail of water somewhere trickling down the side. Nothing. Open up the tank and look, nothing really to see or hear.
While there is nothing scientifically designated for the volume of a drop of water, the generally accepted volume is 1/4ml. At 1.5 ounces (44ml) every two minutes it works out to a drop every 1.5 seconds. should be very visible. Nope.
But I found it. There is a hose that connects the water control to the bowl to fill it. This is all hidden from view. Until you remove the hose. Part of the problem of seeing it is that the bowl will only fill up so far before it overflows into the drain and keep its level steady. The fix should be as simple as replacing a seal on the valve. Should be...
Now I would rather repair than replace, so off to my local hardware store for a replacement valve, I found one for a different manufacture then my valve that looked almost identical. Almost. Picked it up and went back home to install it. It stopped the leak. And everything else it should do, no water would flow. At all.
Remember the rule I mentioned before? Yep, second trip to return the seal and off to a different store to see if I could find the correct seal. Does this still count as a second trip or going to a different store count as a third trip? No seal. Time to replace the entire float/valve assembly. There is also another unwritten rule, if you need to replace a plumbing part and there is more than one of them in your dwelling, replace them all at the same time. You can thank me later for saving you time and water.
There were no big issues with the replacement and we are waiting to see if the water bill goes back to normal over the next few months as there will most likely be some overlap between the leak and the fix in the billing cycle but a couple of test showed that no water is leaking overnight so the flush valve is sealing correctly and that would have been another trip.
It also rained today for the first time since late May in a volume other than dew.