Myth Buster: The Toilet Leak Dye-Test Doesn’t Work!

Myth Buster: The Toilet Leak Dye-Test Doesn’t Work!

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Toilet leaks may be an easy repair but sometimes detecting a leak can be the biggest part of the challenge, especially if it’s a silent leak. 

Don’t be alarmed – there are many ways for you to check to see if your toilet is leaking, but the classic ‘leaking toilet dye-test’ isn’t one of them! In case you’ve forgotten the details, the leaking toilet test, is where you drop a few drops of food colouring or dye into the tank of your toilet, and wait a few moments to see if coloured water seeps or leaks down into your toilet bowl. It may sound pretty straightforward and foolproof, however it doesn’t always produce results you can count on! 

When performing the test, we often found the dye would still leak into the toilet bowl, but it wasn’t necessarily because a leak was presentWhat most people don’t know is dye can still leak into your toilet bowl due to the differences of viscosity in the liquids and dyes. After performing the test, it might tell you that you have a leaking toilet, when you really do not!

If you want to diagnose a leaking toilet, here are a few of my insider tips and tricks you can try yourself:

1) Place your ear to the toilet tank after you’ve flushed.  Continue to listen for a minute or two after the toilet has stopped filling. If the leak isn’t silent, you will be able to hear if water is still running. If you can still hear water running, it means you’ve most likely detected a leak.

2) After you’ve flushed, wait a few moments and then look into the toilet bowl. If you can still see water movement filling from the tank minutes later, you’ve most definitely spotted a leak.

3) If you can hear your toilet filling when no one has recently used itit probably means you have a broken fill valve. This is known as the famous ‘Ghost Fill’.

Before you let your water bill double, give these tips a try to detect a leak right away. If you suspect you have a leaking toilet, contact us for a professional toilet check.

~David, Owner, Aquality Plumbing & Heating

How to fix a water leak in my home

How to fix a water leak in my home

Screen-Shot-2018-06-08-at-6.53.24-PM-768x502 How to fix a water leak in my home  water_leak_pipe_dripping_lyric_water_leak_detector How to fix a water leak in my home

What if you could tell you had a small leak in your home as soon as it started, before it becomes a huge wet mess that requires you to replace carpet, drywall, personal belongings and more?

Lots of items in our homes can leak and eventually cause water damage or even result in mold growing inside our home. Leaks happen while we are home and while we are away. Tiny drips of water can come from a dishwasher, washing machine, hot water heater, water softener and more and can lead to a large leak.

When clients call us after they’ve had a water leaker in their home, we always help them out by repairing or replacing the cause of the water damage but we also aim to discover what could have been done to prevent this unwanted water leak.

A Solution:

One solution is to install something like the Honeywell Lyric Water and Freeze Detector, which we think is a must-have for every single homeowner. It is easy to use, high tech and will potentially save you thousands of dollars of home repair when it detects water leaks as small drips. It will then alert you on your phone before it becomes a big water disaster.

The Lyric Water and Freeze Detector comes with a 4 foot cord that can be placed in smart locations such as under a hot water tank, near your washing machine and even along your basement’s foundational walls. It detects water drops and sends an alert to your smart phone right away so you can jump on the issue while it is still small. It works when you are home or not home, day and night. The system uses your home’s wireless wifi network.

Be smart and get on top of potential home damage. As my grandfather used to say, “Spend a little now, or spend a lot later!”. If you need help installing the device, we can help. In fact, with our professional installation, you will receive a 5-year warranty through Honeywell that is not available if you self-install.

Click here to watch the Honeywell Lyric Water and Freeze Detector.

Contact us to learn more.