A slow water leak can waste water—and cost you a lot of money.
If you see a spike in your water bill but can’t figure out why your water consumption has gone up, you could have a ghost toilet draining problem.
Ghost toilet draining or ghost flushing is when the flapper in the toilet tank is worn and doesn’t seal properly. This allows water to slowly leak out of the tank. When enough water has drained out, the float on the fill valve opens and refills the tank, wasting water.
A slow leak can waste a lot of water. Travis Justice, our lead plumber, has seen a leaking flapper overwhelm an entire septic system!
Ghost draining is slow and silent. You can’t hear any water draining or see a change in the water level in your toilet.
To check your toilet, try this hack: Put some food coloring into the tank and come back in 10 or 15 minutes to check the toilet bowl. If the food coloring has leaked into the water in the bowl, you’ve got a ghost draining problem.
Replace the flapper and you should be good to go!