At Roto-Rooter, we care about saving you money on water bills, as well as conserving our precious natural resources. This is the first in a series of ten blog posts discussing how together we can save 52 billion gallons of water that normally are wasted in the home over a two-year period.

Did you know the number one culprit of wasted water in your home is hiding in the bathroom? It’s the leaky toilet! Can you believe that?  Not long showers. Not washing machines. But a leaking Toilet. 

Up to 20% of all homes have toilets that are leaking to one degree or another.  In most cases, you can’t even detect a subtle toilet leak!

The average leaky toilet wastes about three Gallons every four hours. Multiply this by six and Voila! Eighteen gallons of water go down the drain every day. That is about 6,700 gallons per year wasted. Many leaks can waste as much as three gallons per hour!

How do I know if my toilet is leaking?

So, your big question is, “How can I detect if my toilet is taking a leak?” The answer is simple, so let’s flush this out!

There are two basic methods you can use to check for a leaky toilet.

1. Food coloring method
   • Take off the tank cover and put it in a safe place. Don’t drop it, or it will crack.
   • Next, find some food coloring, preferably red, and put at least 12 drops in the toilet tank. Then wait about 30 minutes.
   • Slowly lift the toilet seat and stand back!  Not really, but just lift the lid and check to see if the toilet bowl has a red tint in the water. If so, you have got a leak.
2. Pencil line method (accurate but requires some basic bathroom plumbing skills)
   • Remove the tank cover and mark, with a pencil, a line right above the water.
   • Then, kneel down next to the “john” and take a peek behind it, typically on the left hand side, to identify the water valve. You will also find a water supply line going up to the bottom of the tank.
   • Turn the water valve knob “clockwise” to close the flow of the water.  Turn the knob until it stops.
   • Come back to the toilet in 1 hour, lift the tank cover off and peek inside.  Has the water in the tank dropped below the pencil line? If so, you have a leak.

With the second method, it is not surprising to find an empty Tank, which means you are losing three gallons of water per hour. That, my friend, adds up to 26,000 gallons per year!

Now that you know you have a problem, what can you do to stop a toilet from leaking? Check back soon for an in-depth look at how to fix a leaking toilet.

Have a more complicated issue that requires toilet repair or replacement? Give us a call at 1-800-Get-Roto.