Leak from a Broken Toilet

alice60

Dear All,

I am dealing with a bathroom installer who also a big liar. He was saying that I called him to investigate a leak from the bathroom toilet( true) that was coming through the kitchen ceiling and dripping onto the table( lie). The table is in the middle of the room. There were only water marks on the ceiling and in the corner of the kitchen, underneath the toilet.  A leak only happened when the water was flushing.  He actually was saying further that I refused  to do the repair as the boxing was inaccessible( true). I have a toilet downstairs which I used. My question is can actually the water drips when the toilet is not in use? Can the water stop dripping by itself?  Sorry, I am not a plumber. Can it be true?  As there was a huge leak after he installed a bath, he tries to say there was a leak before. Thank you very much for your help.

nofoollikeold

1. Yes, water can drip when toilet not in use.  For example:
1a. If the inlet valve has failed there is nothing to stop water coming into the cistern which feeds the WC.
1b. If the float which turns the water off when the cistern is full gets stuck, again there is nothing to stop the cistern filling.  
2. It is very unusual for a water leak to stop of its own accord, but not impossible. A sticking float could unstick itself with water pressure or if flushed.  
3. If the cistern is boxed in and the cistern is leaking, the boxing in will have to be removed to investigate and repair the leak.

Rosa_Damascena

OP - I'd say your bigger problem working with an installer that you don't trust! A leak can be fixed after all.

alice60

A problem was that the water didn't drip. But he lies saying that it did.🤔

Section62

nofoollikeold said:

2. It is very unusual for a water leak to stop of its own accord, but not impossible. A sticking float could unstick itself with water pressure or if flushed.  

alice60 said:

There were only water marks on the ceiling and in the corner of the kitchen, underneath the toilet.

The OP said "A leak only happened when the water was flushing."

Which implies the leak is either from the flushing system or from the waste pipework.

An incorrectly fitted close coupling, or a bodged pan connector or waste pipe could be potential causes for a leak which occurs only when the toilet is in use and shortly after, but then stops.


The problem with trying to trace leaks from observation of the ceiling below is the water may be running along the outside of pipework or other objects - including over the top of plasterboard - until it finds a low spot to drip off or accumulate on.

Did the plumber do any work on the toilet before the leak was first spotted?  If not, it is possibly related to the work they did on the bath, even though that is in a different position.  Or alternatively in doing work on the bath they might have moved/stressed the pipework causing a leak to occur in a different location.

S_Moheb

Call your nearest and trusted plumber for a recheck. 

bris

If it only leaks when flushed then the pan connector has a bad seal.

Bendy_House

Or the close-coupled doughnut is letting by. Or the ditto seals if it's low-level type.

But these are easy to ID, so a poor pan connector - or 4" soil pipe joint - is more likely.

Bendy_House

alice60 said:

Dear All,

I am dealing with a bathroom installer who also a big liar. He was saying that I called him to investigate a leak from the bathroom toilet( true) that was coming through the kitchen ceiling and dripping onto the table( lie). The table is in the middle of the room. There were only water marks on the ceiling and in the corner of the kitchen, underneath the toilet.  A leak only happened when the water was flushing.  He actually was saying further that I refused  to do the repair as the boxing was inaccessible( true). I have a toilet downstairs which I used. My question is can actually the water drips when the toilet is not in use? Can the water stop dripping by itself?  Sorry, I am not a plumber. Can it be true?  As there was a huge leak after he installed a bath, he tries to say there was a leak before. Thank you very much for your help.

If you want this leak solved, with this or any other plumber, I think it's best if you focus on the practicalities, and not the emotive. Most of what you call 'lies' could just as easily be 'misunderstandings' or 'misinterpretations' of what was actually said, and the other problem is that we have only one version of these events.

So, what do we have here?

1) You have a leak?

2) You know this because there are watermarks on the kitchen ceiling, which happens to be below the bathroom?

3) It matters not whether it's 'dripping', or where it might be dripping. You have a leak - that needs fixing.

4) Seemingly, the leak only appears when the toilet is flushed? Could you confirm how certain this info is, please?

5) The toilet soil pipe is boxed in? The most likely source of the leak is behind this? Presumably because there are no visible signs of leak before this boxing-in? So why isn't the boxing-in being removed for a gander?

6) There was a previous leak after he installed a bath? I presume he's fixed this? What bearing does this have on the current leak?

To answer your "can actually the water drips when the toilet is not in use?" Q, I'm not fully sure of the whole issue, but can just say; IF there's a leak from the pan connector, or on a joint in the 4" soil pipe somewhere, then you'd expect that leak to occur only when the toilet is flushed, because only then does water exit the pan and go down the pan connector and 4" soil pipe. However, as said by NFLO, water can also trickle down the pan connector and soil pipe if the toilet inlet valve is faulty and it is constantly letting in water. This is less likely as the water quantities involved tend to be much, much less than when a toilet is actually flushed, but it is 'possible'.

alice60

Thank you so much. The toilet was tiled and there wasn't an access to repair it. 
The same person installed the bathroom later on. A new bath installed by him was leaking and damaged the kitchen ceiling  much more. When I had a bath first time and drained the water, it was running threw the boiler smart  thermostat on the wall and was dripping on the kitchen table.  A bathroom installer is saying now that the stains were done by a leak from the toilet before. And not only that. He also says that the water was actually  dripping onto kitchen table when a toilet was broken which is not true at all. I am just wondering if it possible to believe  him. I couldn't even think that someone ( doesn't matter who) could lie about this situation. Further more he goes to the church every week. Unbelievable.  

alice60

The toilet was fixed when  a new bathroom was installed. 
 
The area of the water marks was getting bigger with the flushes.

The bearing is he refuses to repair the ceiling in the kitchen and the hallway which were damaged by the new bath leak.