Trickling sound when water is added to toilet

[sub1111]

Are the bolts in the bottom of the tank on each side of the flapper rusted ?

For sure. Or at the least gunky.

 

[Twowaxhack]

You need all new parts.

 

[sub1111]

Definitely. I'll probably just drain the tank before I go take care of my dad just to be safe and tackle the replacements when I get back but it's weird I figured I'd hear a leak sound constantly, not just while adding water to the bowl. I don't get it.

 

[MicEd69]

Yep, really strange. As long as the wetted area of the bowl is basically like it was before and not smaller, then it isn't very likely that there is anything wrong with your bowl. Sometimes a paper product can be flushed and get caught in the overflow weir of the bowl that will wick out water from the bowl and cause issues with too little water, but you physically can't put too much water in the bowl if the sewer is flowing and everything is static. The refill tube that wasn't pushed into the holder in the overflow tube is there to refill the bowl to the point where it starts to flow fresh water into the sewer to assure you have a water seal from the sewer.

This is a real conundrum?!?

 

[sub1111]

Thanks. Yeah if it is smaller, then it's not noticeably smaller at least in terms of the previous watermark in the bowl. I'm not waking up to a noticeably smaller water mark or something, if I am indeed losing any water in the bowl, it's not enough where I'm noticing a big change. If it was I guess I'd expect to see a pretty big difference like when I woke up in the morning or something when it's been sitting without use for hours and hours? So weird.

Maybe I'll try plunging it a bit to see if there's something caught in the overflow? Not sure what other smaller tests/things to try before I'm at my dad's for awhile. When I get back I'll start to replace things.

I assume it's a good idea to leave it drained/unfilled if I'm gone for a few weeks at this point?

Once again, I REALLY appreciate everyone's advice/help on this, I feel like it's a mission now to figure this out lol. Cheers.

 

[Twowaxhack]

The water spot is what you call the bowl water level.

 

[Ludington]

It's just the extra fluid leveling out in your bowl. The bowl doesn't fill up and wait for you to flush, it slowly drains out to where its level with the top of the trap. You probably hearing fluid dripping into the drain pipe below.

 

[Twowaxhack]

It's just the extra fluid leveling out in your bowl. The bowl doesn't fill up and wait for you to flush, it slowly drains out to where its level with the top of the trap. You probably hearing fluid dripping into the drain pipe below.

A human can’t hear a drip from a toilet into the drain pipe below.

 

[Ludington]

A human can’t hear a drip from a toilet into the drain pipe below.

I beg to differ, my toilet does the same thing and I can hear it. It's definatly a drip , somewhere between the inside trap down to the pipe below.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I beg to differ, my toilet does the same thing and I can hear it. It's definatly a drip , somewhere between the inside trap down to the pipe below.

You don’t know what his toilets doing, you’re guessing and it’s a fact that a human can’t hear a drip under a toilet into the drain pipe not opinion.

That’s why I use dye to test toilets, because humans can’t hear that good.

 

[Ludington]

You don’t know what his toilets doing, you’re guessing and it’s a fact that a human can’t hear a drip under a toilet into the drain pipe not opinion.

That’s why I use dye to test toilets, because humans can’t hear that good.

Well, then what are we hearing ? It's a water drip somewhere. If we can't hear the drip into the pipe, it must be internal to the water leaving the toilet somewhere. Nothing else it could be. Personally for mine I don't care, I can see the underside from the basement, and nothing going on there. So I hear a drip. It's not causing a problem so it's not bothersome to me. I just can sympathize with him as to what he hears.

 

[Twowaxhack]

It’s water trickling through the interior of the toilet. You’re not hearing a drip into the pipe.

Some of that trickling can be perfectly normal for a period of time after a flush. We use dye to test toilets

 

[Ludington]

I agree, water movement between the bowl and the pipe. You say I can't hear the pipe, maybe so, but it sure sounds like where it's coming from.
But dye wouldn't show that. Unless Im way off, that would show between tank and bowl. Not from the bowl out.... unless you take the pipe apart.
But what do I know, I'm just a DIYer, learning stuff all the time.

 

[Twowaxhack]

I agree, water movement between the bowl and the pipe. You say I can't hear the pipe, maybe so, but it sure sounds like where it's coming from.
But dye wouldn't show that. Unless Im way off, that would show between tank and bowl. Not from the bowl out.... unless you take the pipe apart.
But what do I know, I'm just a DIYer, learning stuff all the time.

Water movement from the tank to the bowl and water from the bowl rim jets and water ways leaking back into the bowl. The bowl is hollow. Water moves in this space

You’ll never hear a drip from the bowl outlet into the waste pipe below

 

[Ludington]

See, you taught me something. But just by adding a cup of water pouring directly into the bowl, and then hearing the drip, logicaly would point to the bowl water moving outward , adjusting the level in the bowl to be even with the top of the trap. Or so it would seem. Like the drips I drew in the picture

 

[MicEd69]

See, you taught me something. But just by adding a cup of water pouring directly into the bowl, and then hearing the drip, logicaly would point to the bowl water moving outward , adjusting the level in the bowl to be even with the top of the trap. Or so it would seem. Like the drips I drew in the picture

Yep, that is what some of the responders fail to understand that the tank has nothing to do with the sound based on the description sub1111 provided. Water movement from the tank to the bowl and water from the bowl rim jets and water ways leaking back into the bowl cannot be the issue.

sub1111 said, "Poured some water in the bowl and nothing is going on in the tank that I can see. Fill tube doesn't have anything going in or out but I'm hearing a tapping sound more behind the tank or under the bowl (I can't really pinpoint) for about 5 seconds after water going into the bowl, then just goes away unless I add more water to the bowl." And, "No noise at all when not in use, then while peeing after the water is hitting the bowl (or while I pour a cup of water into the bowl), I get a tapping sound that sounds like drips hitting something solid, then a few seconds after I'm done, no noise. No noise while or really after flushing either (at least from what I can hear)."

So, while sub1111 has/had some issues with the refill line to the overflow tube, and perhaps the flapper and the fill valve needs replacing, since the noise only happens when water is added to the bowl form a cup or from a person's bladder, the tank cannot be the underlying cause of this noise. Based on the description sub1111 provided, they could drain the tank, dry it thoroughly, and the noise would still occur when they used the toilet or poured water into the bowl. Actually, that would be a good thing to do to isolate the issue.

 

[Ludington]

It also depends on the style of toilet, the one in my picture above, I don't think you would hear anything as its got a slope where the water would drip. , my toilet has more of a square drop similar to attached picture. Where the water could drip straight down. Lots of variables.

 

[Ludington]

Just a picture pulled from the internet to show the inside plumbing of toilets can have different shapes. Fluid flowing through that particular shape could cause a drip.
This was an interesting thread and I've expressed my opinion on it.
Thanks for the responses .

 

[sub1111]

Thanks all for the responses. I'm really trying to learn as I go here so I appreciate it. It's definitely a new noise on the same toilet I've had since we moved in a decade or so ago and it might be the same toilet from the initial house build lol. That's why it's so weird to me.

I tried a few small tests today. I threw some food coloring in the tank and none leaked into the bowl at all. I tried plunging it a bit just to see if that did anything but no dice, same noise. There is a sub floor beneath that I can't get to, but would there really be a leak externally hitting the subfloor only when water is added to the bowl and not constantly? From the diagrams I assume I'd be able to feel/see a leak from the bowl as well?

The whole thing is just so weird to me. I can (kind of lol) deal with not really knowing as long as I'm not causing some big issue somewhere but as you can tell I'm really clueless with this stuff.

I could try to record it to see if that helps anyone. Looks like this forum allows video upload which is nice.

 

[sub1111]

Having trouble locating any leaks in the tank, water level seems to be holding steady in the bowl when at rest. As mentioned earlier, the water level in the tank is a bit above the fill line so I'll take more of a look at that. From pics I've looked at though the water in the bowl seems normal so I'm confused why the runoff from some peeing or whatever if that's the case.

Anyway, few more questions from this novice....

1. If I adjust the float in an attempt to lower the water level in the tank, is the idea then basically that the water in the bowl as well then lowers (regardless of how long the flapper stays open during a flush?) which leads to hopefully the runoff sound going away as there's less overflow from the bowl?

2. I never really looked much at the tank water level before but if it was always this level, why wouldn't I have heard the sound in the past?

3. If the water level in the tank was in fact lower in the past and I just never noticed it change, what would cause it to rise past the fill line now? Degradation over time of some mix of parts/a part in the tank?

Thanks again to all who chimed in. I'm definitely learning more than I ever thought I would.