A real estate expert warned that homeowners who hear a certain sound coming from their bathroom may be flushing money down the toilet.
Realtor Laurence Gibbons offered the PSA in a TikTok videowith a toilet with running water as if it had recently been flushed.
“If that noise continues, you’re going to have a huge water bill,” he said in the clip.
The home expert couldn’t explain exactly what was causing the problem, but there are a few possible explanations.
Property expert Laurence Gibbons urged homeowners not to ignore the sound of a running toilet as it can increase the price of their water bills
A common cause of a “running toilet” is a defective valve when the part is worn, misaligned, or not creating a seal that prevents water leaks, according to DrizzleX.
Other causes include a clogged drain, low water pressure, or a defective fill valve that does not properly shut off the water flow.
Jim Reinhart, former product leader and director at toilet manufacturer American Standard, said Architecture overview in 2022 that it could even be caused by a ‘crack in the toilet cistern’.
Common toilet problems that can cause a running water sound include a faulty valve, a clogged drain, or low water pressure
“You don’t need any special tools to figure out why your toilet is running. All you need are your eyes, ears and a pair of hands,” he said.
If it’s a defective flapper, the toilet expert advises homeowners to remove the flapper and take it to a hardware store so they can purchase a new one of the same shape and dimensions.
“It is important not to mix up toilet parts, as most toilets are configured to work best with parts from the same brand,” Reinhard says.
Next, the homeowner should put the new valve back on the toilet and turn on the water to see if the problem is resolved.
If this does not solve the problem, owners can check the height of the overflow tube, lower the tank water level, inspect the flush valve chain, replace the flush valve, or replace the fill valve.
Anyone with little to no plumbing knowledge can try these tips or ask a plumber for help
A handful of viewers who watched Gibbons’ video insisted the toilet valve was the culprit, but that it would still be easy to fix if it was a different problem
A handful of viewers who watched Gibbons’ video insisted the toilet valve was the culprit, but that it would still be an easy fix if there was another problem.
“Another easy fix! If it’s the float, it can be fixed with a screwdriver by adjusting its height,” wrote one commenter.
Others described the problem with Gibbons’ toilet as “dramatic,” with one viewer writing that all he had to do was “wiggle the handle.”
“Relief that I already know,” one commentator joked.
Still others admitted that they had learned Gibbons’ lesson the hard way. One person admitted that the resulting $500 bill was something they “couldn’t afford.”