Don't duck this Drake or Help!

[PJ]

My Toto drake is using many gallons of water and taking a long long time before the tank refills. The flapper valve seems to work OK. If I take the fill tube out of the overflow pipe and let it run directly into the tank it fills very quickly and stays full with no leaks around the flapper. (bowl doesn't fill much that way) From the basement I hear water running through the drain pipe long after the flush but this occurs only when the tube is properly filling into the overflow pipe. I Installed the toilet in Aug. in a house we just built. The floor is level and It worked great at first. When I started having problems I wondered if the fill tubing got moved but Terry posted a picture of the correct set up. How could it be draining out?

I've got to say that the toilet still flushes every time even though I've been running the water directly into the tank and the bowl then holds very little water to start with.

[Terry]

http://www.terrylove.com/wc/briggs/briggs_1.jpg

Almost all toilets overfill the bowl when replenishing the bowl water.

The amount of overfill would be minimal.
Since these things are tested in labs to use 1.6 gallons, or they wouldn't get their UPC rating, I would say you're using 1.6 gallons plus or minus.
The overfill is accounted for in these tests.

However, if you want to use less than 1.6 gallons, you could reduce the output of the fill tube. Toto does have reducers at their support line. They are little plastic ends for the tube with a small hole drilled through it.

There is also a slim chance, that sediment has blocked the lower part of the fill valve, preventing the tank from filling as quickly as it should. The fill valve will continue to fill until it reaches it's level of satisfaction.

I've seen fill times of 40 to 60 seconds.

[PJ]

The drake is using more than 5 gal per flush (21 liters). The fill tube fills a one liter bottle in 8 seconds but the toilet doesn't top off for 3 minutes. The toilet is very close to my main plumbing mainifold and gets great flow. Could it be too much volume too quickly? Would a reducer cut the water use by 1/3? What is the Toto support number?

[Terry]

If it's taking 3 minutes, I would replace the fill valve (http://www.terrylove.com/hunter.htm).


http://www.terrylove.com/images/hunter/quietfill.jpg

Three minutes is way too long for this toilet.

check the flapper too.

Turn the water off to the tank and see if the water level drops in the tank.

If the water level drops, you will need to fix that first.

If it takes three minutes to fill the tank, the water may not be coming out of the fill valve at the bottom. If those ports are blocked, then you will be wasting water.



Fill times should be something like 40 to 60 seconds.


Toto Support (http://www.totousa.com/toto/support.asp)