Floor wet around toilet - water rising in tank

[over40]

Hi - new here and glad I found this website.

We live in a house built in 1998 and last week noticed the floor around our toilet was very wet. It was solely on the left side, and after a bunch of investigation found that the water was rising in the tank and coming out of the handle area overnight. The tube inside the tank that receives the water after flushing was "tall" and not cut down (replaced at some point), so the water didn't have a place to go when it was rising. That has since been cut down to hopefully prevent any more leaks out of the handle.

At one point I had shut the water supply valve off to the toilet, but over time it would slowly fill up. Odd since I thought that was supposed to stop all water where the valve is. I think (and this is why I'm here), that there is too much pressure in the system and that the "pressure reducing valve" may be going bad. I had someone read the pressure at the outside faucet (which is near the bathroom) and they said it read 66 psi. The town came out and said the pressure coming in to the meter from the street is around 105 psi. We live in a growth area and they are adding new homes and doing construction everywhere.

We have a crawl space and I have looked for the pressure reducing valve but can not find it. I found where the water line (3/4 clear pvc) comes in under the foundation and then runs to the shut off valve in a closet. There is no access panel there and I am wondering if they would sheetrock over where the reducing valve could be... or if it is more likely it is buried in the ground outside. Also have read something about a release valve being on the hot water heater... would that be the same thing? Don't want to cut out sheet rock or dig trenches if unnecessary. Any info or insight on where it could be is appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

 

[Terry]

If the water in the tank was rising too high, it may be that it's leaking water past the valve. You can replace the fill valve and adjust it to be below the overflow tube and the handle cutout.
If you have 66 PSI it would be fine. At some point, maybe soon, you will want to locate the PRV for your home.

 

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[over40]

Terry,

Thank you. Have you ever run across a situation where they sheetrock over access to the PRV valve and not provide an access panel or cutout ?

 

[Terry]

Thank you. Have you ever run across a situation where they sheetrock over access to the PRV valve and not provide an access panel or cutout ?

They sometimes have them at the water meter, buried. Could it be behind drywall? Yes.

 

[over40]

Thank you. Someone in my neighborhood was having some plumbing done so I asked him if he would come help me find my PRV. He couldn't find it and did some testing and said the pressure at my outside faucet was 89lbs, and that when they did the test before I must have been doing laundry or had the dishwasher going to get the lower reading of 66. He also checked the neighbors outside faucet and it was 88lbs. He used a handheld tester and then something more serious to confirm the reading. Also checked it at the water heater. Said that they probably didn't put a PRV value in even though they were supposed to when building the house. There could be one buried behind my wall or outside but with the neighbor also having the high reading he thought they just didn't put them in. I had him put in a PRV just to be on the safe side and we are now down to 50psi - though I am going to tweek it up to 60.

I appreciate all the info and help.

 

[Reach4]

So are you on a Mac or an iphone?

There could be one buried behind my wall or outside but with the neighbor also having the high reading he thought they just didn't put them in.

There has to be a PRV hidden. Otherwise how would you get a much higher pressure outside than in?

 

[over40]

The pressure at the outside faucet and at the water heater were both around 89 before he put in the PRV. My house sits uphill from the road so maybe that accounts for some drop from the pressure from the meter.

 

[Reach4]

The pressure at the outside faucet and at the water heater were both around 89 before he put in the PRV. My house sits uphill from the road so maybe that accounts for some drop from the pressure from the meter.

OK... that would be a 51 ft altitude difference. However part of the increase could have been from different pressures at different times.

With a PRV, you usually need a thermal expansion tank too. The plumber may have added that already.