Toto Soiree Toilet: Drip, Drip, Drip?

[Philip in Connecticut]

I just installed a Toto Soiree toilet: it looks great. However, after a flush there is a dripping sound. Its been about a half hour since the last flush, and I still hear the drip. I don't see a drip in the tank or in the bowl: it sounds like its coming from somewhere else? Any thoughts?

[jadnashua]

Don't remember if this one uses the Unifit adapter. If it does, you'll get that, but usually not that long. A typical toilet is all procelain, and it damps the sounds better.

When you flush a toilet, filling the bowl is like filling up a basin with a pouring spout...you can only fill it so much, and it overflows. A toilet bowl is almost always filled to overflowing, with the excess (hopefully not much) going out the overflow and down the drain. If the wind is blowing, it can change the air pressure in the drains, and rock the water...causing a little bit to splash out the overflow (called a weir) in the bowl. Eventually, enough leaves so that can't happen anymore. On a normal toilet, you probably wouldn't hear it, and you won't on this one after you realize it isn't broken. It happens when you are putting stuff into it as well, remember, it's a full bowl, add anything, and it begins to overflow.

It could be somethign else, and is if it doesn't have a Unifit adapter. Supposedly, Toto is going to build future (or current new) ones with some noise damping material on the plastic unifit to lessen this effect. I no longer hear it unless I listen for it on mine...sort of like not hearing the grandfather clock tick after a short while.

[Philip in Connecticut]

I appreciate the response. There are (at least) two types of people in the world: those who would be driven crazy by this drip, and those who would not. I am part of the former group, unfortunately. I was thinking that maybe since its brand new, the flapper valve is leaking just enough to allow a steady (but miniscule) amount of water into the bowl. This ultimately finds it way out into the unifit body, causing the dripping sound. However, I don't see any water dripping into the bowl? I would think that at some point, if you are not putting any more water into the bowl (flapper is 100% leak tight), the dripping would stop when the level drops below the point of overflow: but it does not seem to be stopping.

[Philip in Connecticut]

OK, I shut the supply valve off. I marked a pencil line at the top of the water in the tank. About 10 minutes later, the level has dropped, and the dripping continues at about 1 drip per second. I wiped the upper portion of the inside of the bowl dry, just to see if I could detect any water getting past the flapper into the bowl: no evidence. Is there some other route the water could possible be taking from the tank to the unifit, without going into the bowl first?

[Terry]

The water enters through the sipon jet at the bottom of the bowl.

Either the flapper is leaking, or the seal under the flush valve is leaking.

To check the flush valve, loosen the two screws and lift out,
Take some sandpaper and make sure the inside of the bowl is smooth.
Or change out the flapper.
www.totousa.com

[jadnashua]

Leave the water supply off for awhile and see if the water level drops. An alternative is to put some food coloring in the tank and see if it shows up in the bowl. That'll tell you for sure if there is a leak between the tank and the bowl. Make sure there's nothing on the seat where the flapper sits...it should be smooth. Same for the bottom of the flapper. Could have some crud there.

Occasionally, the seat assembly that the flapper sits on might not have been tightened up properly, and you need to tighten it up with a big wrench or water pump pliers (the nut is on the bottom of the tank, so it has to come off).

SO, first thing is determine if it is water leaking from the tank to the bowl. If it isn't, then it needs further analysis.

[Philip in Connecticut]

OK, now I understand (it must be a leak directly into the siphon jet area from the flapper valve). Seems easiest to first replace flapper, then troubleshoot the flapper seat. I did run my finger around the edge of the flapper seat and the mating edge of the flapper, and it all seems OK (although I'm not sure this evaluation will tell you anything). It does appear that flapper seat is just held in by two screws, accessible from the tank, so this should not be a problem. I'll report back when (if) I get this resolved.

THanks for you input/help.

[Philip in Connecticut]

OK, tried a new flapper: still leaked (mating surface of valve seems smooth). Removed flush valve and noticed that rubber/vinyl(?) gasket under flush valve flange was somewhat distorted (i.e., looks like it did not seat properly when installed). In addition, the mating surface of the tank was very rough in one area. I sanded this with some emery cloth, reinstalled the valve (made sure gasket seated properly, as well as I could) and that seemed to improve things, but there is still a leak. Is there some dressing or sealant I can put on the gasket to make a better seal (apparently some pipe (dope) sealants, like Hercules Real-tuff, can be used on vinyl/rubber), or is there some better way to fix this?

[Runs with bison]

It is brand new, it leaks and you've been unable to determine a way to fix it. It is time to request (and if unsuccessful, demand) a replacement/exchange since the delivered product appears to have a defect. It would be easier with a two piece since then you would only need a tank rather than the whole unit.

Toto is good, but they aren't perfect. One of my three Toto EcoDrakes had a deformed tank. I noticed the problem while trying to align the tank and tightening the bolts. It took noticeably more turns/torque than the other two and the tank didn't look right depending on which way I was looking at it when I aligned it so I knew something was up. (It was still far easier to get 3 point contact than what American Standard buyers are reporting. ) Closer inspection revealed some twist to the tank and placing the paired tank cover on it demonstrated a clear gap on a corner (~1/8") and a resultant wobble. It never should have shipped like that, somebody missed the deformation. So I arranged a tank swap with the supply house (Ferguson). They were very helpful, especially since my problem was easy to demonstrate for them when I did the exchange. A flapper leak/flush valve leak is not so easy to demonstrate...

I'm one of those folks that if there is one defect out of 1,000, I'll be the one who gets it...or stumbles over a design problem that had not been noticed for a decade...or two...or three. I've gotten jobs because of that knack and been offered jobs by manufacturers for the same reason.

[Philip in Connecticut]

And if there are two defects in that thousand, I'll get the second one.

Without going into details, this is not the only issue I've had on this remodeling project with our Toto Soiree suite of fixtures (I lost count of the number of phone calls I've made to their customer service department). So far, they (and the distributor) have tried to make things right. However, it is frustrating to have to troubleshoot brand new (and pretty expensive) fixtures as your installing them, and to have to compromise and accept less than perfect condition or performance, for the sake of getting the project done. I am waiting for a replacement flush valve from Toto, and I will give this the old college try. If that does not fix the problem, then I think we might be looking at replacement of the unit (and that would make the second replacement of this toilet).