Noise May Be Coming From Toilet’s Water Inlet Valve

Question: After we flush the toilet, when the tank is almost full, there is a noise. It appears to be the wire and bulb vibrating. Can this be fixed or do we need to get a new valve with parts?

Answer: Few things are more irritating than a noisy toilet. Fortunately, a toilet has few moving parts. And usually, only one of them will make noise as the toilet tank becomes full. That’s the ball cock, or water inlet valve.

This valve is operated by the “wire” and “ball” mentioned in your question. The wire is called the float arm and the ball is called the float ball.

During the flush cycle, water travels from the tank into the bowl.

As the water level in the tank drops, so do the float ball and arm.

The dropping float arm opens the ball cock valve, letting water into the tank to refill it. As the water level nears the top of the tank, the reverse happens--the float and float arm begin to close the ball cock. This is where the noise occurs.

A dry or deteriorated ball cock valve gasket can make the valve vibrate. When this happens, the arm and ball also might vibrate.

Your repair is simple: Replace either the gasket in the ball cock valve or the valve itself.

Replacing the gasket is less expensive, but replacement of the entire assembly is easier, and will probably prove to be the less expensive in the long run.

On the Trail of a Sneaky Water Leak

Q: How can I find a leak in my house? My water bill keeps going up. Sometimes I can hear water dripping in the bathroom after the sink has been used, but then it stops.

A: If you are on a public water system, chances are you have a water meter somewhere on or near your property. Besides telling you how much water you are using, it can help you detect leaks.

Water meters look a little like a speedometer. Subtract the first reading from the second to find out how many cubic feet of water you have used. A cubic foot contains 7.5 gallons of water. For example: If the first reading is 006300 and the second--a week later--is 006400, your use for one week was 100 cubic feet or 750 gallons (100 cubic feet x 7.5 gallons per cubic foot = 750 gallons). That’s an average of slightly more than 107 gallons per day. In some communities all you need to do is read your water bill to discover this information.

To use your water meter to detect a hidden leak, turn off every plumbing fixture in your house for a couple of hours. Don’t forget the built-in ice maker or the reverse-osmosis water filtration system. They turn themselves on automatically.

Once everything is off, take a meter reading. If the reading changes, a leak exists.

If the leak is a plumbing pipe or fitting located in the attic or walls, chances are great that you would have seen water dripping from the ceiling or noticed damp spots on the walls or floor. If, on the other hand, the pipes are in the crawlspace or basement, it might require a bit of investigative work to find the leak.

It also is possible to have a leak between the water meter and the main shut-off valve where water enters your home. To determine if the pipe between these two points is leaking, shut off the main water supply valve at the house, and check to see if the meter continues to show water is being used. If such is the case, it’s time to call in a leak-detection company. Using state-of-the-art technology, they will be able to pinpoint the leak for repair. They can also find an evasive leak in your home.

Replace Noisy Pipe With Cast-Iron Type

Q: We have a 3-inch schedule 40 PVC drain from a bathroom that runs about 8 feet down through the basement. When hot water is draining from the bath, there is a loud cracking sound generated in the drainpipe. What can I do to the drainpipe to reduce the noise?

A: The cracking noise is the result of expansion and contraction of the PVC pipe as it heats up and cools down--when hot water is run through it. While there are many means to deal with this problem, we believe that the best solution is to replace the PVC with a section of no-hub cast iron.

Use no-hub couplings to connect the cast iron to the PVC. You not only will be rid of your cracking noise, you also will hardly be able to hear water running through the new pipe.

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