Apparent or detected by continuous consumption on the water meter without any equipment working, a toilet leak can quickly become a problem.However, it is often a benign cause that can be repaired on its own.Here's how to act.Because we prefer numbers to a thousand words, here is one: 20%.Do you have any idea what this data represents?This is the percentage of liters of drinking water lost in leaking pipes in France, all combined.1 liter of drinking water out of 5 is wasted in leaks, i.e. approximately 1 billion m3 of water lost each year in France, without having benefited the consumer.Worse than that: This percentage has been constant for more than 10 years.Incredible when you know the dramatic consequences of the depletion of this vital resource.A toilet flush consumes between 6 and 12 liters of drinking water each time it is used, which represents between 3,500 and 3,800 liters of water per person each year.If a water leak is added to this consumption, the calculation can quickly increase.We too often wrongly underestimate the quantity of water represented by a leak, even a slight one.Know that a simple drip from a tap for a whole day will represent a loss of approximately 120 liters of water!A toilet does not generally leak drop by drop, but by a light permanent trickle of water.It is estimated that around 600 liters of water are wasted every day on a leaking toilet.To be more explicit or to facilitate the representation, 600 liters of water correspond to the daily consumption of a family of 4 people.At this rate, nearly 18 m3 wasted per month.At more than 4 € per m3 in France, we let you do the calculation for the year...Because we know you are fond of figures and anecdotes, allow us a small digression.You should know that each French person consumes 6.4 kg of toilet paper per year, i.e. more than 70 rolls per person.And yes, it is a budget that we do not generally plan, but which nevertheless weighs in the balance.Unfortunately, it is not always easy to detect a water leak, and a consumer who is not very observant or not very handy can go through a leak in his toilet.The latter may be informed of abnormally high consumption by his water supplier.In this case, by justifying the intervention of a professional plumber attesting to a pipe leak noted after the meter, and its clogging, the supplier can make a commercial gesture on the consumption invoice, by not asking for payment. of the excess.It should be noted that this commercial gesture is only granted in the event of a pipe leak, but not for other cases of toilet water leaks.The causes of a toilet water leak can be varied.To present them, let's take the entry of the observed leak.The most frequent leak will be the one found on the walls of the bowl.Water flows continuously even though the tank is full.In this case, it is probably a defect in the mechanism for filling the flush, or more precisely in the float, which is generally blocked in the low position, or separated from its rod, which causes the tank to overflow. tank.It will then suffice to open the tank to reposition the float, or to renew it.A defective valve can also prevent the tank from stopping its refill once full.It could also be a faulty seal between the flushing device and the bowl.It could be scaled up, loose or dilated, causing a permanent leak of water from the tank into the bowl.In this case, it will be necessary, at the very least, to clean it with white vinegar, or even ideally to change it.Tip: To detect this type of leak, which is sometimes limited to an oozing of water that is difficult to see, it is advisable to pour a few drops of food coloring into the flush tank.Without flushing for a few minutes, or even one to two hours, it will be possible to observe a coloring of the walls of the bowl if a leak occurs.The water inlet tap fills the flush as soon as it empties.Here too, limestone or corrosion may have accumulated at the level of the tap, allowing a few drops to flow with each filling.In this case, it will be necessary to cut off the water supply, to flush the toilet so that the tank is empty, to unscrew then to replace the tap with new equipment.When a leak is found between the toilet seat and the ground, then it will be a problem with the evacuation of waste water from the toilets.Called into question, the evacuation and connection joints will have to be checked because they are probably defective.The manager ?You guessed it, always the same: limestone!A leak on the ground can also appear following a crack in the toilet, or a problem of sealing, by seepage of water on the outside of the equipment.It will then be a leak of drinking water, not waste water.In this case, it will be necessary at least to fill the crack with suitable sealant, or even unfortunately to replace the entire toilet.Note that this last cause of water leakage is to be taken seriously.Indeed, a leak on the ground can cause other damage in the short or medium term, such as mold in the tile joints, the development of fungi, or even water damage to the ceiling of the neighbor below.As with any equipment, it is better to act in prevention than in repair.To avoid water leaks from your toilet, here are some good tips to take:After having answered the practical aspect, let's take an interest in the environmental aspect, and raise awareness of our ecological consciences.Water is a resource, certainly called "renewable" through meteorological phenomena (rain, snow, etc.), but certainly not inexhaustible.The effects of global warming have direct impacts on this vital resource that we must preserve.To give some rather significant figures, know that 97% of the water on Earth is contained in the oceans.Also, fresh water represents only 3% of the total volume.Of this volume of fresh water, 62% comes from groundwater via groundwater, and 38% from so-called surface water, such as rivers, lakes, etc.Water has been widely used and excessively wasted for years, mainly since drinking water systems were installed.Unfortunately, the surface aquifers are emptying, underground waters are collected from deeper and deeper, regions of the globe are completely dried up.Faced with these percentages which tend to be reversed by climatic disturbances, it is therefore necessary to hunt down waste, of which water leaks, drinking water moreover, must be the workhorse!First name or nickname (required)Security code to copy/paste or recopy: 8xma7uReceive an email notification when a reply is posted