Talked to a plumber at my local Ace Hardware who said my toilet flapper was the wrong size for 2 years

He pulled the old one out right there in the aisle and showed me how it was letting water trickle past constantly, which explained the mysterious $45 jump in my water bill last quarter, has anyone else had a tiny part cause that much waste without noticing?

2 comments

2 Comments

tyler68d ago

I read that people miss a toilet leak because they assume the water bill jump is from summer sprinklers or kids taking longer showers. You mentioned the flapper was the wrong size for 2 years, that's exactly the kind of slow leak that can add up. I remember an article online saying a toilet flapper that doesn't seat right can waste up to 200 gallons a day, which would definitely explain $45 more a month. It's almost never some big expensive thing, always the little rubber parts that wear out or get mismatched. I've seen a few forum posts where guys replaced their flapper and their water bill dropped $30 the next quarter. It happens way more often than people think.

jesse_fisher8d ago

Wait, 200 gallons a DAY from one flapper? That's insane. That's like a swimming pool going down the drain every week. I'd have a heart attack if my water bill jumped $45 from something that tiny.