Hello, I am praying someone can help me, I have already dealt with 2 idiot plumbers!

In my parents house we had a power cut, realised was because water was dripping from the upstairs bathroom, directly above the electrical cupboard, into the cupboard where wires are located.

Called plumber, who resealed the bath, stating the bath to be the problem! And drilled a hole in the wall where he thought there was a leaking pipe, although I assured him it was the toilet that was leaking..

Problem not fixed.

Now I turned off the toilet water supply and the dripping stopped.

When I turn on the water supply and flush the toilet, after a gap of about 15 minutes, the dripping begins again. It is a steady drip every 10 seconds or so.

I just had a second plumber come who I had to scream at that the toilet was definitely leaking since the dripping didn't start immediately, only after a 15 minute delay. The idiot was already running out of the door but I was yelling. I am abroad and don't speak the local language yet which is making things even harder and the people here are notoriously rude and loud while I am not!

How do I stop the leak? Where is the leak?

I know it is from the toilet, It it the water Input to the toilet or outflow.

There is no water in the bathroom on the floor or around the toilet.

There is no water when I turn off the water input to the toilet.

It isn't the bathroom sink. It isn't the bath that is leaking as when the input to the toilet is off, there is no water.

The water doesn't all gush out in one go, but the steady dripping over time.

Plumber is going to organise a carpenter ( all through the insurance company) to move a fitted bathroom cupboard to access the pipes.

Will this work?

I just want some advice from someone who knows a little about plumbing. I am a complete novice, but even I have the common sense to know to isolate appliances before deciding where the leak is coming from.
The last plumber just drilled a whopping hole in the wall and resealed the bath on a whim.

I am very angry and frustrated, it isn't my house or my responsibility but my parents, and it is costing me a great deal of time, money and energy.

Looking forward to your advice :)

Thanks
Rosy

It sounds like a pipe leaking inside a wall. You need to calm down and get the leak isolated so it can be stopped as the electrical box could short out the entire house it the water gets to it causing you more problems and money to fix.

Tey and get someone local who speaks the language to speak to the repair people when they come so you don't get upset with them.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by twinkiedooter

It sounds like a pipe leaking inside a wall. You need to calm down and get the leak isolated so it can be stopped as the electrical box could short out the entire house it the water gets to it causing you more problems and money to fix.

Tey and get someone local who speaks the language to speak to the repair people when they come so you don't get upset with them.

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Thanks for your comment, I guess I sounded really angry!

The electricity has already shorted out twice, but I guess it was OK because all the appliances have special plugs fitted.

Hi Rosy, your leak is on the drain side of the toilet, since it stops when you turn the valve off. The problem is IN the toilet. It may be cracked. I imagine that your toilet refills itself occasionally?

The valve is BEFORE the toilet.. there is nothing wrong with the actual toilet, the valve stops water entering the toilet.

The toilet does not refill itself as far as I am aware, but I am not a shower guru!#

So it is definitely the toilet OUTPUT? Is that where the water from the toilet goes? But that would be the sewage piper right?

I am getting clear fluid dripping from above.

Oh and I did get my cousin to talk to the plumber last time, and HE was partly why nothing got done as instead of believing me, he said it was the bath!

So this time I only got him to help via the phone :D it stalled the plumber enough to see the dripping water. 6 hours later it is STILL dripping

Put some food coloring in the toilet bowl, not in anything else. If it appears in the leak, the toilet itself is the problem.

The leak stops if you turn the valve off. So the problem MUST be after the valve, hence IN the toilet. If it was just the sewer pipe, it would leak only when flushed. The problem has to be in the toilet. Hope you find it! :)

Rosyposy...

My guess is that the toilet is leaking from the drain pipe under the floor. Here, you may not see water from above the floor but it can still end up leaking below the floor.

My guess is that water is leaking past the flapper of the toilet and could be that the wax gasket is also leaking allowing some of this water to trickle down the inards of the toilet bowl and trickle along the base of the bowl to finally leak at the wax gasket and drip downstairs.

I lkie SG's idea of using a COLOR dye. Only I would put it in the toilet tank to start... if color shows in bowl then you can confirm the flapper leaks... if color shows up downstairs then you can confirm wax gasket or toilet drain pipe leaks. This means letting it leak for awhile, but will hopefully give some answers.

Before I ripped out any cabinets...I would at a minimum replace the wax gasket. Cheap, easy to do and may save some hassle for you.

That's my thoughts... Let us know what you think here...

MARK