The toilet tank started leaking through one of the holes bolting it to the seat. I drained the tank, unscrewed the nut/bolt and removed it. The rubber seal there looks like it might have deteriorated a little, but ...
There's a superficial quarter-inch crack inside the tank running from the bolt hole. It really is very shallow; based on the length of the crack in the bolt hole itself, it might be a millimeter deep. The outside of the tank is pristine. I don't think it's causing the leak by itself, but I'm wondering whether it's preventing the rubber seal from, well, sealing properly.
Any suggestions for repairs?
A follow up question:
Can putting bleach tablets in the tank corrode the rubber seals? This leak happened a few weeks after putting one of these tablets in the tank.
Answers & Comments
Verified answer
First of all, yes to your follow up question. Bleach will effect the seals on your tank especially if you put a tablet in the tank.
Second, do NOT use auto parts products for repairing gas tanks on your toilet tank. Go buy a new tank. They can be as cheap as 35.00 from someplace like Home Depot.
I say this not because the product could possibly work but because it could possibly fail while you are away and you will be replacing the tank, your floor, your carpet and who else knows what when your tank gives out and water runs the entire day in your home. Better safe than sorry. Good luck!!
Two things to do. Go to the auto parts stor and get some gas tank repair. Its in a tube and a little like toothpaste. Put a thin coating of this on the inside of the tank along the crack, use your finger to press it in and against the tank.
Next, get a new rubber washer to replace the old one. After the tank sealer has dried for 24 hrs replace the tank and use the new washer.
The key is not to over tighent the bolts if you do it will crack the tank as someone apparently did on yours.
Odds are the leak is from the washer not the crack... the crack has probably been there since someone overtightened the bolt in the installation. If it always leaked it was the crack if only now its the washer.
WHen is say don't over tighen.. you don't need to strain at all to tighten it, if you do then you'll crack it again.
Seeing as how a hairline crack in my tank developed into a major one flooding the entire first floor of my home a few years ago, I wouldn't mess with repairing the tank, I'd replace it. My insurance company found that the crack was actually a manufacturer's defect and that shallow crack did about $60,000 worth of damage during the day while no one was home. The water pressure in the tank eventually caused the crack to widen and the water to leak out telling the toilet to refill itself which it so efficiently did all day long all over my lower level. I wound up not only replacing the toilet, but my carpet, area rugs, baseboards, wood flooring, draperies, legs on furniture, etc.
Take the sealant back and go shopping for either a new tank or a replacement toilet. Use of the sealant is just asking for more headaches.
if i were you i would buy a new seal for both screws at a plumbing shop plus the same size blots preferably metal at the same time ask the plumber if the the seal is soft enough to seal a millimeter crack. 2. no bleach tabs would not cause this even in a year.
You can fool around trying to get it all to work but in the end, based on that crack, you are going to replace the tank.
REPLACE THE TANK. IT WILL CONTINUE TOO CRACK OVER TIME AND WITH TEMPERATURE CHANGE