How do I stop my toilet from sweating?

Berta
by Berta

My floor is getting ruined from a sweating tank. We live in the country and have a very deep well, very cold water. Summer is quite a problem.

  4 answers
  • Colleen Colleen on Apr 21, 2019

    I believe that you can buy styrofoam inserts for this purpose.

  • Marlene Marlene on Apr 21, 2019

    Lined toilet tanks prevent sweating so Colleen's suggestion is a good idea. I had that problem in one of our homes and bought a special tray that caught the drips but it was a nuisance to clean.

  • Lynn Sorrell Lynn Sorrell on Apr 21, 2019

    6 ways to help this.... Get rid of the water in your bathroom. First, you can take steps to ensure that the air in your bathroom doesn’t have a whole lot of water in it.

    • Install (or use) an exhaust fan when you take a shower.
    • Take shorter, cooler showers to discourage the migration of water into the air.
    • Dry the shower walls after you’ve taken a shower.
    • Open the door to the bathroom when you finish your shower.
    • Use a portable dehumidifier to dry out the bathroom after a shower.
    • Consider installing a whole-house dehumidifier to keep your entire house comfortable.
    • Don’t open the bathroom window if it’s humid outside. Letting humid air in just makes matters worse.
    • An air conditioner is a great dehumidifier. If you have air conditioning, use it.

    Warm up your toilet. Not kidding here! Insulating your toilet tank can prevent water from condensing on the surface. You can line the tank with an insulating kit, or you can cover the entire outside of the tank with a tank cover. If you can prevent the cooler tank from meeting up with the warmer air, condensation won’t occur. If you’re willing to spend a little extra, you can also purchase a new, insulated tank for your toilet.

    Warm up the water in the tank. Also not kidding. You can install an anti-sweat valve that mixes a little warm water in with the cold when the tank refills. As long as the water temperature gets close to the air temperature in the room, no sweat!

    Reduce the amount of water in the tank. The less water you have in the tank, the less the tank will sweat. Installing a low-flow toilet not only saves water, but also reduces the amount of condensation a tank can generate. If you can combine a low-flow toilet with an insulated tank, your bathroom floor will stay drier.

    Get rid of the tank. Some manufacturers make tankless residential toilets. They’re not cheap, and they typically use an electric pump to move water in and out of the toilet. (Pro tip: during a power outage, a tankless electric toilet won’t work.) If you can’t get rid of the tank, consider using a low-profile toilet. The closer your toilet tank is to the floor, the cooler the surrounding air is. (Remember, heat rises.) Keeping your toilet tank on the down-low can help reduce big differences between the bathroom’s air temperature and the toilet tank’s water temperature.

    Check the flapper valve. If your flapper valve at the bottom of the tank is leaking, the toilet will regularly take on a lot of fresh, cold water to replace the water that leaked out. If you stop the leak, the water in the tank can reach room temperature.

    Use a drip tray. This is the one tip that will do absolutely nothing to prevent your toilet tank from sweating. You can put a drip tray down on the bathroom floor behind the toilet. Your toilet will still sweat like crazy, but the condensation won’t ruin the floor. You’ll have to empty the tray regularly, but we think that beats replacing the floor.