Not every project goes as well as planned. We would be happy to spend a few minutes answering your questions.
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A leaking toilet can waste thousands of gallons of water. Some toilet leaks are not quite so obvious though. A toilet that leaks from the tank into the bowl can be repaired inexpensively and quickly, but you have to try to determine what needs to be repaired.
Have you ever flushed the toilet and, although you can hear the toilet tank refill and the water shut off, you can still see water entering the toilet bowl? Sometimes it is difficult to see. It will appear as just a ripple in the bowl.
It is easy to see if you use food coloring. Remove the tank lid and flush the toilet. Once the flapper closes and the tank starts to refill, drop a few drops of food coloring into the bowl. It's easier to see if you use a darker color like blue or red.
The food coloring will color the tank water. If you have water leaking from the tank to the bowl, you will see the water in the bowl start to change color. If it does, you have a leak from the tank to the bowl. This can usually be fixed with a new flapper, but on occasion, the flush valve may need to be replaced. It may also be that the seat where the flapper seals against is pitted and allowing water to pass through to the bowl.
PEX plumbing lines will have to be extended when you install a comfort height or handicapped toilet. Since these toilets are higher than normal, the distance from the water supply line to the bottom of the toilet tank where the line connects to the fill valve is greater.
PEX is cross-linked polyethylene pipe and it’s very popular with builders. PEX requires special fittings and crimping tools. PEX piping is secured to a fitting with a collar or sleeve. The fitting slides into the end of the pipe and the collar is compressed around it with a special tool. Different manufacturers use different methods of crimping; some use a copper ring, while others use a stainless steel sleeve. Generally speaking, one manufacturer’s method is not compatible with that of another.
Fortunately, you don’t have to worry about expensive tools. You can use some plastic parts and screw them all together. Not all home centers carry a variety of PEX parts so you may have to look around. You can also use sharkbite fittings.
Your toilet’s water supply line looks like a pipe with a female adapter on the end. You can screw the adapter onto the fill valve sticking out of the bottom of the toilet tank. A crimp ring will hold the adapter onto the pipe.
You will need to cut the plastic pipe in the middle somewhere and splice in a length of pipe. Give yourself about four inches from the end of the fitting and cut the pipe squarely. You can use a tubing cutter or a utility knife, but the cut must be square and free of burrs.
Cut a piece of piping longer that you need for the splice. Now you can join these pipes together with screw-on fittings. First slide on the large nut, small end first, onto the pipe.
Next, push the grip ring onto the tube, flat side first, so that it is about one-eighth of an inch from the end (the grip ring looks like a skinny washer with little fingers sticking out of it). Now, slide the cone washer onto the tube, large end first. The cone will push the grip ring back into the correct position. The cone is in the correct position when it is one-half inch past the end of the tube. Slide the mating piece of the fitting onto the pipe and tighten the nut. Tighten it by hand until it starts to squeal and then give it one additional turn with a wrench.
You can hold the pipe up to the toilet and measure where you need to cut it for length. Make the cut at the desired location and repeat the process to attach the end of the pipe with the adapter on it.
I had the opportunity to install a new dual flush toilet flush kit recently. These are the kits that give you the handle with two halves. The top half is depressed for a partial flush for liquids, and the bottom half gives you a full flush for solids. The kit costs about $20.00 and claims is will save 15,000 gallons of water (assuming a family of 4 with the kit being installed on the most commonly used toilet).
The kit includes a handle replacement, but the magic is in the flapper replacement mechanism. It doesn't look anything like the flapper you have in there now. It looks more like a tower with a float mechanism built into it. Rotate it to separate it and place the lower half where your old flapper was. This part gets clamped onto the overflow pipe of your flush valve and held in place with a rubber ring and zip-tie. The top half gets placed onto it and is snapped together.
Running from the flapper tower is a cable that connects to the new handle. This is an easy replacement and the cable easily mounts to the handle.
Installing the entire kit will take just a few minutes but the trick is in tuning it up. I started with all settings on the most lean settings so that the least amount of water drains out of the tank (in this case both adjustments will be in the fully up position). The adjustments can be made for both the partial flush and full flush. For me the full flush worked fine in the most lean position. However the partial flush will take some getting used to.
For flushing liquids, you press the top button. This isn't so much of a partial flush as it is a rinse. The flapper lifts up for just a brief time to let a quick rinse of the sides of the bowl, but never really flushes the liquid. In the most lean position, the partial rinse basically mixes with the urine but doesn't flush it down the bowl. As you adjust the partial flush to use more water, the liquid will actually flush down the bowl. In the "full down" position, the partial flush will actually flush a small amount of paper along with it. It is a matter of fine-tuning the mechanism for your toilet.
If your toilet is refilling for no reason and you already replaced the flapper, it may be time to investigate the flush valve. Assuming the fill valve is not malfunctioning, the flush valve may be cracked or damaged, or maybe even the tank has a crack in it.
You will need to shut off the water, flush the toilet to drain the water out of the tank, and remove the tank from the bowl. There are either 2 or 3 tank bolts you will need to remove to lift the tank from the bowl. Once you’ve done this, pour the rest of the water out and set the tank on its back. Remove the nut that holds the flush valve to the tank and pull the valve out of the center of the tank. You may find a crack in the tank here. If you do, it’s probably time for a new tank.
Before you install a new flush valve, compare the height of the new one vs. the old one. You may need to trim the new one to fit. There will be a rubber washer where the flush valve meets the tank bottom to keep water from sneaking past. On the exterior of the tank you will screw a large nut (called a spud nut) onto the threads of the valve. Over the bottom of the threads and nut you will push on a rubber spud washer (or just a “spud”). Reconnect the fill valve hose to the overflow tube.
Set the tank back on the bowl and reinstall the tank bolts snuggly. Reconnect the water supply line and fill the tank. You should not have any water draining from the tank unless you flush the toilet.
A common problem for a toilet is phantom filling…you know, all of a sudden the toilet water starts running. This can be from several causes, one of which is the flapper. One solution is to replace the flapper, but also check the seat that the flapper sits upon. If this seat is pitted or has buildup on it, even the new flapper won’t stop the water from draining out of the tank.
You can buy a flapper assembly called a “flush fixer” to remedy this problem. This product has a soft putty ring at the bottom that conforms to the pits and unevenness. It essentially creates a new seat and stops the water from draining out of the tank.
Dry the old seat and push the soft putty ring down upon it. The new flapper assembly simply pushes down onto the soft ring. You need to make sure that you orient the new flapper assembly in such a way that it doesn’t interfere with the other components of the toilet. The new assembly will have a cup that tips back and drains when then closes the flapper. You may have to play with the positioning of the flapper to make sure it operates smoothly and doesn’t hit any of the other parts.
This part will save you from taking the tank off of the bowl and replacing the flush valve assembly.
A toilet wax ring stops waste from leaking out from between the base of the toilet and the flange (although you may notice it on the floor). If your toilet bolts corrode and break, the toilet base will move and can cause a gap that allows waste to leak out. The toilet horn may move enough that the wax ring doesn’t direct the waste into the drain and now you get to replace it.
You may also get a leak if you have changed the flooring in the bathroom. I see this a lot when people will install a ceramic tile floor or other thick flooring material. If you previously had vinyl, and now have added ceramic tile, slate, stone, etc., the toilet base has been effectively raised farther away from the flange that it mounts to. So just installing one wax ring may not be enough. I’ve been on lots of calls where the homeowners have installed a new floor and used just one wax ring to reset the toilet. The leak they have can be fixed by stacking 2 wax rings, one on top of the other. Use the wax rings with the rubber diverter built in. They tend to maintain their shape well and will help in directing the waste down the drain.
Usually when someone tells me that his toilet handle is broken, it’s not really the toilet handle that is broken. It is usually the chain. Over time, the chain will either corrode and break or the chain will pull out of the rubber flapper. Either way, when you push down on the handle, you get little resistance. You can feel that the flapper is not being lifted to flush the toilet.
The solution here is to remove the toilet tank lid and see what has happened. If the flapper is torn and the chain is no longer attached to it, you will need a new flapper. The flapper will come with a chain and it needs to be attached to the handle and adjusted, and you are back in business.
If the chain is corroded and broken you will need a new chain, but since these come with a new flapper, buy a new one and install it. The old flapper will lift off of the ears on either side of the flush tube and the new one snaps right back down on it. You are going to have to play with the chain to get the length right. Hook the chain on the end of the toilet handle so that there is a little slack in it. Flush the toilet and see how well it works. If the flapper doesn’t lift all the way up, shorten the chain. If the chain is so taut that the flapper doesn’t completely stop the water from exiting the tank, lengthen the chain.
If you’ve ever had a loose toilet from the base of the toilet bowl to the floor, you know you’ll have to break out the tools. If you are lucky, you may be able to tighten the bolts that hold the bowl to the floor, but this is more of a rarity. Chances are, you will need to re-set the toilet and that means replacing the wax ring and bolts.
Here is some information on how to replace the wax ring and toilet bolts. After you have removed the toilet and installed the wax ring and bolts, you will have a somewhat unsightly area where the toilet bowl meets the floor. A lot of homeowners install a bead of caulking along this area which makes for a nice appearance. Caulking will tend to smear if you apply too much, and if you have ceramic tile and grout as your flooring, the caulking can get caught in the grout and is very difficult to remove.
You might try plaster of Paris. I know, most of us haven’t used is since grade school, but for filling in the gap between a toilet bowl and the floor, it’s flawless. Plaster of paris dries quickly so you have to work fast. Mix up a batch and lay some down on the floor along the area where the toilet will sit. Then place the toilet down and secure the bolts. Use a wet sponge and wipe away the excess plaster of paris. You can wring out the sponge in a bucket of water as you go. You will be left with a seamless installation that will make it difficult to tell where the toilet ends and the plaster of paris begins.
All kinds of things can go wrong inside of a toilet tank. Parts sitting in water all their lives decay and can even make weird noises. The most common parts that need replacing are the fill valve and the flapper.
The fill valve is a part that allows water to refill the tank. Water enters through the bottom of the tank, up through the fill valve. When the water reaches a pre-determined level in the tank, the water shuts off. While the tank is refilling, there is a refill tube that carries water to the overflow tube in the center of tank. This water flow allows for rinsing of the bowl as the tank refills.
If the skinny black refill tube cracks or comes off of the overflow tube, there could be problems. There is a good force of water that comes from this small tube and if it is pointed at the wrong spot, get ready to clean up some water. The first sign of a problem is going to be a hissing noise and water leaking from the top of the toilet tank. The water should eventually stop as the tank refills and the fill valve shuts off the water.
The fix is to either replace the small section of tubing, or if it is in good shape, place it securely onto the angle adapter, which sits on top of the overflow tube.
You flush the toilet like normal but something is wrong. Instead of flushing, it makes a weird sound and the water starts rising in the bowl. Now you get worried, will it stop? The water keeps rising and rising until finally it is just about at the lip of the toilet bowl. What should you do?
If the toilet gods are smiling upon you, maybe it will stop before the waste overflows onto your floor. This is one of the many panic calls we get. You can stop the toilet from continuing to fill up by simply turning off the water. Under the toilet tank is a hose that connects from the tank to the wall. If you follow this line down to the wall you will see a valve that controls the water. Turn this valve clockwise until the water shuts off. This will stop any additional water from entering the toilet, which will stop the rising toilet bowl water.
If you have PEX or other plastic piping, you will need to go find your manibloc box that houses all of your isolation valves. Use the key supplied and turn off the valve that controls the water to that particular toilet. In a pinch you can shut off the water to the entire house. Once you have the immediate crisis solved, you can troubleshoot how to clear your clogged toilet.
