Hello Everybody,
It seems the tank on one of my toilets just decided to develop a nice long crack all the way top to bottom. The toilet is marked with the "Standard" logo and stamped "Mar 13 1952" under the lid. I would rather replace just the tank than have to replace the entire toilet. Can the standard tanks available today be used on an old toilet? If not, where are repair parts available for the older toilets?
Thanks.
---Hillel
All the new toilets are low flush models so the tank will probably not fit. I'd look for a house recycler in your area. You could also place a "wanted" notice on craigslist.com (in your area).
I dont blame you for wanting to keep the old toilet, the new ones never flush as well.
If you completely dry the tank, JB Weld will fix the crack. but it may be a little noticable. Of course most women always cover the tanks with those fuzzy covers anyhow, so find a woman that loves furry toilets and you will never see the crack.
George
I am also wondering if the crack is in the back (I would also try to repair it if the crack were in a non visable location). If it's in a visable location I would try to repair it, then paint it with my paint gun and that special epoxy paint like for bath tubs. Also, supposedly you can use a new tank on an old toilet via an adapter plate. Yes, I also have an old 1950 toilet that I hope I never have to replace.
The crack is right in front. It runs on a slight angle from the top about a quarter of the way from the side with the flush lever to the bottom near the intake valve. It really was not visible until seeing the water leaking through it.
Try Habitat for Humanity ReStore, if your town has one. They have tearout plumbing fixtures. Or go schmooze the counter guy at the local supply house that deals with the trade. He may let you post a picture with a wanted sign- for 20 bucks, a plumber putting in a new one may be willing to put the replaced one on the truck and haul to you. (Plan on replacing all the innards, of course.)
Personally, I wouldn't spend a whole lotta time or effort on it. New low-flush work a whole lot better than when they first came out. I'd only expend a lot of effort on the old one if it was a no-longer-available color, or had style details to match the other fixtures. (suprisingly common in the '50s)
aem sends...
I wonder if the new anti-terrorist efforts have made it harder to smuggle in toilets from Canada.
I knew a guy whose grandfather was a moonshiner. And there are of course narco-traffickers. But is there a special name for a toilet smuggler?
IMO, you'd have to be crazy to try to repair it. The material is brittle and can crack in an instant, flooding the bathroom and allowing the valve to open and add more water. Do you really want to risk doing thousands of dollars in damage to save a few bucks? Ceramic does not give like metal. It just breaks.
The tank is TRASH. Get rid of it as soon as you can. I'd shut the water supply off immediately.
New toilets work better than most 50 year old toilets. There's a fetish here for old toilets that doesn't seem to exist in the real world. No one has wanted the two 40 year old toilets I've replaced and I was giving them away. I mean really, who wants a used crapper?
I don't know about in general, but I know not always. My brother just bought an expensive house in Dallas and remodeled it, with some French named toilet, I forget the model, but I'm sure it was expensive.
The water "footprint" when it is just sitting there is very small, and every time I use it, my stuff falls straight on dry porcelain and I make the side of it dirty. OTOH, my el cheapo Elgers, that are 27 years old works just fine.
My toilet in Brooklyn from 1930 worked fine, though that used a flushometer.
My toilet from about 1940 in Chicago worked fine, as did the ones in Indiana from 1950 and the ones in Pa. from 1940. I'll bet they are all still in place and all still work fine.
Geez, just call their customer service and ask them what the correct replacement tank is. Go to the big box store and buy it. Not so hard, now, was it?
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