Toilet Tank Lever

[mcp6453]

Yesterday I completely rebuilt a 20-year old toilet. Everything went well except for one issue with the tank lever. The new one looks identical to the old one, but there is a lot of play in the handle. Is the play in the rotation of the handle supposed to be restricted by minimizing the slack in the change between the lever and the flapper?

The kit that I used to rebuild the toilet was made by Fluidmaster, which seems to be the dominant supplier of toilet parts. It seems to me that the Fluidmaster parts are inexpensive crap. Is there not a supplier that makes higher quality parts? Do $1000 toilets use plastic Fluidmaster parts?

The new flapper has a setting that determines how much water is used in the flush. It is adjusted by rotating the flapper. There is an index on the flapper to show the setting. How does that work?

I'm of the opinion that unless a toilet fails prematurely, it's probably advisable to rebuild the toilet completely every so many years rather than waiting for individual parts to fail. The rubber washers were is really bad condition. I'm fortunate that the toilet has not leaked.

[pheeh.zero]

handle supposed to be restricted by minimizing the slack in the change between the lever and the flapper? Yes

parts? Do $1000 toilets use plastic Fluidmaster parts? IMHO FM is the best value. Most are power assist flushers.

to show the setting. How does that work? No idea (maybe trapped air- and turning releases to drop sooner)

p_z

[mm]

Minimiized, no. At least not on ones I've worked on. IANAPlumber. If there is no extra length to the chain, the flapper will rise up until it points to lever rotation point, but won't be able to go higher and may well be pushed down by the water as soon as you let go. Won't be able to flush the toilet without holding down the lever the whole time, and maybe not even well then.

You're right that the chain length is important. I either use trial and error or try to record the length of chain in use before and copy that when I put in a new flapper. Never changed a lever, but of course if the lever has been changed and the holes in the new lever aren't just where the old holes were, one may need a different length of chain. Maybe the original length times the sine or cosine of the angle, blah blah. Back to trial and error.

One reason why I never throw away the old parts until I'm done fixing something (maybe not even then :) ) So I can compare, or even reuse the old part if it's easier than making the new one work.

Haven't seen it.

I suppose, but I use 75 years instead of 20. kidding. Actually my tendency is to not replace anything until it starts to fail. House is

29 years old. No leaks (except for old flappers which leak into the toilet). Never changed a lever here or anywhere.

[Jerry]

Mother in law is really hard on levers. Don't know what she does to them, but I have replaced 2 of them in the last 10 years.

[pheeh.zero]

Some people reason...if it don't go down...push on the lever real hard! (I have replaced many in a nursing home)