I noticed that water was leaking underneath my flapper gasket a couple of days ago. I reached down to feel it and the rubber started to disintegrate so it looks like it may have been compromised. I went to go turn off the water underneath the toilet and suprise - that doesn't shut the water off totally. So I'm going to have to turn off the main to take care of this - that gives me another problem - the last time I shut off my main a constant trickle still came out of the pipe. Everywhere I look online seems to only give instructions on replacing the flapper - not the valve it connects to. It seems like I'll have to take the tank off the toilet to take the part off so that means I have to find some way to drain the trickle coming from the pipe. It's a little too much for just a bucket - especially since I need to take the pieces to the store to match them up. Is it possible to connect some kind of hose to the disconnected pipe to drain the water into the tub or toilet while I fix the valve? My brother-in-law seem to think the valve leading the the tank might fit a garden hose.
You could get a toilet supply line that has the correct size fitting for the supply valve on one end and a female pipe thread on the other. Install a plug on the female pipe thread end and connect the hose to the leaking valve. I would consider replacing at least the toilet supply valve and the main valve. Some time in the future you will probably need to shut the water off for some reason and you won't be able to.
I don't think you mean "flapper gasket", just "flapper".
You could put vice-grips on most handles and that will enable you to tighten it more. That's what I have to do on one toilet. I put the vice-grips on with the handle pointing awaay from the wall, since they don't fit parallel to the wall, but it's still plenty of help.
You can solve most of that by turning on many or all of the faucets in the house.
That's called the ball c*ck.
I've never seen one where you have to take the tank off. Look at it again. You undo a nut around the supply tube and separate the tube from the toilet/ball c*ck**. Then you loosen and remove the big nut right above where the supply tube/pipe was and remove the ball c*ck from above.
**If there is still water coming out of the supply pipe/tube at this point, you'll probably know before you remove it. But you can put a dishpan under that side of the tank, and you can probably buy three feet of rubber or maybe vinyl hose that you can slip over the supply tube and put the other end in the toilet. Don't forget that the tube is flared at the end so it's about a quarter inch greater in diameter than the rest of the tube. Rubber stretches more than vinyl, but maybe buy 5 feet instead of 3 and run the tubing you buy two feet up the supply pipe/tubing and just tape it on there where it will probably still be dry. Then put the other end in the toilet.
AFAIK almost everyone replaces the ball c*ck with a Fluidmaster, that you can buy in advance. The advantage of this is that it has a bayonet mount, as in camera lenses, and the next time it fails, it can be removed from above and replaced in about 10 seconds. (That is, if they haven't changed the mounting, and so far they've changed it twice for me in 24 years, so I haven't had the benefit of quick change. But I know they've had reasons, and maybe they are done now. I think I'm only on my 5th or 6th one for 3 toilets in 24 years, with the second set this yearso that's only one every 12 years. That also means they only changed the design every 12 years.
The disadvantage seems to be that they fail sooner, but I might not be in a postition to judge, since I've lived here for 24 years, and I only lived in two other places that had ball c**ks, one from age zero to 10, and I was only paying attention from age 5 on, and one from ages 10 to 17. They were still brass then, but it's only 7 years instead of 24.
The valve? Aren't you removing the valve? Do you mean the tube/pipe? The tube won't fit a garden hose. I don't see how a hose clamp will help. Even the small diameter garden hose I don't think you won't be able to clamp down enough, in fact barely at all.
One more thing. Normally, you would move the tube that feeds the toilet as little as possible, so that it's easy to get the tube on straight again, like it was, and therefore easy to tighten the nut. Although it's not so hard to straighten it if you have to, but you will only be catching the water in the dishpan, or maybe a towel, at this point, if it is still dripping, which I doubt.
So remember that when you are trying to slip the rubber tubing on to the tube, and don't bend the tube if you can avoid it. IIRC it will move a little without bending. That is, iirc it will bend but spring back, as oopposed to bending and not springing back. But you can bend it back if you have to, it's good practice.
You won't ruin it but if you do they sell new ones. If metal, bend them around a classic coke bottle (because it has circles of many diameters.) or around some cylinder, to avoid kinking. You don't need a tubing bender for a few bends.
Also, the Fluidmaster comes with some extra parts, (Which are extra depends on the toilet) and with a rubber part stuck inside another rubber part, that have to be separated, so read the directions and assemble the thing, the bottom part, minus the valve itself until you are familiar with it, before you start the whole disconnecting. So it won't take forever to reassemble when the water is running through the tube into the toilet.
Turn the house water off as best you can and find a faucet that is lower than the toilet and open it. IF its a slow leak one faucet should do it. Outdoor faucets usually are lower than indoor faucets. Any leaking water will be drained by the lower faucet and never make it to the toilet.
Unless the toilet is in the basement, if you shut off the main and then open the faucet in your deep sink, that should keep the water from coming up to the toilet. then you can replace the shutoff valve too.
One quick piece of advice - Unless the toilet is the ONLY piece of plumbing in your house - get the main fixed. It's kind of a "pay me now or pay me later." And if you have any tubes running to the plumbing fixtures always replace them with flexible tubing if at all possible. I started doing that about 20 years ago and it sure has payed off.
Yes you are correct. I've been stupid to put it off and lucky that all of the leaks I have encountered since owning the house have been in places where the water can drain. If a pipe bursts in the middle of the night I'm going to be bailing water in buckets until the plumber comes. I guess the reason I've been putting it off is because I keep finding more and more valves that are broken and I don't know which ones absolutely need to be fixed. Also I couldn't find a shutoff valve for my boiler! How is that possible?
An update on the toilet: I bought a Fluidmaster flush valve replacement kit and installed it without incident - well except I almost cut the refill tube too short - it just makes it above the water level. Overall a pretty simple job. I'll save fixing the water valve for after I get the main fixed.
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