Leaky Toilet Flapper

Hi, Buy a quality U.S. made one not El Cheapo Chinese made. Tony

Before you replace the flapper, remove it and inspect it for wear, weathering, or roughness. Then lightly rub very fine 4/00 steel wool around the rim of the hole where the flapper is seated. You may improve the seating fit. If it still leaks, replace with high quality flapper. Also check that chain isn't too short so valves stays a tiny bit open.

Once a month you should remove the flapper and soak it in vineger to remove hard water deposits. You can also prolong it's life by following up with a good treatment of high end rubber protectant.

The flapper's seat should also be cleaned and polished. Start with a scotch brite pad and progressively reduce the grit until you end with ultra fine for the final polish. A little vasoline on the flapper's seat also works good but it should be part of your weekly maintainence schedule.

If the flapper is starting to get some holes in it, you can usually patch them with black silicone seal.

Pour ten pounds of Quikcret in the tank.....

Ah..... soooo......

Who can tell? I had a cheapie replacement flapper, I put in last night. We'll see how logn this one lasts.

Yow, I didn't know there was so much to toilet flapper maintenance. Thanks.

I was thinking th ree ounces of tire weights on top of the flapper. I'll try your idea, first. Do I have to mix the cement first? Or is it wet enough to take shape if I pour it in dry?

According to Stormin Mormon :

Yow indeed. Weekly maintenance of a toilet flap valve? Nobody's toilet would work.

Scotchbrite a rubber seal? Guaranteed to wreck it.

Turn off the water supply, and flush. Hold the flap open, and give the mating ends of the flap valve and valve seat a gentle scrub with a paper towel or rag soaked in CLR or equivalent.

Then turn the water back on and flush a few times.

If hard water is the problem, that'll fix it.

If hard water isn't the problem, it's time to get a new (perferably higher quality) flap valve assembly.

If the fill valve was a Fluid Master, the little black tube that comes off the fill valve, into the over flow tube is too long, it will siphon water out of the tank and cause the fluid valve to come on as it did with mine.

Tom

Are you certain it is the flapper? Half the time I find that the tube into the overflow pipe is stuck in too far and it is siphoning.

The outlet refill tube should be above the water line. Pull the tube out of the overflow pipe. Put food color into the tank and see if you have a leak.

Bottom tube is not level, FILE it but your a PRO so GO

Right on! except for the last part. The standard cheap flappers will probably work well and last for 8-10 years. The higher quality ones, may not fit, especially if the tank and seat are old.

Would you have Stormin Mormin the Repair PRO repair your AC, Frige , Heating , or even Toilet ????

A man after my heart. A big price for something as basic as a rubber molding seldom means better.

That said, the next time the OP opens up the tank top to fix the leak take a look at the lift chain. Look for a kink in the lift chain.

My intermittent flapper valve leak problem was because I had adjusted the lift chain length to be just the right length so that the moment I press the tank lever the valve opened. However, now and again two links of the chain would not relax fully and left a slight kink, not noticeable until I looked for it. That kink was enough to cause a leak although the valve appeared fully closed.

Well I was trying to save water with the basic idea that I should be able to close the flapper valve any time I want. Hold the flush handle fully open for the big load and shut off promptly for a small pee so to say. I had made some ingenious contraptions that actually worked but would have been costly to make and market. The final solution was a simple one. Stick a weighted roller from a discarded PC mouse into the flapper bell. Worked like a charm.

This was when I came to appreciate the elegance and simplicity of the toilet flush mechanism. The flapper valve must be able to float freely with the water level in the tank. That cone on the underside of the flapper valve generates the swirl of water in the flush. If the valve is held fully open the swirl doesn't form. The swirl is needed to drive the crap through the trap. Ever noticed that you often need more than one bucket of water to do the job?

Well the mouse roller idea was good but in the end it wasn't effective. On enough occasions it needed more than one flush to do the job. It didn't save that much water anyway because a full tank flushes fast and by the time the valve closed there was barely 1/4 tank of water saved.