Apropos the recent discussion on the hazards of plumbing repairs, one of ou r toilets is calling out for a partial rebuild. I suspect that the flap, w hich ought to last three or four lifetimes, has developed a wrinkle that ke eps it from making a solid seal. Off to Ace with pix and hoping to do this in one trip.
Larry
No way ... anything to do with plumbing is a minimum of two trips, the actual number being directly proportional to the distance to the hardware story. ;)
A lifetime? I wind up replacing ours about every 4-5 years. Hard water doesn't help. Check to be sure it isn't deposits on the edge of the pipe and not the flapper valve itself.
Good news is flappers are cheap and pretty standard.
Swingman wrote in news:ZtidnX6DOJKO1BjPnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@giganews.com:
I've had pretty good luck with toilets. Usually the rebuild kits include all I need to do it without extra trips back to the store.
I'm going to have to rebuild the guts of one of mine soon anyway. Hard water doesn't help things... neither does the lack of a proper vent. Unfortunately air admittance valves are considered "mechanical means" or something and not allowed under code around here.
Puckdropper
Did that 2 weeks ago. Ace had about 5 or 6 different flapper valves. I picked one that looked the same, it wasn't. Second trip I took the old one.
---------------------------------------- At this point in my life, there are advantages to renting.
Not being responsible for repairs is one of them.
Good luck.
Lew
Know when to stop the repair process. Several years ago our toilet was leaking. Friday night I stop at Lowes and picked up the kit. Saturday morning I took the tank off and replaced the tower and the flapper valve. I replaced the tank. I should have stopped at this point but as I was cleaning up I realized I the kit included a new flush lever. Seeing every thing in the tank was new, I decided the flush valve should be replaced also.
This was a big mistake. In doing the simple operation of removing the nut to remove the flush lever, I broke of the whole corner of the tank.
After another four trips, we finally had a new working toilet.
Things I learned in addition to knowing when to stop that if you have a tile floor you will probably need a longer wax seal.
Lowes offer to give me a reserved parking place for my next home project ;-)
If the flapper is black be careful as those tend to sluf off black stuff that gets all over everything.
Is it actually leaking? Do yo hear water refilling? Water refilling periodically is not always a leaking flapper, it can also be caused by water siphoning out through the fill tube if the hose going to the fill tube is submerged. In that case pull that hose out of the water in the fill tube.
------------------------------------------------ It has been my experience the above is a sure sign of a time to replace.
And yes that black crap gets over everything if you are not very CAREFUL.
Lew
My experience - every time - is a tiny bit of leakage through the float valve - - trickling through the overflow - - and making tiny turbulance in the toilet bowl .. A major float valve issue can be heard -
- you will hear the noise of the water pressure making a slight flow through the float valve .. The tiny leaks can't be heard - but usually seen - in the toilet bowl... The life-time expectancy of plumbing products can be greatly altered by the water quality ! John T.
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Good Luck. A one trip plumbing repair is pretty rare?
Hey, I have to go install a tub tomorrow in a rural area....w/plumber.... Should be interesting.... I have a plumber with me for "back-up" john
Apropos the recent discussion on the hazards of plumbing repairs, one of our toilets is calling out for a partial rebuild. I suspect that the flap, which ought to last three or four lifetimes, has developed a wrinkle that keeps it from making a solid seal. Off to Ace with pix and hoping to do this in one trip.
Larry
On Thu, 14 Nov 2013 15:56:15 -0800, "Lew Hodgett"
Doesn't always work out that way. One of the wall plugs in my apartment was wired in a two way switch configuration. It started arcing for some reason so I took it out. Left a note for the super to come and replace it. He couldn't figure out how to wire it in the two way switch configuration so I had to do it myself. ~ not the first time I've had to fix something myself. It's gotten to the point that if I request something to be fixed, I have to be there and supervise the proper way to do it.
"Mike Marlow" wrote in news:l654gu$v4g$ snipped-for-privacy@dont-email.me:
I'm wondering if this might be a good excuse to buy a lathe... A metal turning one with all the accessories. I could make my own nut then. :-)
Puckdropper
By stocking those in your inventory, you are almost guaranteeing that the next time you replace the fill valve, you will break the supply line...
Murphy always wins
It's never the commode that gets me. It's the broken pipe it was attached to.
It's always east to be CAREFUL when you have someone else do the work.
>
our toilets is calling out for a partial rebuild. I suspect that the flap, which ought to last three or four lifetimes, has developed a wrinkle that keeps it from making a solid seal. Off to Ace with pix and hoping to do th is in one trip.
I recently did this and got lucky with the correct flapper the first trip , but then discovered that the fill valve was also leaking. Rather than rep lace the whole valve I just replaced the seal on the top and now everything s good.
Bingo! ALWAYS buy a new supply line, _on the first trip_.
The plumbing Gods will insure that, after numerous trips to the hardware store, and you finally have everything else working perfectly, the supply line will suddenly leak where no leak went before ... back to the hardware store.
--------------------------------------------------- "Markem" wrote:
----------------------------------------------------- Requirements to be a plumber or a pipefitter:
1) Friday is payday. 2) Crap never flows uphill. 3) NEVER eat the yellow snow.And last but not least:
4) NEVER bite your finger nails.Lew
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