While it is entirely possible that your toilet may be broken beyond normal repair, personal experience has taught me that it’s easy to overreact to toilet issues that are, in reality, quite easy to fix with just a little bit of information and a do it yourself mentality. Among the easiest to fix (and most common) problems that crop up with toilets is leakage. Let’s take a look through some common types of leaks and how you can fix them at home without having to hire an expensive plumber:
Defective Flapper
A defective flapper (the piece found at the bottom of the tank, pictured left) is perhaps the most common issue that requires toilet repair. This generally comes in the form of a leak which lets out a little water at a time back into the toilet bowl. While this problem sounds miniscule because of how little is actually leaking, you may actually be wasting thousands of gallons of water a year because of a simple rubber flap.
To test for a flapper leak, obtain some dark colored food coloring. Alternatively, you can purchase one of the many available dye tablets that are available for this purpose at most home improvements stores. Flush the toilet, waiting for the ball to drop and the tank starts refilling. At this point, add some of the dye material to the tank and observe the water flowing into the toilet bowl. If any of the dye shows up in the bowl, there is a leak somewhere in the flush valve mechanism which is responsible for properly filling the tank and bowl.
If the flapper is the issue, the replacement procedure is easy:
As you can see, you simply align the new flapper over the provided mounting ears which are attached to the valve mechanism. If you don’t see these mounting points, there are adapters that you can purchase to mount on the valve in order to attach the flapper. Now, simply connect the chain to the flush lever (the the thing that is attached to the flush handle on the outside of the tank) and test it out with a flush.
If the chain isn’t pulling taut when you try to flush the toilet, then the flush is likely weak or non-existent. If this happens, just take up the slack by attaching the flush arm to a point further down the chain. Another related issue that you can run into is a flush arm that is broken, leaving you with a connection point for the chain on the flapper. I had this happen to me once, and rather than replacing the flush arm I just rigged together a little mounting point with a strong paper clip. This is fine when you’re in a situation where running out to the hardware store for toilet repair parts isn’t practical.
Replacing a Defective Tank Ball
The tank ball is another common point of failure, and no doubt one of the most requested toilet repairs online. The replacement is dead easy, though. Once you’ve removed the old ball, simply slide the lift wire through the guide arm that should be attached to the overflow valve (the big pipe that is protruding from below the toilet into the tank). Once the lift wire is through the guide arm, just thread the ball onto the lower lift wire and place the ball over the drain seating. After checking the alignment of the ball, give the toilet a test flush to make sure everything is working properly. You may need to adjust the mechanism once or twice to get it completely right, but it shouldn’t be too much of a pain in the neck!
Replacement of the Entire Valve Mechanism
To top off this toilet repair article, let’s take a look at a detailed video which goes through the process of replacement the whole valve:
While there are certainly more detailed instructions out there for how to repair a toilet, this guide is intended to get you started with the basic terminology and parts that are involved in the process. If all else fails, you can always shop around for a toilet repair kit that will come with the necessary parts, tools, and even illustrated instructions. However, you can do most of this stuff without spending a dime, so it really comes down to whether you want to spend time or money!
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Thumbnail image used according to Creative Commons, courtesy of pmarkham
