Toilets

buxton161 · Site Admin Joined: 06 May 2007 Posts: 100 Karma: +1 (1)

Toilets may have a variety of problems, from clogging up to running incessantly. Here is how you can handle the main hassles.

Toilet is clogged

If flushing the toilet causes sewage to back up in your bathtub or another fixture, it usually means there is a clog in the main drainpipe--the stack. Though you can attempt to snake this out, you're usually better off calling a plumber for this.

If your toilet is clogged but not backing up elsewhere, don't try to flush it or it may overflow. Instead:

1) Remove the lid from the tank and raise the flapper valve to let a little water pass through so you can see whether the toilet is indeed clogged.

2) If it is, first try plunging with a bell-shaped plunger.

3) If this doesn't do the job, snake out the toilet with a special closet auger.

4) If that doesn't work, call a plumber or drain clearing service.

Toilet flushes poorly

If a toilet has been working fine but suddenly flushes or drains very slowly, the problem is usually a clogged drain.

If you've plunged and snaked out the drain but your toilet still flushes poorly, it may be the toilet's siphoning action. When a toilet is flushed, water rushes from the tank, through the valve seat, around the rim, and through a siphon jet chamber built into the porcelain at the front of the bowl. As the water encircles the rim, some washes down through the rinse holes in the underside of the rim. The rush of water causes a cleansing action and creates enough force to push waste out through the back of the bowl and down into the waste pipe.

First open the tank and check the water level. A low water level means there may not be enough force to kick off the siphoning action. Toilets are designed so that the tank, when filled to the top of the overflow tube, holds enough water for a good flush. Water-saving devices such as dams, bottles, or bending the float rod will foil the design. You're better off getting a toilet that's designed to be a water-saving fixture. Flush the toilet and make sure the flapper allows all of the tank's water to complete the flush.

If the water level looks fine, the rinse holes may be clogged with mineral deposits, particularly where hard water is a problem. You can clear the rinse holes located just under the rim or near the back of the bowl, using a short piece of coat hanger (turn off the toilet's shut off valve and flush the toilet to get rid of most of the bowl's water, first).

Lime remover can dissolve minerals built-up in the toilet's channels, but this will take 8 hours or more. The idea is to dam-up the orifices so the lime remover can go to work--pack the holes with wet paper towels and hold them in place with a generous supply of plumber's putty, then pour a bottle of lime remover into the overflow tube and let it sit.

An inadequate flush can be caused by a broken link between the handle and trip lever or a tank stopper that closes before the tank empties.

It's also possible that the toilet was made back in the late 1980s, when designs were shifting toward water-saving toilets but the technology had not been refined, in which case you may want to buy a new toilet

Toilet runs

A toilet runs because either the flapper (or tank ball) needs replacement or the valve is faulty. Determine the problem part by squeezing a few drops of food coloring into the tank to color the tank's water. After a few minutes, the water in the bowl will begin to turn color if the flapper is the problem. Otherwise, it's the valve.

Replacement flappers and stoppers are available for all types of toilets for under $10. Flappers are particularly simple to install by sliding the collar down the overflow tube, centering the flapper over the valve seat, and hooking up the lift chain to the trip lever so that it has a little slack. Instructions are given on most flapper product labels. See more about adjusting toilet tank flappers.

To repair a flush valve:
* Reach into the tank and reseat the tank stopper in the flush valve;
* Try bending the float arm down or away from the tank wall;
* Replace the float ball; it may have filled with water;
* After draining the tank, scour or replace a corroded flush valve seat;
* Replace the tank-fill tube if it is cracked--or replace the entire assembly; and
* Oil the trip lever and replace faulty washers.

Before replacing the flush valve or any of the other toilet tank components, turn off the water at the toilet shutoff valve. Empty the tank by flushing the toilet and wipe up any remaining water.

Some toilets fill with a noisy high-pitched whine or whistle. This could result from a defective inlet-valve assembly or water restricted by a shutoff valve that has been partly closed.

Flapper closes too quickly
If the flapper has an adjustment, check it to see if it's set up properly. Check the chain's length--pull it tight, then back it off one link and attach it.

Toilet tank sweats
In humid climates, warm room air can condense on the cooler surfaces of a toilet and drip onto the floor, which can encourage mildew, and can rot subflooring. Tank water that's cooler than the ambient air causes moisture to condense and the tank to sweat.

The simplest solution is to empty the water from the tank and glue a foam toilet tank liner on the tank's inner surfaces--this will reduce the amount of sweating. For a more thorough and permanent solution, talk to a plumber about installing a tempering valve on the cold water line that supplies the toilet. This draws a little hot water from a hot water pipe and mixes it with the cold water entering the toilet tank to raise the tank's temperature.

Toilet leaks around base

Can't tell if your toilet's tank is sweating or leaking where bolts connect the tank to the bowl? Squeeze a couple drops of food coloring in the tank water, wait about an hour, then dab the tank bolts with a white tissue. If the color shows up on the tissue, the tank is leaking. If your tank is leaking, the problem is usually a failed wax ring between the toilet's base and the closet bend (waste pipe). Replacing this ring involves pulling the toilet, so be sure the water is not coming from a leaking tank or supply connection. Another possibility is that the tank may be sweating.

First check for condensation on the surface (sweating). Then use a rag to dry the floor around the toilet's base. Lay a newspaper beneath the toilet's tank, wait a few minutes, and check it for drips. If there is no sign of leaking but the water reappears around the base, the wax ring is probably guilty. Before you start this repair, buy a new wax ring (they type with a rubber collar offers more secure drainage).

1) Turn off the water supply valve behind the base of the toilet.

2) Flush the toilet and drain as much water from the tank as possible. Then sponge-out the rest.

3) Pop the plastic covers off of the closet flange nuts that mount the toilet to the floor on both sides (you may have to pry them off with a screwdriver).

4) Using a wrench, remove the nuts from the bolts, turning them counterclockwise.

5) Gently loosen the toilet from the floor, rocking it back and forth. It's heavy, so watch your back and don't let it topple over. Lay it down on its side.

6) Stuff a rag into the mouth of the drain opening.

7) Wearing rubber gloves, use a putty knife to scrape and peel the old wax off of the bottom of the toilet and the top of the floor flange.

8 ) Press the new wax ring onto the base of the toilet, with the collar pointing down.

9) Lift the toilet up and set it back onto the flange, with the bolts through the mounting holes. This is a little bit tricky--you don't want to miss when placing the bowl onto the floor flange because this could damage the wax ring. So have someone help you line it up before you seat it on the flange. A plumber's trick is to push a couple of large drinking straws onto the mounting bolts first; slip these through the holes in the toilet's base and just slide the bowl down into place.