Toilet question (nothing gross)

[jedusor]

The toilet in the @Cave is really hard to flush. Brute force seems to do the job, but I'm worried that if we keep doing that, the plastic trip lever will break. I think the problem is that the flush valve is sticking, but I don't have a whole lot of plumbing experience and I don't want to damage it further. I can tell management about it and have someone come look at it, of course, but I'd rather not do that if it would be an easy fix. Any suggestions?

Comments

[mh75.livejournal.com]

I don't know off hand, but, toilets are super cool. All the worky bits are clearly visible, and its usually pretty easy to see whats going wrong. In addition, replacement kits can come really inexpensively (<$20) to fix a lot of the things that might be wrong.

What i usually do it take the lid off the tank and look to see what is going on. Look for the lever arm to be flexing (may require replacing the arm). Another idea is that usually the handle screws into the interior mechanism - it may be screwed too tight?

[devjoe.livejournal.com]

I second what mh said. Take the lid off, and look inside while you flush (or push it to the point where it is sticking) and see if something is jamming or rubbing at that point. It should look something like this. There's an older type of mechanism where the float is a big hollow ball on a second long arm which activates the refill mechanism when it falls due to the water leaving the tank under it. This type can have the two parts get tangled, which is why they are getting replaced with the type shown on that site.

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

I third the above. One rather obvious thing which occurred to me embarassingly late in my toilet-fiddling career: if you close the valve on the water line leading into the tank, then flush, you'll be able to futz around in an empty toilet tank.

terlit tech tip

[(Anonymous)]

yeh, sounds like the ball-cock is jamming into its seat, its made out of rubber and goes soft after a few years, it is also real yucky and will leave black decomposed gunk all over your hands. take the top off the tank and flush it by pulling on the chain attached to the flush handle,looking at the gadget the chain is hooked to, thats the ball-cock and it should lift easily and kind of float until most of the water runs out then it should drop back into its seat[a 3" hole going into the toilet,if it does not lift easily dose not seat it should be changed, they cost about three bucks at the hardware store], good luck, if it where me i'd have the land lord do it. luv grandpa

Re: terlit tech tip

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

Oh, hurray and hurrah for Grandpa! I discovered the black gunk already, so that must be it. Thank you!

Re: terlit tech tip

[rubrick.livejournal.com]

Tell me truly and honestly: had that last comment been from anyone else, would you have let the first part of it go with nary a childish giggle?

Re: terlit tech tip

[jedusor.livejournal.com]

I truly and honestly did not notice. I've been reading about toilet mechanisms a lot, and have gotten used to the lingo.