A Commode-Huggin' Good Time!

[biglou]

Why? How? How can it be so freaking hard to fix a toilet? The problem: Water leaking past the flapper and causing the valve to kick on and run intermittently. I replaced the valve right after I bought the house about 2.5 yrs ago, so the valve is new. So, I bought a new flapper for said crapper... No dice. It still leaked. Next step, bought a tank kit that contains everything except the valve. So I let that sit on the workbench for about three months. In the meantime, the water to the toity has been off. I figure, if the thing is leaking enough to kick on every five minutes, it ought to be near empty by now, right? Wrong! The water level has only dropped anbout 4 inches. Hmmm, let me just turn the water back on and see if maybe she'll hold... No dice. Valve started kicking on again after a few minutes. Grrrrrr..... OK, so I bite the bullet last night and decide to install the new kit. First off, the bolts that hold the tank to the bowl look like rusty cauliflour they were so corroded. They aren't budging. Had to cut them off with a hacksaw. And we all know how much room there is around a toilet to work. Then, out to the back yard to clean all the corrosion and stuff out of the tank. Lots of scrubbing to the bolt gasket areas to make sure the holes seal prperly. The old gasket gunk was black as pitch and got on everything I touched. The whole thing went back together easy enough, but after I turned the water back on and let the tank fill about half way, I could hear the drip-drip-drip of water getting past the entire new flapper/seat assembly. Great :silly:. Well, let's give her a flush anyway, and see what happens. Sure enough, water comes gushing out from around the seat/tank junction area. Yes, I put a new tank-to-bowl gasket on. Luckily I know my plumbing prowess and had a large towel in place to catch the runoff. I tried repositioning the tank, checking the gasket, etc. probably 6 times, always with the same result. Not sure what to do now. At least the tank is clean, no more nasty gunk when handling it. That all wiped off on my shirt and pants while I was removing it and carrying it outside to be hosed out. Heck, I can install and remove the thing in about 2 minutes flat. I just can't seem to make it stop leaking, both around the tank and past the flapper. Looks like I have to hit my local hardware store and see my "go to" plumbing guy. He's always helped me out in the past. I should also note, the kit I used was not a FluidMaster kit. I shoulda known... :|

 

[Rooster]

Dude! Bad luck with the old crapper! I hate plumbing with a passion. I'll pay to have it done, no questions asked. :eek:

 

[a454elk]

:uh: Very apoopriate for the situation at hand! You might want to check the rear anti flapping valve located under the frontal lobation of the upper seat trim flange. I think you'll find your problem right in that area. All else fails, you can put trash bag liners in the toity and take them out every other poop, give or take, depending on the previous nights intake. Or, rip the whole thing out and poop in the hole on the floor, decorate the bathroom like some ancient tavern and you'll be in there!:thumb:

 

[VintageDirt]

Originally posted by a454elk
All else fails, you can put trash bag liners in the toity and take them out every other poop, give or take, depending on the previous nights intake.

hehehehe :)

 

[XRpredator]

Lou, weren't you working on that even before you started the Hurricane project? Even before you guys had that ice storm?

Nothing like waiting til the last minute, eh? I'd go for Elk's "Medieval Tavern" theme. ;)

 

[bsmith]

I take it for Elk, all else failed :eek: ;)

 

[a454elk]

Yeah, a little faux painting with a Greek sponge, "poof" we got a new look!

 

[Papakeith]

Brown stucco? :eek:

 

[biglou]

Originally posted by RoosteR13
Dude! Bad luck with the old crapper! I hate plumbing with a passion. I'll pay to have it done, no questions asked. :eek:

It may very well come to that, but first I gotta spend at least double that amount "fixin" it myself. ;)

Oh, and I can't believe I forgot to use this guy: :uh: in my original post!

 

[RM_guy]

Lou, You should stick to making bikes look beautiful ;)

 

[slo' mo]

Lou,
make sure you do not overtighten any of the bolts which can deform gaskets and create a leak. I just hand tighten everything and then tweak it from there.

 

[a454elk]

The gaskets will get deformed anyway when the beautiful odor surrounds them like a cloud of cool mist in the morning over Golden Pond.

 

[VintageDirt]

Lou, ya gotta drink a lot of beer on a job like that. Doesn't hurt to pull your pants part way down too. Also, you need to invite some buddies over to watch and give advice.

 

[Rooster]

Elk, only you could make the green haze of a turd sound poetic. :uh: :)

 

[CAL]

Hey Lou, you should have called me. My dad is a plumbing contractor! Slo mo has the idea. Just get the bolts snug past hand tight. You might even want to put a bead of silicone on it. You know that we just built our house and have been in it two years. Well, our most expensive crapper (Kohler) started leaking past the flapper after about a year. I just let it go. It ended up wearing the valve out! So after a new valve and flapper I'm up and running.

Just curious, why did you unbolt the tank from the bowl? # 1 rule in plumbing...if it don't leak, DON'T TOUCH IT!! ;) Here's my advice instead of calling a plumber: Go to Lowe's and buy a Crane "Toilet to Go". $79 for the bowl, tank, seat, bolt kit, and wax seal. We have three toilets in our house: the Kohler(wasn't cheap), a $650 Crane Lowboy(was a gift from the plumbing supply store), and our $79 "Toilet to Go". The "Toilet to Go" is the only toilet that hasn't given us any problems. The Lowboy's flapper doesn't always seat...go figure. :silly:

If you can wait until Thanksgiving, I'll come install it for you! :)

 

[a454elk]

Cal, actually it's cheaper to buy a Lil' Tots porta potty, $19.95 at Toys-R-Us. :thumb: They just don't hold all the soldiers in, some jump ship looking for the new world.

 

[CAL]

Hey, my wife is babysitting at home now. I think we have one of those. Lou, I'll just bring it to DW and you can have it! ;)

 

[XRpredator]

"toilet to go" -- Elk could probably use one of those on the way to DW!

 

[BSWIFT]

I treat my plumber real good. When you need a plumber, YOU NEED A PLUMBER!

 

[CanadianRidr]

"toilet to go" -- Elk could probably use one of those on the way to DW!

Haha, remember elk is a smart cookie, he allready shaved his seat on the RM and installed a Toys-r-us potty, I guess that's why his bike runs so good ;) Or is that why everyone says his zuki is the $hits?

Okay im sorry for the puns, but im here all night and I do accept tips :yeehaw:

 

[Jeff Allen]

If you think sealing the tank to bowl is a pain in the :moon: wait till you try getting the wax ring to seal at 11pm when all the stores are closed. Now thats a pain in the :moon:

 

[biglou]

Well, I didn't pull the bowl off the floor, just took the tank off the bowl (seat part). The reason I took the tank off is because I needed to replace that whole plastic piece that the flapper closes onto. I tried one of those "extenders" where you put the putty on the old seat and push the new plastic ring with flapper onto it, but it still let water go by and the valve would kick on every few minutes. The brass (?) bolts that hold the tank in place were just corroded beyond recognition. You may be right, though, I may be tightening them down too tight and deforming that base gasket. BUT-I must fix that leaking flapper. That was the entire reason for starting this project. Tomorrow I am going to go see my plumbing guy at the hardware store and get a FluidMaster flapper thingy and put it in. Heck, like I said, I'm fast at changing it out now. I've had lots of practice the last couple days! Oh, and RMguy-That tank is beautiful now, compared to how it was when I took it off!
Well, until later... :uh:

 

[DahlElama]

I feel your pain Lou... somehow the tank lid on one of the crappers in our house broke. I had already battled flapper on this crapper before, and the in-laws were coming for a visit the next day so I just decided to replace the whole thing. Picked out a real nice one from the local megalo plumbing supply and made sure to grab a couple wax rings just in case I screwed one up. I installed the new crapper and as soon as I turned the H2O on it began to leak at the floor. I uninstalled and re-installed the spare wax ring thinking for sure I squashed it wrong. Fired it up again and same thing. I had one more spare wax ring from the bathroom remodel I had done the previous summer so I went back through it again... still leaked and now it was too late to get another. I was also livid by this point so bright and early the next morning I called a plumber. He showed up lickety split and informed me that these Kohlers were glazed and fired in such a way that sometimes the end up with a crack way up under the bowl. Sho nuff...that's what it was. By the time I took it back and arrived home with my replacement crapper the in-laws were already at the homestead. My father in-law installed the new one handy guy that he is... nice fellah.

 

[BunduBasher]

Lou, you do know that the name for a toilet in England is Loo !!, Big-Loo takes on a whole new meaning after reading this thread LOL :p - Now I'm all flushed :uh: :)

 

[biglou]

Bundu-LMAO!

Is there a man on the face of the earth that hasn't wrestled a toilet at least once in his life? It's one of those things. You know you have to do it (Tim Allen mode on), you hope it will come apart easily, you hope it won't leak when you are done... But as usual, you wind up with wet floors, grass and mud tracked through the house, multiple trips to the HW store. Lots of grunting and chest-pounding whilst walking back and forth in front of the commode trying to stare it down... :uh: