plumbing question

Is it leaking through the valve, eg running all the time? I like to use those universal valve/float replacements, they are very reliable with hard water. Could be the old valve is kaput. If you lift up on the float and apply more force, does the valve shut off then?

Valves are easy to bugger up. I've made the booboo of doing a new plumbing setup, and not flushing the lines before hooking up the head. For copper pipe, there will be trash in the pipes (Eg, dirt, bits of flux and solder) that will make the valve stick.

For pex, little shavings and other dirt will also make the valve stick, though this isn't as big a concern. Always flush out the lines into a large bucket before hooking up appliances like dishwashers, washing machines, or toilets

What's the deal with all the malfunctioning plumbing lately? Is the plumbing rising up against us? Will we have to dig outhouses in our backyards?

 

I have the same question: Is you toilet "running" or actually leaking onto the floor?

If it's just running, as Jayman suggests, you can purchase a repair kit with a new fill valve and flapper. They are inexpensive and fairly simple to install.

Tom

 

there should be a little hole inside your toiled that's a vent. if the drain line is clogged it can cause this to happen by siphoning water down the vent. unclog and you may be in business.

 

-

 

Check the valve seat (the part the flapper contacts), make sure there are no pits or groves around the edge. If there are, this will cause the leaking, I had this one time, long ago, but if I remember correctly, I was able to get a complete valve kit that included the seat.

 

I also think it's the flapper not seating correctly. Either the new flapper isn't quite the right one or the seat is damaged. Fluidmaster sells several kits, one includes a new plastic seat that glues over old seat so you don't have to take so much apart. If your water lever is below the overflow pipe than the flapper leaking is how the water is getting back to the bowl.

Here's a link to the Priuschat of toilets.

http://www.terrylove.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=3

 

Oh, not the actual valve then.

I agree, the flapper may need a new seat. There are flappers that look pretty close to the same, but a slight difference in flapper ring and construction can result in a slow leak

Vent tube, haven't had that happen. I'd probably run amok and sledgehammer the head if it ever did that to me

A Priuschat of plumbing? Of *course* there would be!

 

Several people have noticed that plumbing has one particular
Great Truth: once you start in on something, you keep finding
more that desperately needs attention. It just builds on itself.
.
I reworked my toilet not long ago too, and the new flapper had
the same kind of very slow drip leak. It made the new ballcock
valve open and run every minute or so, and then shut off with
a snap [it has hysterisis]. I managed to fiddle a screw adjustment
to get rid of the hysterisis so the ballcock would quietly open
just enough to compensate for the leak, and eventually the leak
stopped by itself as the flapper and the outlet seat adapted to
each other. Mineral/crud buildup actually has a self-sealing
action in many circumstances.
.
_H*

 

Flapper? what is a flapper?

 

There's a few definitions:
1. Stylish woman in the Roaring 20's with short skirt & bobbed hair and danced in the speak-easies.
2. Somebody who talks too much (flapping their gums)
3. A square piece of thick rubber, about a foot by foot and a half, on a long handle, that is used for controlling burns in a prairie restoration.

But you're probably looking for definition #4.

 

I've had Magik Self Healing happen just enough in plumbing to believe in it. Until the Magik Self Healing runs amok and the plumbing becomes downright Possessed

Tossing a match to the house is always a good option too

 

Agreed. But at some point, your time and frustration may get to where it's more worthwhile to buy a new one. I've spent far too much time tinkering with the old toilets in this place, adjusting this and replacing that. The next time one developed a problem, I said, that's it, you're out of here.

 

Unless that toilet is +40 years old, grouted improperly into a tile floor. In which case you're taking a sledgehammer to it

Oddly enough, I've found the sledgehammer route VERY satisfying

 

The house is 70-something, but I'm sure the toilet wasn't that old. The room's too small to be swinging a sledgehammer - as satisfying as that would have been, it would made for even more plaster work. One nice surprise was the beautiful wood flooring we discovered beneath the decrepit lino. Clear grain fir was junk wood back then, but it looks pretty darn good now.

 

I have been able to swing a sledgehammer inside the confines of a cast iron bath tub. It can be done.

Tom

 

Get an outhouse. No problems with water leaks. Watch out for porcupines however.

 

Until some trixters decide to move it about 6 feet to the rear. :ninja::biggrin1:

But there's outhouses, then there are OUTHOUSES! For your viewing pleasure, this baby is in my home town...