My stupid toilet is only seven years old and it is already leaking like crazy. it keeps having to pump up the tank again b/c the water slowly leaks out of the tank and into the bowl. the problem is…I can’t find replacement parts for it b/c i have never seen this kind of mechanism. I took a picture of it here: http://www.mediafire.com/view/a0aale91pqdd9ka/IMG_20141215_200250.jpg
Can anyone out there help me find replacement parts for this toilet? a link would be nice.
take a look at here - first thing I found searching on toilet replacement parts ball float.
I’ve fixed toilets like that in one of our old houses. They used to be the standard mechanism.
I just picked the first sponsored link - you can do a lot better I’m sure.
Just replace the entire mechanism.
It will require removing the tank.
You can get a complete rebuild kit at Home Depot for around $15.
Install a Fluid Master unit. They have no float arm and usually run about $10 or less.
http://www.fluidmaster.com/toilet-fill-valve.html
$6.97 at Home Depot website.
Sounds like you just need to replace the flapper valve. That’s the thing that keeps the water in the tank from running into the bowl.
Maybe just the flapper valve now… but in a couple months it will be something else.
The lesson of experience is buy the kit and replace the whole works. The main cost here really is labour, and most of the labour is draining the toilet, removing the tank, and reassembling it. You may as well replace all the guts while you are at it. If it is in the Fluidmaster kit, use it. There is a reason they put all that stuff in one box.
I didn’t see a flapper in the pic - which may explain why OP hasn’t seen this design.
If it doesn’t have a flapper, I haven’t seen the design either.
When you depress the flush lever, what does it move?
A complete Fluid Master innards replacement kit will cost about twenty bucks at Lowe’s or Home Depot. I did one today. Took about three hours. Screw driver, vise grips, socket set.
???
Well the picture doesn’t show the water overflowing into the white tube, so its not the inlet valve.
So it must be the outlet valve , which some people called the flapper valve, but there are outlet valves which are not flapper valves, so the general name is outlet valve or flush valve. Its at the bottom of the cistern, just above the flush pipe… where the water flows down to flush. Its just a circle of rubber, if you get it out , take it to a plumbing parts supplier and get a matching rubber outlet valve. Well the problem might be some sort of interference to the outlet valve, like a chip of ceramic from the lid or something…
If it is the inlet valve, then the water will flow up over the top of the tube and drop down into the outlet… The inlet valve is at the top of the pole on the left, where the float arm connects in. Its a little rubber disk … same thing. take it and get an exact match.
In my experience though I always want it to be the flapper valve, since they are cheap and easy to replace, it seldom is.
I’ve replace the innards several times, and have never had to take the tank off. Turn off the water at the wall, unscrew the assembly from the bottom of the tank, take off the flapper valve, and put the new one in.
I agree about replacing the whole thing - will be much easier to replace bits when you are up to date. And there is more room in the tank with the new assembly.
If this is some bizarre design that won’t accept a traditional flapper, a conventional rebuild kit isn’t going to fit.
OP says he hasn’t seen design - which implies he has seen conventional flapper designs.
The way the float arm is bent, the valve has been leaking for some time.
That is indeed an odd design, and I’ve never seen one like it either. It looks like the linkage arm from the flush lever connects to that tubular piece in the middle of the toilet and lifts the entire assembly.
That was my suspicion - the entire overflow tube is stuck in the flapper, and to flush, the entire assembly is raised.
If that’s the case, a new toilet with conventional flapper and separate overflow tube is in order.
In the meantime, if the problem is not some crud keeping the valve open, perhaps a conventional flapper could be modified to replace whatever is opening.
That is a particularly crappy contractor grade of toilet innards. Cheap-a** toilets by Mansfield tend to come with those. And yes, at 5+ years they all start leaking. And none of the individual replacement parts at the big box stores will fit their weird design.
The FluidMaster everybody else is recommending is a 100% replacement for all the guts. Do that. It’s the sure cure for whatever ails your rig.
It’s been enough years since I changed out all the Mansfield craptacular crappers I owned that I no longer recall whether installing the FluidMaster entailed pulling the tank off the base or not. But I think it does. So you want the more complete FluidMaster kit which include the tank-to-base gasket and the fitting that sits in the bottom of the tank that the flapper assembly seals against.
The only bad thing about Fluidmaster is their flappers. They seem to get a lot of complaints about early failure and bad sealing. I would recommend that after you install the new guts, buy a Korky flapper for it. Good seal, lasts a long time, and cheap.
You might think about replacing the whole toilet. Complete toilets can be found for less than $200. I love my new one which hardly ever gets stopped up and with 3 boys in the house, the plunger gets alot of use.
And you’d be surprised how easy it is to swap out a toilet once you get over the ewww factor. I find it easier than replacing a sink because there are fewer connections.
I had those type. Took off the tank and replaced the whole guts. End of problems.
Whenever I do something major l like this I also replace the wax ring at the base.
Note: The standard instructions on toilet bolts are oftentimes wrong about order of washers. Look it up online.
This.
Toilets don’t last forever and there have been lots of advances over the years. New toilets are much more efficient in water usage, but to me the biggest advance is the new taller seat height design and elongated bowl design. A quality replacement can be had for around $200 and will take a couple hours of labor.
I’ve never pulled the base off, and I can’t imagine why you’d have to. I have pulled the entire toilet out to look for something blocking it. (Wife: Oh that’s where my car keys went.") Not very hard, and a wax ring is about the cheapest thing per volume in a hardware store.
The only downside of toilet replacement is if the toilet is in a very narrow space. Make sure that the new toilet is no bigger - otherwise doing the new hookups are going to be a real pain. Two of my three are in narrow spaces, so I’ve done lots of cursing working on them.
Your problem is a leaking gasket in the flush tower, you can replace just the gasket on the bottom of the tower, but the whole tower sells for about $8 at Home Depot or Lowes. To remove it grab the top where the hose goes in and give it a turn until it pulls off and then pull up on the tower. While you are at it replace the flush kit with a Fluidmaster flush kit they are $7.48 at Home Depot. Toilet will work like new once done.