I’ve already googled for this and none of the answers really solve my problem. So here goes.
I have a toilet with a slow leak at the ball. I think that the ball itself is structurally intact, because I believe my landlord said that he had recently replaced the ball and that it just needed a little time to settle. Also, I’ve taken a look and I don’t see anything immediately wrong. However, it never settled and so I get the tank refilling every 15 minutes or so. I would’ve done something about this much earlier but water and sewer are included in my rent so I haven’t really done anything about it. In any case, the ball is not making a good seal in the hole. Most of the toilet repair info I’ve seen assumes that the toilet has a flapper and that replacing either the flapper or the seat replacement. Can I change the flush valve from a ball to a flapper or am I stuck with trying to find a new ball? If I take the ball to Home Depot (or even better, a plumbing supply store) will I be able to find something the right size to replace it? My landlord mentioned that the water bill was higher than normal, which I attribute to my toilet constantly leaking. I’ve started shutting the water off at the wall whenever I go to bed or leave the house for several hours and sometimes even when I’m still in the house, but it’s not a very good solution.
The flapper seals to the seat in the tank bottom and stops the tank from leaking into the bowl when it works. The ball is a float that raises the lever that shuts off the water fill valve. The water would be leaking down the drain tube that sends water down the sides of the bowl. The flapper is the problem if the toilet shuts off and restarts every 15 minutes.
It can be hard to get a new flapper that fits correctly. The seat for the flapper can also be pitted. A good replacement flapper to use has a plastic seat and attached flapper in one unit. The seat comes with a synthetic seal that will stick to the top of the old seat. It won’t fall off. It’s not going anywhere after it’s stuck on.
Take off the water tank lid and put a few drops of food coloring in it. Watch for color to bleed into the bowl. You will see coloring in the bowl if it still has even a small leak.
If the ball is not seating well, it could be that the ball is the wrong size or type, or that the guide is misaligned, or the seat itself is the culprit. You can check all of this fairly easily. Remove the tank lid and observe whether the ball is centered over the opening. If it isn’t, it’s a guide alignment problem. If the ball is centered, check to see that it seats firmly. If not, it may be a size/type mismatch. In that case try replacing it with something like this. If that $2.00 part doesn’t do the trick, you can replace the entire assembly with something like this, but it is a bit more work and involves removing the tank and installing a new spud gasket and probably a new set of tank bolts as well. Total cost around $15 and 45 minutes time. This will also correct a leaking ball seat if that’s the issue.
Or you could take the easy route and tell your landlord that the toilet is still leaking and that’s what’s causing the higher water bill and would he please come fix it.
We’re talking about the same thing, but I can’t tell if there is a seat. It looks like it’s just a hemisphere of black rubber that plugs a hole. It’s really hard to tell if there is a seat there because the bottom of the tank is fairly dirty. I assume there is, but I haven’t scrubbed the area clean. Will getting the diameter at the top of the hole assure that I get a set the right size?
Well, I would, but the landlord is 250 miles away in Albuquerque, meaning that his normal plumber would be sent out. I don’t have the time or the desire to wait around the house for the plumber and I’d rather just do it myself and pay the cost, as long as it’s not more than 15 or 20 bucks. And if all it takes is that new flapper, I’m willing to pay a couple bucks (heck, I spent more than that tonight on ice cream.) As far as I can tell, the flapper is seating properly, so I’ll try the bigger flapper first.
The hole pretty much IS the seat. If the edges aren’t smooth, then you won’t get a seal. The first item I linked to is a “one-size-fits-all” replacement, but it won’t help if the seat isn’t in good shape. The second item is a complete replacement, and would convert you to a flapper style toilet, although on reflection, it might not work for you because of the arrangement of your flush lever, ball float, etc. It is possible to replace the seat and fill tube and there are replacement seats that go over the existing one. You can find examples of both of these at the site I linked to, and Home Depot and Lowe’s and Ace Hardware all carry pretty much all of that stuff on a regular basis.
The seat is the part that the flap covers. Lift the flapper and measure the hole size. Try the shut off valve to the tank before you decide to fix this. Your out of luck if it doesn’t work.