How to change the tank on a toilet

In My Humble Opinion
1

I bought a new toilet. It was delivered. I hired a plumber to install it.

After he left, I noticed that the tank was the wrong part – I intended to buy a Toto Drake® II Close Coupled Toilet, 1.28GPF. And that’s what the bottom part and the seat are. (Well, the seat is probably standard, but it fits and it’s fine.) But the tank has a sticker announcing that it’s a 1 gallon tank, and seems to be the tank from the new Toto 1 gallon toilet.

The 1 gallon toilet might be great, but it’s new and untested, and it probably is supposed to be a matching unit, with a bottom designed to go with it. And the 1.28 gallon unit has been on the market for a while and has great reviews. And we live in a wet part of the country. So I want to fix this.

So I called to complain, and the store agreed to exchange the part. And here’s my question: Can I take off the tank myself, and install the correct tank, or do I need to hire the plumber two more times to do this?

(The shop wants to do a drop off and pick up. They offered to pay the plumber’s fee, but it’s a PITA for him and for me if he needs to come out two more times.)

I’m moderately handy. My husband and I, between us, were able to carry the old single-piece toilet, so I’m sure we can manage the much lighter tank of this two-piece model. But I’m not sure we have all the tools, and I REALLY don’t want to mess up a toilet install.

If taking it off is a lot easier than putting the new one on, that’s also an option, which would allow me to hire the plumber only once.

Note that we have three other working toilets, so it’s not a huge deal to go without this one for another week or two, although this is the primary toilet for the house, and of course we want it up and wokrking.

Thanks for any help, advice, opinions, etc.

2

It’s a DIY job that most people can do without any trouble. Couple of wrenches and a large flat head screw driver ought to do it.

3

That sounds promising. I own ordinary wrenches and some screwdrivers…

4

There is really only one thing to remember:
Do not over tighten the tank bolts!

If you don’t have a feel of how tight is too tight - get some help.

5

That’s the sort of thing that led me to think “take it off myself, ask the plumber to put the new one on” might be wise.

6

It’s not that delicate. It’s a toilet tank, not Limoges china. The two bolts are cushioned by thick rubber gaskets and brass washers. Make them snug but not like wheel lug nuts. Since the tank you’re replacing is new, backing out the originals will give you a good hand feel for how snug they need to be when you put the new tank in.

7

You can do it. Watch some YouTube videos first.

There is another rule, though: make sure the water is turned off.

mmm

8

It helps a lot if the toilet tank wants to change.

9

When trying to stop a leak on a newly-installed toilet, I tightened the tank bolts just thaaaaat much too much, and the tank cracked in half, which spilled the whole tank onto the floor. And what’s more, the tank fill valve, sensing that the water had gone away, opened, sending even more water onto the floor. It was a hectic couple minutes, to be sure.

10

Knowing where the shut-off valve is before starting the job . . . and using it, is no small part of plumbing.

11

Why won’t the store, whose screw up this presumably is, allow you or the plumber to pick up the correct tank, then bring back the wrong one after, so that the plumber can do it in one trip?

I’ve installed toilets myself – swapping out the tank and its guts isn’t super hard. But I’d be annoyed if I paid a plumber to do it and then I was going to have to redo part of it myself. Was it the plumber who ordered/picked up the toilet?

12

YouTube is your friend, @puzzlegal. It’s pretty straightforward and not too difficult. But, yeah, consult YouTube first.

13

Yes not just the toilet shutoff but the main shut off. Sometimes those valves leak. If you find the toilet valve does not seal shut off the main valve.

14

Yeah, I am annoyed. I should have checked the boxes more carefully, though, as this is the fourth time we’ve replaced a toilet and the third time they sent something wrong. From different places, too. (We have four bathrooms, hopefully, this will be the last time we replace a toilet.)

No, the plumber neither ordered it nor delivered it. The one time we got all the right stuff, the plumber bought it. But that plumber died, and the new plumber asks us to deal with that. So I bought the toilet and the shop delivered it.

15

This is a job you can totally do yourself, but since the plumber started the job, I would have them complete it. The last thing you want is a problem with the toilet and then a bunch of finger pointing goes on to say who is responsible. By having the shop and plumber do the whole thing, any warranty issues would clearly be their responsibility.

16

The shop and the plumber are completely independent from each other.

I think I’m going to remove the tank so the shop can replace it, and then ask the plumber to re-install the correct tank. The shop said to send the plumber’s bill to them. Hopefully they make good on that.

I do have some responsibility here as I failed to carefully check the boxes to make sure they’d delivered the right things. The boxes are clearly labeled, and I could have caught the error. (the plumber might have noticed, too, for that matter.)

17

Way to tighten tank bolts: make them “snuggy bunny” tight (slightly above finger tight), then look for leaks. If it leaks, tighten a little at a time until it no longer leaks.’
’
Note: this procedure assumes you remembered to put the seals in, and seat them properly…

18

Some videos. These are for replacing the entire toilet but you can use them to see how to replace just the tank.

19

Thanks!

Update: I’ve successfully removed the tank. And I’m probably going to ask the plumber to install the new one. Doing the first side was okay, but I found it very awkward to reach around the tank to hold the nut in place with my dominant hand and try to loosen the bolt with my other hand. It helped when I found a larger screwdriver. But I’m not sure I can do a good enough job of tightening that side.

It’s funny, because I usually think of myself as moderately ambidextrous. My arms may be a little short for the job, too. That is, it’s not just dexterity, it’s also a little hard to reach around just right.