I have a bathroom on the second floor of my house, rarely used. When I moved in it contained without a doubt the worst toilet ever designed. I didn’t bother with it because we never used it. Now, with two kids, we have expanded into that part of the house and it gets a lot more use. So I recently replaced the toilet.
For some reason, both the old and new toilets have very low water pressure. It takes 4-5 times longer to fill than the downstairs toilet. Obviously the pressure is going to be somewhat lower on the second floor, but the water pressure in the upstairs sink and bathtub are not *noticeably *lower like the toilet is.
The extra fill time does not bother me that much, but the problem is that it is supposed to pump water up to near the top of the tank that then goes down the pipe into the bowl. There is not even enough water pressure to get any more than a trickle of water over the top, and as a result the water level of the bowl is way too low.
Does anybody have an idea as to why the pressure might be so low in the toilet, or have any ideas for a fill system that might work a little better?
After the pipe branches from the sink and tub feed:
2. You have a chunk of something in the water line.
3. You have a heavily corroded pipe going to the toilet.
It’s definitely not 3. I’m thinking 1, because the shut off valve is the cheapest piece of crap I’ve ever seen. I was actually going to replace it when I replaced the toilet but I forgot to pick up a new one when I was buying the toilet. I’ll try that first.
[QUOTE=Don’t Call Me Shirley]
The extra fill time does not bother me that much, but the problem is that it is supposed to pump water up to near the top of the tank that then goes down the pipe into the bowl. There is not even enough water pressure to get any more than a trickle of water over the top, and as a result the water level of the bowl is way too low.
Every toilet bowl I’ve had experience with was filled thru the flapper valve at the bottom of the tank. The tube is there to prevent the tank from overflowing if the float fails to cut off the water supply. The water that flows down the tube goes out the drain pipe.
The above is not a correct statement as to how the fixture should function. After flushing, the ballcock does two things-it fills the tank for the next flush, and via a small tube which is directed to the inside of the overflow pipe, it fills the bowl. When correctly adjusted, the ballcock shuts off the flow of water ~ 1" below the top of the overflow tube, or at whatever level the manufacturer has marked on the tank interior.
The other possible explanation for your problem is that the new toilet has a piece of packing debris or something else up inside the bottom of the inlet fitting.
Water going through the tube feeds the small holes under the rim. The holes also help make the water swirl during the flush, which helps empty the bowl of debris. The toilet doesn’t flush as well when water doesn’t go down that tube during the flush and fill.
You could try attaching a hose to the end of the pipe before you attach a new shut off valve. Have somebody turn on and off the main home water supply while you hold the hose end in a sink. Any lose debris will be cleaned out.
With home plumbing, almost always what is perceived as low pressure is actually low flow.
Since you had the same problem with old and new toilets, it sounds like there’s a restriction in the water supply line to the toilet. As previously discussed, I’d start at the shutoff valve. (I’m assuming that by “new toilet,” you mean everything in it is new. If you reused parts from the old toilet, they would be high on the suspect list.)
The section on toilets at How Stuff Works may be helpful to you. Go through numbers 1-6 under “Inside This Article.”
That depends. If the shutoff valve threads onto a pipe nipple, it’s not very difficult. If it’s sweated, you need to know how to handle a torch and sweat copper joints.
This may or may not apply in the U.S. but here we now have push fit plumbing which, while it doesn’t really take the place of soldered (sweated) joints, is a godsend to amateur/diy plumbers.
you buy a pipe cutter - around $5 here, and either a stand alone service valve or one built into a flexible hose of a suitable length.
Turn off the water. Cut the pipe just below and above the defective valve. Push the new one onto the delivery pipe then push the pipe connected to the cistern into it.
If the pipe lengths are insufficient then either replace the pipe connecting to the cistern or purchase a suitable flexible pipe/hose with an integral service valve.
A push fit valve is around £6/£12 depending on type and manufacturer. One integrated into a flexible connector around twice to three times that price depending on the same criteria for around a 30cm connector.
