Plumbing Problems - How to Fix Your Toilet

There are several plumbing problems and disasters that can occur in your home and knowing what to do to fix them is indispensable for your peace of mind.

Although most of these are fairly common like repairing rotating ball faucets and compression faucets, there are other emergency plumbing repairs that might not seem immediate until you realize what it’s like when you’ve got a big family that all have their own toilet needs. In this way, replacing a faulty toilet can certainly be thought of as an emergency repair.

While replacing the toilet may seem like a daunting task, it really isn’t. You do need to remember to shut off the water at its source which is generally at the riser stop. It’s also necessary to disconnect the riser from the tank. Once you’ve removed the old toilet from its mount you can begin installing the new one.

First off you’ll need to scrape away any wax that’s left on the floor. As well, you need to remove all the old bolts and slide the new ones into place; next, you should press a new wax flange over the old hole. When you slide the new bowl into place over the flange, make sure the bolts are showing up through the appropriate holes. You can make sure the gasket is sealed with a slight twist.

After that’s done, take the washers and bolts and tighten them slowly a little at a time. Remember here that porcelain is somewhat delicate and you’ll need to be careful to make sure that you don’t crack the pedestal.

When both feel snug, place all your weight down on the bowl and then tighten them again. Repeat this procedure until they are no longer loose under your weight. The next step is to insert the tank bolts. Again, when you tighten the tank bolts, it’s necessary to make sure that you don’t crack the bowl or the tank.

The next step is to connect the water supply to the tank. Afterward, turn the water on and check for any leaks in the connections. Often it’s a good idea to have used some silicone to seal around the bolts.

Nearing completion, the next step is to flush the toilet several times and watch for leaks at the base of the tank or on the floor. Tighten the connections where necessary to eliminate any leaks.

Typically, the toilet as it is used in North America is a remarkably simpler and trouble-free fixture.

There are really only three mechanical parts in the toilet that might need replacing and these are the fill valve, the flush valve, and the flush lever. These are generally quite simple to detect for trouble and inexpensive to replace. Troubleshooting to identify problems with these areas is not difficult. There are several problems here that include ‘hissing’ water and bowls that fill continuously, and these are quickly remedied by replacing one of these three parts.