Toilet repair?

[BackAgain]

The toilet in my shop bathroom really, really *****. It gets plugged if you give it a dirty look. It is a first generation version of the 1.6 gallon low flow toilets, which are all bad, but, something is wrong with the fill valve on mine because the water does not fill up to the water line in the tank, (about 3/4" low) so it's even less than 1.6g.

In the old days you just bent the float a little to adjust this. My entire valve assembly thing is plastic and I have no idea how to adjust it. Maybe I should just replace the whole fill valve? Additionally, is it possible to modify it a little bit so that the tank actually fills HIGHER than was originally intended? I live in Oregon, I have no reason to "convserve" water and am not interested in plugging my toilets to do so...

 

[mx5.7]

I my toilet this peice is cylinder shaped and the plastic float is built in. On mine you just pull up on the top of the entire assembly and it extends one click at a time which in turn raises the level of the float. I don't know if mine is like yours or not, but it sounds similar.

 

[sixball]

I'm in the rental biz, and I always trash the old float style, and get the one piece small deal thats incorporated with the flapper.

You'll see them at the home stores (Lowes, HD, even Walmart) They are fairly cheap and easy to install.

Basically it's a flapper with a valve off to the side that mounts right where the flapper usually goes and then has a tube that cllips on top of the tank. You adjust the ammount of fill water by simply adjusting a screw on the deal. Trouble free.

My post doesn't make sense, hard to explian, but you'll see what I'm talking about when you get in the plumbing asile, it has no moving parts, the whole thing fits in the palm of your hand.

 

[kvom]

x2 - easy install

 

[OccupantRJ]

The toilet in my shop bathroom really, really *****. It gets plugged if you give it a dirty look. It is a first generation version of the 1.6 gallon low flow toilets, which are all bad, but, something is wrong with the fill valve on mine because the water does not fill up to the water line in the tank, (about 3/4" low) so it's even less than 1.6g.

In the old days you just bent the float a little to adjust this. My entire valve assembly thing is plastic and I have no idea how to adjust it. Maybe I should just replace the whole fill valve? Additionally, is it possible to modify it a little bit so that the tank actually fills HIGHER than was originally intended? I live in Oregon, I have no reason to "convserve" water and am not interested in plugging my toilets to do so...

If you're not concerned about being politically correct, then just find the internet http://www.freecycle.org/ site for your area and ask for one of the pre-1.6 older units that use more water, and are designed to FLUSH properly, I hate those low flow units, they clog like hell. I usually end up with one from an old mobile home someone is dismantling, and the older ones can come in some unique decorator colors. On freecycle, you give or ask for things, one at a time, no questions allowed to be asked about why you're giving or wanting.

RJ

 

[PassnThru]

If you're not concerned about being politically correct, then just find the internet http://www.freecycle.org/ site for your area and ask for one of the pre-1.6 older units that use more water, and are designed to FLUSH properly, I hate those low flow units, they clog like hell. I usually end up with one from an old mobile home someone is dismantling, and the older ones can come in some unique decorator colors. On freecycle, you give or ask for things, one at a time, no questions allowed to be asked about why you're giving or wanting.

RJ

I believe that most localities prohibit the installation of the old, good toilets. Key word here is I believe - you still have plausible deniability (I didn't know!). We have a first gen 1.6 in one bathroom that gives us occasional problems but we have one in the other bathroom that is only a few months old and it works great. They pretty much have the kinks worked out now so you might consider swapping it out for a newer one. Not that much and it's a pretty easy job usually.

 

[trailwart]

i picked up a "water saving-tree hugging) toilet a few months back. the best damn toilet i have had the pleasure of doing bussiness with. picked up at HD for 129$ complete with all hardware. this had a flush rating of 10 on there rating system. the water coming from the tank exits a 2 3/4 inch hole and the drain is 3 inch hole entering my drain pipe. there is no circular flush pattern on this, when you push the handle-the bowl is evacuated instantly. my parents have a different brand tree huggin toilet in there house and never been happy with it. after my ol d man seen the 1 i baought and the specs, he found that his has a 1 1/2 inch hole from the tank to the bowl. there is more to toilets than the amount of water it flushes, its about how fast it flushes.

 

[Mike83]

Mine has a plastic screw adjuster at the top of the fill valve/float thing that adjusts the tank fill height.

I have an American Standard that boasts it will flush a bucket of golf balls and I believe it. The tank sits higher (more head on the water), the trap is glazed and the flush openings are larger. Never clogged it.

 

[rickairmedic]

Some of the newer style floats have a metal rod on the side that has a sliding clip on it just raise the clip and it will raise the float level.


Rick

 

[sixball]

I just remembered...... I was at a resteraunt and used the facilities and when I flushed, it FLUSHED ! It had some kind of pressure thing in the tank. For what reason I do not know. It didn't use any extra water, but there was soooo much force, it didn't seem safe for a small child to be in there !!

Perhaps you could look into an industrial plumbing supply company that has something like that. That way, it's not an issue of using more water....

 

[dustin19]

I just remembered...... I was at a resteraunt and used the facilities and when I flushed, it FLUSHED ! It had some kind of pressure thing in the tank. For what reason I do not know. It didn't use any extra water, but there was soooo much force, it didn't seem safe for a small child to be in there !!

Perhaps you could look into an industrial plumbing supply company that has something like that. That way, it's not an issue of using more water....

must be talking about the toilet ur scared to flush while sitting on on account ur afraid ull have ur pants sucked off ur ankles

 

[sixball]

must be talking about the toilet ur scared to flush while sitting on on account ur afraid ull have ur pants sucked off ur ankles

Actually I was standing....... It was something else I was affraid of

 

[dustin19]

Actually I was standing....... It was something else I was affraid of

dam that hurt i laughed so hard i started coughing

 

[tcianci]

The toilet that will **** the pants off your ankles is a power flush unit. In the toilet tank is a pressure vessel that is charged by the street pressure of the incoming water. The water under pressure is in turn used to flush the bowl, it does not rely on gravity. Many fill valves are adjustable either by tugging on it to click it upward or sliding the metal clip to re-position the float, a third type of adjustment is a screw style where the total height of the fill valve is adjusted by rotating the top of the valve with respect to the bottom of the valve. The whole tower of the valve is a tube within a tube and the rotation lengthens or shortens the tube. Although first generation low flow toilets do have a lot of problems with clogging, scavenging and "skid marks" the new ones work really well like the American Standard Cadet 3 and just about any Toto model.
Another thing to look at is your actual flush valve. Watch to see how much water is left in the tank when the flapper closes. Usually I make it a point to just hold the lever down and drain that tank good when I'm usung an un familiar toilet

 

[ImportTuner]

The Toto models are excellent; the seats are the slow drop type so you won't hear the toilet set falling anymore ...

 

[BackAgain]

Thanks for all the info, I'll go see what home depot has. Am I correct in thinking if I can get the tank to fill pretty much to the top, I will be helping things?

I know a lot of the newer designed water saving toilets do a much better job, but I don't really want to replace the whole toilet right now. I do like the idea of a black market toilet...

I just think it's absurd my toilet has to save water, they pump my water from the river, about 1/2 mile away, I use it, then I dump it in the sewer, where it gets treated about 3/4 mile away and dumped back into the same river. (while other towns down stream do the same thing over and over again, yum!) I'm not USING water, I'm barrowing it! If I was in the desert, it might be different...

 

[PassnThru]

I just think it's absurd my toilet has to save water, they pump my water from the river, about 1/2 mile away, I use it, then I dump it in the sewer, where it gets treated about 3/4 mile away and dumped back into the same river. (while other towns down stream do the same thing over and over again, yum!) I'm not USING water, I'm barrowing it! If I was in the desert, it might be different...

Yeah - I know what you mean. Really - water is like beer - we don't own it and keep it we just rent it. Water is never really 'used up' unless you hoard it in a tank somewhere. We are on septic - that's the main reason we installed a low flow toilet in the kids bathroom. After potty training the third kid we were more concerned about the amount of water going into the septic tank than the water itself so it made sense for us without any 'green' ideals. I have tried with my first low flow toilet to crank up the water volume and it really didn't have any effect on the flush. You will not find a part for your toilet to let it 'fill pretty much to the top'. Even the low flows have about the same height on the tank as the older models and they just don't make fill valves that will let you fill it completely up. If you are having problems with your toilet then you have a bad toilet. Best way I know to fix it is with a new one. At about $100 you can get pretty close to that throwing lots of parts at your old one if you try several different fill valves to try to get it to work right. And I really don't think you will be successful at it.

 

[kaffine]

Here is a rather comprehensive study on toilets and how well they work.

http://www.cuwcc.org/MaPTesting.aspx

 

[tcianci]

The water level in the tank is limited by the height of the tube on the flush valve, that tube conducts water into the bowl so if you set the water level too high it will just run down the tube into the bowl and the bowl is essentially a trap so you will just get the water to run through the bowl and down the drain. Like I posted earlier, set the water level as high as possible (top of the overflow tube) and make sure the flush valve stays open as long as possible to use as much of the water in the tank as you can. At that point you have basically reached the limits of the toilet.

 

[BackAgain]

Like I posted earlier, set the water level as high as possible (top of the overflow tube) and make sure the flush valve stays open as long as possible to use as much of the water in the tank as you can.

Yeah, that's what I want to do. From what I recall the level now is below the "fill line" printed on the inside of the tank, but the overflow tube extends above the fill line.

I want to remodel this bathroom in the somewhat near future, so I'll probably get a new (or old ) toilet then.

 

[Iron-Iceberg]

Go to HD get the Cadet 3 and your worrys are over.

 

[Scott22]

I'm in Oregon also and have the same lousy low flow toilets. They clog frequently and I've had enough frustration that we decided to replace them. Was at Lowe's a couple days ago - they're not that expensive.

The advice you've received about adding more water to the tank sounds similar to what I've tried - but the purpose of the fill line is so that the bowl will not overflow if the toilet clogs. You can guess how I know this. <sigh>

I'd suggest you add more water to the tank in increments, until you reach the maximum the bowl will hold if it clogs.

 

[Kevin54]

A "water saving" toilet is fine if it's a urinal, but for a crapper, it's purpose is defeated when you have to flush two or three times. What one needs to invent is a dual flush toilet. Low water consumption for #1 and higher water flushing for #2

 

[Hardware]

Toto toilets work the best. Sometime on older toilets you get a build up of calcium in the little hole in the bowl that shoots the water down the big hole. If you look close you will see what im talking about. take a small screwdriver or a short rasp and you will be able to clean it out if its clogged. This will help your toilet flush more efficiently.

 

[gatchel]

I can also speak for the American Standard Cadet. We replaced one about a year ago and it's works great. It got the best rating in some flush test I found online in it's price range and it was around $150.

 

[kelleybean]

I can also speak for the American Standard Cadet. We replaced one about a year ago and it's works great. It got the best rating in some flush test I found online in it's price range and it was around $150.

Good to hear, we bought one about 3 months ago and I have been "patiently" awaiting its install!

 

[dustin19]

when i replace my toilet im going with ron white and getting the toilet that shoots water up......... u know so i can do my duty and wash my hands at the same time

 

[NUTTSGT]

I know my parents had a water saving toilet at one time that plugged up easily. My step-dad replaced it with a new one. After he had it out, he noticed the internal casting was quite small almost like a casting flaw.

 

[trailwart]

A "water saving" toilet is fine if it's a urinal, but for a crapper, it's purpose is defeated when you have to flush two or three times. What one needs to invent is a dual flush toilet. Low water consumption for #1 and higher water flushing for #2

there was a unit at HD like that, 1.1gallons for piss and 1.6 for #2.

my kohler i bought is 1.6 gallon and would flush a small child if needed. it is a direct flush style unit.

http://www.homedepot.com/Bath-Toile...splay?langId=-1&storeId=10051&catalogId=10053

 

[BackAgain]

A "water saving" toilet is fine if it's a urinal, but for a crapper, it's purpose is defeated when you have to flush two or three times. What one needs to invent is a dual flush toilet. Low water consumption for #1 and higher water flushing for #2

Yeah, my parents just bought a dual flush toilet...and they think I'm going to install it!

The friggin toilet in my shop actually needs a double/triple flush when you piss in it. What a water saver, huh?

I installed the ultimate water saving urinal out back...I found an old post and stuck it in the ground.

 

[PassnThru]

Yeah, my parents just bought a dual flush toilet...and they think I'm going to install it!

The friggin toilet in my shop actually needs a double/triple flush when you piss in it. What a water saver, huh?

I installed the ultimate water saving urinal out back...I found an old post and stuck it in the ground.

There is definitely something wrong with that toilet if it won't flush piss. As someone mentioned before, my brother had a toilet that wasn't flushing right in an addition several years ago. They finally came back out and pulled it and the bottom hole was only partially open from the factory.

 

[SSAAHemiFan]

I usually rip out the factory guts and install a fluidmaster assembly - some of the new ones offer an adjustable flapper. (delay)

Also if you have kids and are having flushing trouble.. Look into the trap with a mirror (long handle). Not unusual to find toys or a wash cloth stuck in there.

Toilet will still flush , just not at full flow

 

[mattgyver79]

The Toto models are excellent; the seats are the slow drop type so you won't hear the toilet set falling anymore ...

Except when you go to other peoples house without Toto's you end up dropping the seat and scaring the **** out of yourself.

I would second on checking how quickly the flapper closes.

My house is a 14 year old modular with two Briggs low flow toilets. They kinda **** even after fixing them because they ran constantly due to the previous owners idiocy. The trick i have found through trial and error with these toilets is you have to hold the flush lever down longer than you normally would. This is especially important with #2 or else the flapper will slam shut too soon and then its plunger time.