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Mr-Ideal, Plumber
Category: Plumbing
Positive Feedback: 100 %
Satisfied Customers: 7
Experience: I have been a Master/Journeyman plumber since 1981 in Washington state, Texas and Virginia
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Plumber replaced flush valve assembly in tank. Toilet is still

Resolved Question:

Plumber replaced flush valve assembly in tank. Toilet is still dripping and coming on to fill up.
He says that the toilet may have a crack and need to be replaced. The toilet is only
6 yrs old (Gerber Brand). He doesn't seem to agree that the flapper isn't closing down
on the seal to prevent leakage.

Submitted: 1 year ago.
Category: Plumbing
Expert:  Mr-Ideal replied 1 year ago.


Mr-Ideal :

Hi I will attempt to answer your questions. Please do not accept unless you are satisfied with the answer.

Mr-Ideal :

First of all if the toilet were cracked it would not be leaking into the bowl it would be on the floor

Mr-Ideal :

When you say he changed the flush valve did you mean the fill valve or the part in the center that has the flapper on it?

Customer :

center seal that flapper closes on.

Mr-Ideal :

one minute please

Mr-Ideal :

does your toilet have a plastic riser with a tube in it? also is the water level at the top of this tube?

Customer :

yes

Mr-Ideal :

is the water slowly overflowing into the top of this plastic riser?

Customer :

water level is below tube half way

Customer :

no water is too low to flow over riser the toilet is ticking right know water is dripping out

Customer :

i assume

Mr-Ideal :

I am in the process of typing a long explanation for you be just a minute

Customer :

I'm typing quickly, will use punctuation going forward

Mr-Ideal :

If the level is not going over the top then it has to be one of 2 things. 1st is the flapper may not be sealing. this can be because of a bad flapper or a bad seat the flapper sits on. If using a replacement flapper and your riser does not have any ears for the flapper to attach to then the circle part of the flapper goes around the tube and must be adjusted just right

Mr-Ideal :

if the tube does have little ears to connect the flapper to then the circle mus be cut out as it will cause the flapper to not seal correctly

Customer :

Why wouldn' t the plumber suggest that when he was here.

Customer :

The flapper seems like the next logical solution

Mr-Ideal :

If the flapper has not been changed and you use chlorine tablets in your tank then your flapper is warped and must be replaced. Chlorine tablets void warranties on all toilets, they eat up rubber.

Customer :

We don't use chlorine tablets. Water is heavy with minerals, could that eat up the rubber in

Customer :

flapper?

Mr-Ideal :

Ok the second thing that could be the issue is a crack in the plastic tub that the flapper attaches to. If this is bad the tank has to be removed and the whole flush valve assembly replaced again as the one he put in must be faulty. [IMAGE][SRC][/SRC][ALT][/ALT][WIDTH]100[/WIDTH][HEIGHT]100[/HEIGHT][STYLE][/STYLE][/IMAGE]

Mr-Ideal :

That would cause the flapper seal to build up minerals on the seat

Customer :

So, the flapper may need to be replaced or the new plastic tube he installed, may be

Customer :

faulty. agree?

Mr-Ideal :

the flapper and tube is part of the flush valve and it all should have been replaced if he replaced the flush valve. If he replaced the fill valve where the water comes in then he would not necessarily have changed the flapper because he thought it was overflowing over the top of the plastic tube

Mr-Ideal :

So he must have replaced the fill valve?

Mr-Ideal :

I would clean the seat the flapper sits on with brillo pad and replace the flapper

Customer :

yes, he told me he replaced the fill valve (seal at bottom of tank) He wrote the receipt

Customer :

up as replacing the flush valve assembly. the flapper looks ordinal to me

Customer :

Why a brillo pad, the seat is new.

Mr-Ideal :

if the seat is new then he must have changed that part of the flush valve. He should have also replaced the flapper because that is part of the flush valve assembly. if he did replace the flapper and it still is not sealing, brillo pad can knock of a little ridge that is sometimes present of the seat due to casting the plastic.

Mr-Ideal :

on the seat

Customer :

ok sounds good. Do you agree that the toilet is not cracked, as he suggested.

Mr-Ideal :

no if the toilet were cracked it would be leaking on the floor and not into the toilet

Customer :

ok we're done unless you have anything to add

Mr-Ideal :

no thanks for using me on Just answer

Mr-Ideal, Plumber
Category: Plumbing
Positive Feedback: 100 %
Satisfied Customers: 7
Experience: I have been a Master/Journeyman plumber since 1981 in Washington state, Texas and Virginia
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