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5/24/2021 8:53 am  #1


Home DIY help

My toilet is screwed up, and I can't figure out the magic combination of search words to get the answer on the internet. So I'mma describe it here to you guys and see if anyone knows the answer.

When we flush, the tank refills in an on-and-off pattern, like "SHHH......SHHH.....SHHH..." Each pause and refill is about one second long each.

This is NOT ghost refilling at random times due to flapper leakage, nor is it constantly running, nor is it doing anything else weird during any time. It's just like it's too tired to refill the tank all in one go, so it pushes and pauses like a woman giving birth. And I know the real answer is "replace the whole mechanism inside the tank and it will work fine," but that's obviously a bigger undertaking than I have the motivation to pursue because we've been living with it like this for years. I want a small and easy fix, if there is one.
 

 

5/24/2021 9:30 am  #2


Re: Home DIY help

Sounds like the fill valve ( I guess that is what it is called). It is fairly involved to replace I would call a plumber.


I Love my country, I fear the government.
 
 

5/24/2021 10:52 am  #3


Re: Home DIY help

Weird.  Are you really sure there is no little trickle going into the bowl?

So if you flush, the float drops down to its lowest position, and that opens the valve to fill the tank.  As the float rises with the water level, the valve closes.  If the valve is opening and closing as the float rises, then there might be something weird going on with the movement of the float.  Or more likely, the fill valve is just old and dirty, clogged with hard water deposits, etc. The whole mechanism can be replaced.  It's actually fairly simple to do, but there can be complications like water shut off valves that leak once you touch them, so if that something that you don't want to mess with, then you can call a plumber.  Or just live with it.

 

5/24/2021 11:02 am  #4


Re: Home DIY help

The valve is sticking.  Just move it manually and gently rotate it. 
Check to see if the float has water in it.
A little WD-40 in the valve region might help.
Put up with it.  It is not really a problem, just keeping you company.
Replacing the whole unit is cheap and easy.
Unless you call a plumber, then you are broke and off the Cellar!

 

5/24/2021 1:31 pm  #5


Re: Home DIY help

My toilet goes squeeeeeeeee after I flush it, but I've pretty much tuned out the noise..


signature s c h m i g n a t u r e
 

5/24/2021 1:59 pm  #6


Re: Home DIY help

It's not a traditional float, it's one of these. Having bothered to look that up, I now see a hodgepodge of repair videos for that particular model, which I don't have time for right now but will go through soon...

     Thread Starter
 

5/24/2021 2:29 pm  #7


Re: Home DIY help

Clodfobble wrote:

It's not a traditional float, .

I think we've found the problem.  Hee hee.

Truthfully, all of these things are so cheap, it's almost not worth screwing around with them.  If you are going to do anything, just replace the $10 fill assembly and get a new supply hose while you are at it. The hose's rubber gasket where it meets the toilet gets old and might not seal well if you try to re-use it, and you could get a few drips.  Just bring the old hose to the hardware store to be sure you get one with the correct sized fittings at both ends, and one that's the same length.

No rush on any of this.  If the toilet isn't leaking and still flushes, you're good.

 

5/24/2021 4:51 pm  #8


Re: Home DIY help

I'd go the glatt way.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

5/24/2021 6:50 pm  #9


Re: Home DIY help

I concur.  It's been my experience if one part is wearing, so are all the others, and it's generally cheaper and easier to replace the whole gubbins.


The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity  Amelia Earhart
 

5/24/2021 7:58 pm  #10


Re: Home DIY help

That looks like a state of the art system and shouldn't have done anything weird for years.
Should be a free replace if you want to do it yourself.
Or a good job for a grand kid.

 

5/24/2021 8:45 pm  #11


Re: Home DIY help

Diaphone Jim wrote:

Or a good job for a grand kid.

God forbid. I have two stepkids who are old enough to be (accidentally) making babies, and both of them really, really shouldn't be right now.

     Thread Starter
 

5/24/2021 9:24 pm  #12


Re: Home DIY help

I think DJ might be offering to ship you his?.... 


The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity  Amelia Earhart
 

5/25/2021 11:17 am  #13


Re: Home DIY help

Actually I would trust my grandson to do this with a little supervision.  Sorry, you can't have him to help, he's graduating high school Friday.
If the filling process does stop after a while and is quiet until the next flush, then continuing to live with it is just a matter of choice.
You might check to see if the fill level is right at the top of the overflow pipe.  If so lowering it might help.  That should be a one minute or less job, A sixteenth of an inch could be the difference.

 

 

5/25/2021 12:50 pm  #14


Re: Home DIY help

Clodfobble wrote:

It's not a traditional float...

Well, if you've got Coke and vanilla ice cream in your toilet tank it can only mean one thing...

You're a drug dealer with a two year-old?
 

 

5/25/2021 4:50 pm  #15


Re: Home DIY help

Ha!

     Thread Starter
 

5/27/2021 11:24 pm  #16


Re: Home DIY help

I've missed you guyz for a few days, lost, lost I tell you, IRL.  Spare me your pity, I have pics and some are pretty nice.

As for the goddamn toilet.  I also have a toilet that has a sound/leak/flow/??? I could see the ripple of water flowing into the bowl, I could also hear it... ???? wtf.  handle shaking would not sort it out..  So, I took off the top of the tank and I could see that the arm connected to the handle and the flapper valve interferes ever so lightly with the float valve.  The unfortunate news is that the handle/arm are not changeable/bendable.  They move, nicely, in exactly that arc.

Fast forward a couple days...

I've been in the toilet and I fixed it.  No amount of arm bending or chain shortening changed the place where the arm ended its travel.  BUT.  I found I could ROTATE the float around the axis and move IT out of the way of the arm.

quick question, what's the water equivalent of Pyrrhic?  Does not matter after looking it up.  Pyrrihic.  Victory at too high a cost.  I fixed the trickling into the bowl but now... the valve screeches.  Because it can't. quite. close.  s'okay.  I fixed that little red/black wagon.  Let's look at the pics, eh?

this is the overhead view of the arm (in funky white) and the somewhat circular float to the upper left.


NO TOUCHEE!

On the lift cycle, this is how far away they are:



what I didn't get a picture of is the BEFORE pic of the location of the adjustment screw (see cross at top of long screw parallel to float axis).  that used to be at about 5 o'clock, instead of the 7 o'clock you see here.  That's what I changed.  I gripped the head of the float valve and cranked it clockwise a little moving the arm around OUT OF THE WAY of the flapper actuating arm.

this was great until I realized I changed some other damn aspect of the float level.

it wasn't floating high enough so I went and sliced of a thin circle of pool noodle.




I cut across the radius and slipped it around the shaft of the float valve UNDER THE FLOAT VALVE to give it a floatation boost.  Let's see!

Extra Flotation Powers ACTIVATE!






The extra flotation raised the float higher and pressed the valve shut more firmly.

we. shall. see.

Last edited by BigV (5/27/2021 11:26 pm)


Be Just And Fear Not
 

5/27/2021 11:26 pm  #17


Re: Home DIY help

late note.
 I don't care.

Goodnight.


Be Just And Fear Not
 

5/28/2021 6:25 am  #18


Re: Home DIY help

Does the poop leave? Yes. All good.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

5/28/2021 11:19 am  #19


Re: Home DIY help

How old a crapper?  Date is on the underside of lid.
The one I replaced last year was 1952.

 

5/28/2021 10:19 pm  #20


Re: Home DIY help

When you turn the screw clockwise it will shorten the distance between the float and the arm that works the valve. The float by itself will generate up force until it reaches where enough of the float is out of the water that it's happy. Shortening the link float to valve lever make the not closing situation worse. The noodle slice may overcome that.


 Freedom is just another word for nothin' left to lose.
 
 

5/29/2021 5:11 am  #21


Re: Home DIY help

I was looking at that too, and was wondering why he didn't just make the adjustment by turning the screw.  It's hard to tell from the photos, because the handle lever is in the way, but it looks like there is no more travel in the screw to adjust it the way it needs adjusting.  (Counterclockwise to push the float lower into the water to get more buoyancy)

My wife and daughter replaced the handle on the downstairs toilet earlier this week.  The plastic arm was getting soft where it passed through porcelain to the outside portion of the handle.  It felt like it was going to break any day, and it was hard to flush the toilet because the arm wasn't really strong enough to lift the flapper any more.  So she asked if there was anything special about replacing a handle, and I told her they were universal fit, but to buy one that looked beefy and that appealed to her sense of style.  I could hear them installing the thing while I was working away at my computer.  It works perfectly and is so much better than the one that was there before.

Clod, on your toilet, you might be able to fix it by replacing the rubber gasket in the fill valve.  This is really pretty easy to do.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XOlK7X82EUcv

 

1/17/2022 9:51 am  #22


Re: Home DIY help

Flint wrote:

My toilet goes squeeeeeeeee after I flush it, but I've pretty much tuned out the noise..

Your toilet may be calling out to mine, and vice versa.

Tired of fucking with the toilet, other big, important home tasks to accomplish.

But I have found out how to shush it.  I go into the bathroom, and turn on the tap in the sink, then very quickly turn the water off. The little bit of pipe hammer that produces nudges the shrieking valve into place, water stops, shrieking stops.


Be Just And Fear Not
 

1/17/2022 10:05 am  #23


Re: Home DIY help

Oh hey look, it's this thread. An update: we eventually just replaced the whole toilet. It's taller now, which is nice, and flushes like fucking Niagara.

     Thread Starter
 

1/17/2022 11:28 am  #24


Re: Home DIY help

These new crappers seem to be sorted out. I installed one a while back.


If you would only recognize that life is hard, things would be so much easier for you. - Louis Brandeis
 

1/17/2022 1:56 pm  #25


Re: Home DIY help

Hahaha you're funny, Clodfobble.

I didn't want to bust into bbro's Home Adventure thread and I don't feel like making a new one at the moment. This moment being on the ferry, again, as I ferry bricks from  Seattle to Bremerton.

I have a house in Seattle, Twil has a house in Bremerton, where we live. When I finally found work, a few years ago, it was serendipitously convenient for me move from Seattle and come live with Twil in Bremerton.

I have been able to rent the house in Seattle until recently. The renters have moved out and I'm using this break to give the house a long overdue makeover. I refinanced it, took out a little money and now it's Home DIY time.

An understatement bordering on abuse of the language. The general contractor referred to me by someone I would {and have} trust with my life looked over the house and said "The house is very tired." Honestly, I was a little insulted, but he's not wrong.

The most difficult part at the moment is that I moved out and left a lot of my things in basement. Only I can sort that shit: take away, give away, throw away. Pick up a thing, decide, and put it in the appropriate container / area. I have a very limited capacity to bring stuff home.

I've made a couple dozen lawn bag sized bags of garbage, about five boxes for Goodwill, and a few boxes have been brought home.

This weekend I'm bringing a couple large stacks of vintage clinker bricks from Seattle and Bremerton. I'm returning now to Bremerton with my second load.  I counted and a layer of bricks across the bed of my little truck is about 13x17, 221 bricks. I stopped at four layers when SonofV said I think that's enough. I looked at the D-shaped tires in the back and quickly agreed. I unloaded them myself last night. Unloading 880 bricks is a lot.

They will eventually become paving stones for paths in back yard, and I probably have four more loads, maybe more.

There are pics, but I can't easily post them from the phone. Typing's OK though, and the boat ride is a hour each way. Well, I can almost see the dock now. I'll post, drive, unload, and check in again around lunch.


Be Just And Fear Not
 

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