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I will fear no toilet.
Our toilet has been unhappy for a few months now. And trust me, when the only toilet in the house in unhappy, ain't nobody happy. You'd flush it, it'd never stop refilling. You'd finally get the valve flap seated, and it'd fill up... then start up again later. (Bad seal.) As I was replacing the seal, many moons ago, I managed to break the hinge for the valve flap. Normally, while stupid, this isn't a big deal to fix. Take out old valve outlet, install new one, done.
Except the innards of this toilet are unlike anything I've ever seen... and I've seen my share of toilet guts. I used to manage a 1927 apartment building in Seattle (The Davenport, 5th and Vine, Belltown), and oversaw its renovation back to something approaching the original art deco glam. Loved it. During that time though, I saw possibly every variant of plumbing from 1927 to the present, and many contraptions that never should have been spawned, when some drunk plumber decided it Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time. But never had I seen anything like the mass of pipes and... and... *THINGS* that were in the back of our toilet.
A big old decaying label on the top of the innards stated that it was an American Standard 'Vent-Away' system. So I start calling around. I called plumbers, I called hardware stores, I called plumbing supply houses. Nobody had heard of the damned thing, much less knew how to go about fixing it or getting parts.
FINALLY I got a lead, and got ahold of a fellow at Plum-Rite (cute name) here in Raleigh. He asked a few questions, and told me the good news and bad news. Good news: Yup, he had them in stock. <$25 even. Sweet. Bad news: The tank has to be removed to remove this particular type of valve seat, the nut is on the *bottom*. Bleah.
So this morning I get up, rip into the porcelain beast, and lay its entrails hither and yon across the bathroom floor. The cat is amused. I grab up the bad part, and all the gaskets, and head off to get replacements. (Always replace the gaskets if you're in there. They cost about a buck each, and since you've got the thing apart *anyway*, it's a nobrainer, not to mention that old gaskets never quite seal right again...) I get them, head home, and start figuring out how it all goes back together. Piece of cake. Get it back on the base, and...
The new valve seat seal is much thicker than the old one, and is creating a gap around another seal. Water leakage. Oops. Seems the standard parts now have one seal thicker than the other. Can we say not well thought out? Tightening the tank bolts to compress them didn't work - I started hearing crunching noises (bad) before the seal was made. So, back to plumbing store for another gasket. Layer them up two-thick, and... still leaking. Better, but not quite there. Crank those tank bolts down, and... a tiny leak. Still not acceptable.
Decide it can wait, and go to hook up inlet line again... and find that the new seals for the tank + newly tightened bolts = inlet pipes no longer match up. Aaaaaaand, the feed line is metal, not flexible. It's off by 1/8", but it simply won't budge. So, off for a third trip to plumbing store, get **20"** flexible line (for a 2.5" run - the 12" line wouldn't have had the length to loop, it would have kinked), hook it up. Sweet. Now, for the last leak... decide to just caulk the inside joint and call it good.
Caulk has gone bad dammit.![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ginkgo calls at that time from the road, thankfully, and asks if there's anything she can pick up on the way home. Why yes, yes there is. Silicone caulking.
She gets home, and hands me... not silicone caulking. She had told the hardware store guys what I was doing, and they *insisted* I needed caulking for underwater. Not watertight caulking, but stuff for *caulking while still underwater*. $8/tube. Bzzzt. I read further, and it's 'not for rubber lining roof systems'. Turns out it eats rubber. Like, say, gaskets. Hardware guys can be so silly. So back I go for trip numero four, get some good old fashioned plumber's putty ($2), and voila.
We now have a wonderfully working toilet. It flushes, it fills, it stays silent.
Except the innards of this toilet are unlike anything I've ever seen... and I've seen my share of toilet guts. I used to manage a 1927 apartment building in Seattle (The Davenport, 5th and Vine, Belltown), and oversaw its renovation back to something approaching the original art deco glam. Loved it. During that time though, I saw possibly every variant of plumbing from 1927 to the present, and many contraptions that never should have been spawned, when some drunk plumber decided it Seemed Like A Good Idea At The Time. But never had I seen anything like the mass of pipes and... and... *THINGS* that were in the back of our toilet.
A big old decaying label on the top of the innards stated that it was an American Standard 'Vent-Away' system. So I start calling around. I called plumbers, I called hardware stores, I called plumbing supply houses. Nobody had heard of the damned thing, much less knew how to go about fixing it or getting parts.
FINALLY I got a lead, and got ahold of a fellow at Plum-Rite (cute name) here in Raleigh. He asked a few questions, and told me the good news and bad news. Good news: Yup, he had them in stock. <$25 even. Sweet. Bad news: The tank has to be removed to remove this particular type of valve seat, the nut is on the *bottom*. Bleah.
So this morning I get up, rip into the porcelain beast, and lay its entrails hither and yon across the bathroom floor. The cat is amused. I grab up the bad part, and all the gaskets, and head off to get replacements. (Always replace the gaskets if you're in there. They cost about a buck each, and since you've got the thing apart *anyway*, it's a nobrainer, not to mention that old gaskets never quite seal right again...) I get them, head home, and start figuring out how it all goes back together. Piece of cake. Get it back on the base, and...
The new valve seat seal is much thicker than the old one, and is creating a gap around another seal. Water leakage. Oops. Seems the standard parts now have one seal thicker than the other. Can we say not well thought out? Tightening the tank bolts to compress them didn't work - I started hearing crunching noises (bad) before the seal was made. So, back to plumbing store for another gasket. Layer them up two-thick, and... still leaking. Better, but not quite there. Crank those tank bolts down, and... a tiny leak. Still not acceptable.
Decide it can wait, and go to hook up inlet line again... and find that the new seals for the tank + newly tightened bolts = inlet pipes no longer match up. Aaaaaaand, the feed line is metal, not flexible. It's off by 1/8", but it simply won't budge. So, off for a third trip to plumbing store, get **20"** flexible line (for a 2.5" run - the 12" line wouldn't have had the length to loop, it would have kinked), hook it up. Sweet. Now, for the last leak... decide to just caulk the inside joint and call it good.
Caulk has gone bad dammit.
ginkgo calls at that time from the road, thankfully, and asks if there's anything she can pick up on the way home. Why yes, yes there is. Silicone caulking.She gets home, and hands me... not silicone caulking. She had told the hardware store guys what I was doing, and they *insisted* I needed caulking for underwater. Not watertight caulking, but stuff for *caulking while still underwater*. $8/tube. Bzzzt. I read further, and it's 'not for rubber lining roof systems'. Turns out it eats rubber. Like, say, gaskets. Hardware guys can be so silly. So back I go for trip numero four, get some good old fashioned plumber's putty ($2), and voila.
We now have a wonderfully working toilet. It flushes, it fills, it stays silent.
no subject
(wait for it)...
"Flush Silent, Flush Deep!"
no subject
"The Unflushables: The Terrors of Toilet Repair"
"Flush with Success: A Plumber's Tale of Rags to Riches"
"Bowl Wars: A boy named Puke against the Clingons"
it's amazing how hard some 'simple' things can be
how about this movie title:
Not Professor Leaky
no subject