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Girlfriend and I are trying to figure out what is seemingly an easy-to-fix issue with our toilet. We've looked up toilet diagrams and researched into other's reported issues, but without any plumbing knowledge, we're a bit clueless as to where we should start.
Issue 1: the toilet lever is stuck upward. We can still push the lever down to flush with no problems, but the lever will simply return back to the "up" position, rather than pointing straight to the left.
Issue 2: Not sure if Issue 1 is related to this, but it's likely that it is. Our toilet will make random hissing sounds every half hour to hour (same sound you hear at the end of each flush). In closer observation, the water level in the tank slightly drops over this period of half hour to hour. The hissing occurs whenever the water is re-filled back to the normal line.
Do we have a leak of some sort that is causing the water to slowly drain from the tank?
I can take a photo tonight of the tank, should it be helpful in diagnosing/fixing this issue.
Without actually seeing it, it sounds like there are 2 problems.
1 - There should be a physical stop on the handle (inside of the tank) that would keep it horizontal. This must have worn down or broke off at some point.
2 - The draining of the tank means that the flapper isn't sealing properly.
One possibility is that since the handle is vertical, that means the arm and chain attached to it point straight down right? Well if the chain is resting on or at the bottom of the tank, it could actually get in the way of the flapper and prevent it from fully closing.
Flush the tank as you normally would the top off the tank to see if this is happening.
Somewhat less likely it could be that there is some build up on the ring that the flapper seals against. Turn off the water, flush, and you can try cleaning it up.
Quick fix, make sure when you flush that the chain stays clear of the flapper by lightly holding the handle horizontal or jiggling it a few times until the flapper is closed and can no longer suck the chain in.
Real fix, pick up a toilet repair kit at a hardware store. It's not too difficult to replace those internal parts yourself.
Just replace the flapper. It costs very little and takes five minutes. As for the handle sticking up, it is probably just stuck on the lever bar incorrectly, pull it off, alingn it how you wnat it and push it back on.
We had this problem and replaced the flapper just as other posters have mentioned. That fixed it! They are available at home depot for around $10 or so I think.
Replacing the flapper is just routine maintenance. You need to do it anywhere from 6 months to two years usually. It is like chaning the oil in your car.
Replacing the flapper is just routine maintenance. You need to do it anywhere from 6 months to two years usually. It is like chaning the oil in your car.
And like synthetic oil with the new synthetic flappers you can stretch it to 5 years guaranteed? Funny, my experience has been they last plenty of years and certainly don't need a maintenance schedule like an oil change. Mine must be 5-6 years old now and doesn't appear to have an issue.
One is needed in this case, but it's more like something that you can wait until you see the symptoms to fix.
And like synthetic oil with the new synthetic flappers you can stretch it to 5 years guaranteed? Funny, my experience has been they last plenty of years and certainly don't need a maintenance schedule like an oil change. Mine must be 5-6 years old now and doesn't appear to have an issue.
One is needed in this case, but it's more like something that you can wait until you see the symptoms to fix.
Agreed, the flappers in our toilets last for several years, though they will all need replacement, eventually.
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Funny, my experience has been they last plenty of years and certainly don't need a maintenance schedule like an oil change. Mine must be 5-6 years old now and doesn't appear to have an issue.
