Toilet Repair - Again and Again.....Help

[Dennis Peacock]

Ok, I give up. I have a toilet (installed in the house since it was built in 1996) that I have to keep replacing parts in about every 3 to 6 months. It's either the fill valve assembly or the flapper, or the part that goes between the tank and the bowl. In short, I'm very tired of buying cheap parts and living each day dreading the next toilet rebuild.

I've gone as far as ordering a totally brass fill valve assembly with the float ball and that lasted about a year. I've tried all the plastic fill valves and plastic parts for tank rebuilds that I could find locally. You can't tell me that a professional plumber uses these same parts and just keeps charging their customer for a service call every few months to come back and replace the same parts over and over.

I need advice, tips, and pointers....and if there's far better assemblies out there? I want to know. Please!?

[Lee Schierer]

Your situation is out of the norm for sure. I installed a new Kohler toilet in our home about 15 years ago and it has been flawless since then. Can you provide a bit more information on the failure modes? Have you check your water quality to see if it is a water issue? Some water sources are exceptionally hard on plumbing.

[Jim Becker]

Sometimes it's not the toilet...it's the water. We recently had to install an acid neutralizer because of what our water has been doing to (the remaining) copper pipe as well as things like flappers. I do have one Kohler toilet I'm having trouble with it running with frequency and it's not the flapper which is brand new. I have to dive into that tank further and, perhaps replace something else. Not a cheap hopper, either...it's a one piece installed when our addition went in.

[Ted Calver]

Dennis, I feel your pain. We have two toilets, I'm sure they were the cheapest the builder could find. The one in the guest bathroom was trouble from the start. The fixture was flawed and I couldn't get a good seal between tank and base. Last year, after about the fifth time it wet the floor, I replaced it with a new Kohler one piece from Home Depot. The one we use most has been repaired at least once a year since our house was built in 2005. Replaced the innards and the gasket between the tank and base just last month with a generic 'one size fits all' kit from Lowe's that seems pretty solid. I've done this so much it's just a 15 minute job, but frustrating all the same. Two weeks after I "fixed" it the missus told me there was water on the floor under the tank and I had to re-tighten the tank/base bolts. I'm patient, but I gave the toilet it's final notice to behave, or else! There have been some great improvements in toilets over the last few years. They are much more efficient, and the flush action is almost scary fast. You might consider getting a new unit and eliminating this particular stress factory from your life.

[Dennis Peacock]

I have 2 toilets in the house....both are a name I've never heard of until I bought this house......SWAN.....Standard height, elongated front, base, and tank w/lid.
The toilet that is towards the other end of the house, master bath toilet is the problem one, I've only had to "touch" twice since we've been in the house (since 2000).
The only toilet I have to keep working on is the one in the master bath.

[Michael Weber]

I can't remember when I last had trouble with a toilet and can't help with the plumbing issue. I have a friend who is fond of saying "What price do you put on aggravation?" As noted earlier, toilets have improved a lot in the last few years. Recently bought one from the borg for a half bath remodel. Less than 200 bucks, gallon and a half per flush. Having read for years about the woes of low water consumption toilets I was very worried. But it's indeed impressive in its efficiency and speed. It has some kind of "flush engine" in the tank. Wasn't the cheapest but far from the more expensive

[Warren Lake]

Ive put in Toto Claytons I think it is, they look excellent and have been flawless. Had a connection, price up each time still good. Sure there are lots of others for a quarter of the store cost of them that work well.

Thats funny on the bagpipes Michael, not an instrument I could warm up to even if I tried. My friends father used to play some thing maybe called a Cantor to practice for the big honking goose.

[Ken Fitzgerald]

Dennis, over the last 36 years we have replaced the toilets in both of our bathrooms with American Standard 1.6 gallon flush Champion 4 "tall height" toilets. Over the years, the one that gets the most use has required some periodic maintenance. I had to replace the fill valve. Most recently it developed a slow leak via the flush valve that would cause intermittent running of the fill valve for just a few seconds. I tried replacing just the silicon valve portion and it helped to reduce the problem but didn't totally eliminate it. Close inspection of the mating surface on the flush valve showed hardwater deposits that I tried to scrub off with a scrubbing pad. That helped reduce the problem even more but didn't fix it. Then I replaced the entire flush valve assembly which fixed it. My take on it was that the hard water deposits on the flush valve seat was the culprit.

I think I'd be suspicious of both the water and the parts.

[Bob Glenn]

Are you using some of the bowl cleaner inserts that you put into the tank that colors the water and cleans with each flush? That stuff can eat away at those parts you are replacing.

[Robert Engel]

Sometimes it's not the toilet...it's the water. We recently had to install an acid neutralizer because of what our water has been doing to (the remaining) copper pipe as well as things like flappers. I do have one Kohler toilet I'm having trouble with it running with frequency and it's not the flapper which is brand new. I have to dive into that tank further and, perhaps replace something else. Not a cheap hopper, either...it's a one piece installed when our addition went in.

This is interesting. I've had a couple leaks in the middle of copper pipe the most recent of which destroyed a $12K piece of equipment. Apparently the cause here was the original plumber used AC rate pipe and didn't clean the flux off. Apparently if you don't clean off the flux it can oxidize the pipe (?)

Anyway, my plumber they don't install copper pipe said in our area anymore due to the acidity of the city water supply.

That said, I've not had any issues with the toilets in the building.

Have you replaced the flap seal? I have seen those get eaten away over time.

[Dennis Peacock]

Are you using some of the bowl cleaner inserts that you put into the tank that colors the water and cleans with each flush? That stuff can eat away at those parts you are replacing.

Nope. Don't use them and never have. I've rebuilt this tank totally, twice since we moved in the house. I'm just getting really tired of spending money and effort on replacing part after part after part after part.

[Steve Peterson]

Are you using some of the bowl cleaner inserts that you put into the tank that colors the water and cleans with each flush? That stuff can eat away at those parts you are replacing.

I don't understand why they sell those things. They destroy flapper valves very quickly.

The other thing is that the replacement flapper values at the big boxes don't appear to be the same quality as the original. You can have a toilet work flawlessly for 10 years. As soon as you replace the flapper, it seems like it needs to be replaced every year. Plumbers must have a source for higher quality parts.

[Jim Becker]

Then I replaced the entire flush valve assembly which fixed it.

I thing this is what I'm going to need to do with the "offending" hopper myself...I think that the fill valve assembly is got a problem.

[Aaron Rosenthal]

I'm a "refuse to retire" contractor and lately handyman. There is a solution!
My house was built in '31. Thank the lord, we have soft water here, but I had a unit just like yours 'cause it came with the house. Same constant maintenance.
Took it out. Holus bolts. Straight to the recyclers.
I replaced it with a Toto and I've never looked back.
I don't say use THAT brand necessarily, but get a good unit, and ask the plumbing guys you know which toilets they NEVER have to come and fix.
Buy that one and install/ have it installed, properly.

[Marc Jeske]

Fluidmaster parts work for years, for me anyway.

And, very inexpensive and widely available.

Marc