The commodity news is that fixing the overwhelm majority of toilet leaks is highly simple—they can normally be traced to one small region. Your toilet flapper is a belittled rubber plug in the bottom of your toilet tank which prevents water from the tank from flowing down into the bowl below. When you flush your toilet, the flapper lifts, exposing the drain and allowing the body of water to flow freely, creating the sluice carry through. In rate to create a proper seal, flappers are generally made from rubber, as it ’ s cheap, flexible, and seats well. however, the tradeoff is they corrode over time and will by and large need to be replaced about every two years or so .
There ’ s more good news : you can replace a toilet flapper yourself ! They cost fair a few dollars at your local hardware store, and require no specify tools or training to replace it. On this blog, we ’ ll read you how you can do it in your own home .
Step 1: Shut Off Your Toilet & Drain the Tank
first base, find your toilet ’ s connection to your home ’ sulfur water provision, and then turn the knob on the valve clockwise to shut it off. Once the knob stops turning, your toilet will be separated from your main water supply, and you ’ ll be spare to empty the tank car. This is easy to do : just flush your toilet. Your tank will empty, but the bowl and tank will not refill, and the occupy valve will not turn on.
Step 2: Remove the Old Flapper
Remove the hat from your toilet tank and you should find it empty. The flapper will be located at the bottom center of the tank, covering the enfeeble that leads to your gutter bowling ball. It ’ ll besides be connected to your gutter ’ s flush handle via a little metal chain or nylon string. Simply disconnect the flapper from your handle, which is normally at a little metal cartridge holder on the string itself. once this is disconnected, you should be able to slide the flapper off its hinge and remove it from the toilet cooler.
Step 3: Install the New Flapper
Take your new flapper out of the box and slide the hinge end into the hinge bracket on the bottom of the tank to secure it in place. then lower the flapper to make indisputable it properly seats over the valve. A proper seat should leave no gaps for urine to escape into the tank below. then connect the new string or chain up to the handle rod at the crown of your tank, fair like your old one was. be sure to do a few test presses or pulls of the treat to make certain the valve lifts properly—it may take a few adjustments to get this right.
Step 4: Turn the Water Back On
Turn your toilet ’ second urine valve back on and let the tank car fill by rights. once the fill bicycle stops, listen closely for the sounds of dripping or trickle, which may indicate a leak. Take a good hour or therefore to do this : you don ’ metric ton want to unintentionally miss something. While doing this, keep an eye on your water level in your tank to see if you can see it dropping. If you can, or you hear the sound of trickling or leak water, then the new flapper may not be seated properly. Shut off the water, flush the toilet to empty the cooler, and try to adjust the flapper so it wholly seals off the drain. Once you ’ ve readjusted it, turn the water back on and check again for the sounds or sights of leak water .
If you ’ ve got the escape stopped, then you ’ re done ! Replace the eyelid and your toilet is a good as new !
If you need your toilet repaired by a professional,
call Smith’s Plumbing Services at (901) 290-1110 today and let our Memphis plumbers handle the issue for you!
