AVB
Jesus of Cool, I'm bad, I'm nationwide
- Joined
- Nov 14, 2003
- Messages
- 23,398
Not as much fun as laying pipe or smoking a pipe but....
I had a pinhole leak in the pipe feeding the outside faucet. So I go out get some pipe and propane for my torch and fix that. After having lunch I go down to check to see if there are any leaks and 4 ft away is another pinhole leak that wasn't there just an hour ago. Go back out get more pipe cut out the whole section and replace it. Turn on the water again look for leaks, clean up and as I'm walking by the down stairs bathroom I hear water running. I pull the lid off the toilet and the float bowl is just bobbing around in the water.
Now this is original 1963 when the house was built stuff so I can't complain but I had never seen the old solid copper float bowl arm just break like that before. Finally something I could fix without having to go out and buy parts. So I drain the water, put my screwdriver on the holding screw and it disintegrates as soon as it was touched. Next step is to pull the whole valve system out of the toilet and see if I can somehow get the screw out. Nope, that ain't happening either so off to the hardware store for the 3rd time. Not having worked on a toilet in 20 years I found out that the old float bowl system is gone and so are the parts. Now there are floats that slide up and down the valve shaft that don't mate up to the rest of the system I have.
So I buy a complete replacement, get home drain all the water out of the tank pull it off the bowl and I can't get the old overflow pipe off, The zinc(?) holder is frozen on the bottom. Now I know I can hammer and chisel this thing off but then I'd be out buying a whole new toilet so I get my Dremel out with a cutting wheel and make some pie slice cuts on the holder. I now can pry up the slices and in theory break the seal and get the overflow assembly out. Close but no cigar. I had to extend my cuts with a hacksaw blade so that I could pry the metal back far enough to loosen everything up and get the old pipe out.
Home free or so I thought. My tank uses 3 hold down screws but the kit only comes with 2 and the instructions say if you have a 3 screw system to reuse the best one of the three. Well.....after 57 years there is no "best one of the 3" So I'm thinking if I want to use a standard screw I have and take the chance that it won't rust out before I die. Thinking that I should be good for another 25-30 years I decide against that and start digging through all the plumbing parts I have. My "catch-all" is a 1 gallon plastic jar filled with nuts bolts fittings all that sort of crap. After looking in it and shaking the stuff around a few times I decide I have to dump it out to really see what is in there. SUCCESS! One brass tank bolt in fairly good condition and some rubber washers.
I'm good to go now or so I thought. I get the tank on the bowl, screws in the holes, rubber washers, metal washers and nuts on the screws and start to tighten everything up. Get the new valve assembly in, hook up the water and start to fill the tank which immediately starts to leak like a sieve out of the back screw hole. How is that possible? Everything is tight, the tank doesn't move. Did some piece of crud get under the washer and is that how it is leaking? Nope. the nut used on the original installation was 1/2 and the nuts in the new kit are 9/16. The larger nut hits the edge of the the mounting surface before being fully seated so you can make it tight but it isn't sealed. One more time drain the tank, put the right sized nut on, tighten everything down again, turn on the water. no leaks, no extra running. fill level is good although it does take longer to fill, flushes fine. I think I've got it.
Only 8 hours and 20 minutes. I'm going to have to go out and buy myself a bottle of something as payment.
I had a pinhole leak in the pipe feeding the outside faucet. So I go out get some pipe and propane for my torch and fix that. After having lunch I go down to check to see if there are any leaks and 4 ft away is another pinhole leak that wasn't there just an hour ago. Go back out get more pipe cut out the whole section and replace it. Turn on the water again look for leaks, clean up and as I'm walking by the down stairs bathroom I hear water running. I pull the lid off the toilet and the float bowl is just bobbing around in the water.
Now this is original 1963 when the house was built stuff so I can't complain but I had never seen the old solid copper float bowl arm just break like that before. Finally something I could fix without having to go out and buy parts. So I drain the water, put my screwdriver on the holding screw and it disintegrates as soon as it was touched. Next step is to pull the whole valve system out of the toilet and see if I can somehow get the screw out. Nope, that ain't happening either so off to the hardware store for the 3rd time. Not having worked on a toilet in 20 years I found out that the old float bowl system is gone and so are the parts. Now there are floats that slide up and down the valve shaft that don't mate up to the rest of the system I have.
So I buy a complete replacement, get home drain all the water out of the tank pull it off the bowl and I can't get the old overflow pipe off, The zinc(?) holder is frozen on the bottom. Now I know I can hammer and chisel this thing off but then I'd be out buying a whole new toilet so I get my Dremel out with a cutting wheel and make some pie slice cuts on the holder. I now can pry up the slices and in theory break the seal and get the overflow assembly out. Close but no cigar. I had to extend my cuts with a hacksaw blade so that I could pry the metal back far enough to loosen everything up and get the old pipe out.
Home free or so I thought. My tank uses 3 hold down screws but the kit only comes with 2 and the instructions say if you have a 3 screw system to reuse the best one of the three. Well.....after 57 years there is no "best one of the 3" So I'm thinking if I want to use a standard screw I have and take the chance that it won't rust out before I die. Thinking that I should be good for another 25-30 years I decide against that and start digging through all the plumbing parts I have. My "catch-all" is a 1 gallon plastic jar filled with nuts bolts fittings all that sort of crap. After looking in it and shaking the stuff around a few times I decide I have to dump it out to really see what is in there. SUCCESS! One brass tank bolt in fairly good condition and some rubber washers.
I'm good to go now or so I thought. I get the tank on the bowl, screws in the holes, rubber washers, metal washers and nuts on the screws and start to tighten everything up. Get the new valve assembly in, hook up the water and start to fill the tank which immediately starts to leak like a sieve out of the back screw hole. How is that possible? Everything is tight, the tank doesn't move. Did some piece of crud get under the washer and is that how it is leaking? Nope. the nut used on the original installation was 1/2 and the nuts in the new kit are 9/16. The larger nut hits the edge of the the mounting surface before being fully seated so you can make it tight but it isn't sealed. One more time drain the tank, put the right sized nut on, tighten everything down again, turn on the water. no leaks, no extra running. fill level is good although it does take longer to fill, flushes fine. I think I've got it.
Only 8 hours and 20 minutes. I'm going to have to go out and buy myself a bottle of something as payment.
Last edited:
