«

Hi everyone,

I moved in to a new houes I'm sharing with a few cool people. I replaced the
toilet seat in my bathroom (well worth the $5) and hooked the chain from the
flapper back to the handle so it could be flushed (both done after a girl
friend used my bathroom before I even saw it and reported about the nasty
seat and how she had to reach in the tank to flush it).

Problem now is, and according to the guy who lives here, the toilet tends to
run and you have to jiggle the handle. Looking in the tank after a flush,
the flapper isn't seating itself back down at all. It's staying in the
upright position, so water flowing in the tank just goes through the bottom
hole the flapper is supposed to seal.

The flapper is in good condition, and it's not that it's sealing but
leaking, it's just not falling back in to place after a flush. It takes just
a very very light tap and it'll free up and float downward and seal.
Jiggling the handle and the vibrations on the flapper from the chain will
also make it drop down and settle.

Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be done,
to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal the tank
like it should?

Thanks

HeyHo wrote:

> Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be done,
> to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal the tank
> like it should?

Check that the chain itself isn't falling into some position that helps
hold it open. Consider gluing a penny onto the outside edge of the
flapper to help give it some weight. If the part that is the hinge
slides down on the tall vertical tube is adjustable, raise it just a
bit. Think about buying a different flapper.

Rôgêr wrote:

> HeyHo wrote:
>
>> Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be done,
>> to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal the tank
>> like it should?
>
> Check that the chain itself isn't falling into some position that helps
> hold it open. Consider gluing a penny onto the outside edge of the
> flapper to help give it some weight. If the part that is the hinge
> slides down on the tall vertical tube is adjustable, raise it just a
> bit. Think about buying a different flapper.

My wallmate's terlet was leaking into the bowl a couple months ago. I
looked inside, and there was a piece of u-shaped plastic channel about six
inches long and maybe a quarter-inch in each of the dimensions of the U
cross section -- lying on the bottom of the tank, with about the last inch
of one of its ends under the flapper. He expressed no idea what the
heck it was, and I couldn't see anywhere where it looked like it
might've been part of some assembly in the tank. Tank gremlins seem to
have been behind this.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Blinky: http://blinkynet.net

"HeyHo" <> wrote in message
news:Tsryj.42354$...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I moved in to a new houes I'm sharing with a few cool people. I replaced
> the toilet seat in my bathroom (well worth the $5) and hooked the chain
> from the flapper back to the handle so it could be flushed (both done
> after a girl friend used my bathroom before I even saw it and reported
> about the nasty seat and how she had to reach in the tank to flush it).
>
> Problem now is, and according to the guy who lives here, the toilet tends
> to run and you have to jiggle the handle. Looking in the tank after a
> flush, the flapper isn't seating itself back down at all. It's staying in
> the upright position, so water flowing in the tank just goes through the
> bottom hole the flapper is supposed to seal.
>
> The flapper is in good condition, and it's not that it's sealing but
> leaking, it's just not falling back in to place after a flush. It takes
> just a very very light tap and it'll free up and float downward and seal.
> Jiggling the handle and the vibrations on the flapper from the chain will
> also make it drop down and settle.
>
> Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be done,
> to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal the tank
> like it should?
>
> Thanks

Lengthen the chain so that you are not pulling the flapper fully open. By
design, the flapper (being filled with air) should pop up on it's own when
the seal is broken as you flush -- that is, it should float up and rise on
it's own once you pull the chain. This way it should fall back into place on
it's own.

Thanks, I tried lengthening the chain by moving it along the three possible
hookups on the flusher bar to different lengths, no dice.

Roger, I'll try your idea about the penny (maybe another coin), drain the
tank, dry the flapper and superglue a coin on for a little more weight to
help push it down.

"Rick" <> wrote in message
news:BNryj.33138$pM4.23445@pd7urf1no...
>
> "HeyHo" <> wrote in message
> news:Tsryj.42354$...
>> Hi everyone,
>>
>> I moved in to a new houes I'm sharing with a few cool people. I replaced
>> the toilet seat in my bathroom (well worth the $5) and hooked the chain
>> from the flapper back to the handle so it could be flushed (both done
>> after a girl friend used my bathroom before I even saw it and reported
>> about the nasty seat and how she had to reach in the tank to flush it).
>>
>> Problem now is, and according to the guy who lives here, the toilet tends
>> to run and you have to jiggle the handle. Looking in the tank after a
>> flush, the flapper isn't seating itself back down at all. It's staying in
>> the upright position, so water flowing in the tank just goes through the
>> bottom hole the flapper is supposed to seal.
>>
>> The flapper is in good condition, and it's not that it's sealing but
>> leaking, it's just not falling back in to place after a flush. It takes
>> just a very very light tap and it'll free up and float downward and seal.
>> Jiggling the handle and the vibrations on the flapper from the chain will
>> also make it drop down and settle.
>>
>> Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be
>> done, to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal
>> the tank like it should?
>>
>> Thanks
>
> Lengthen the chain so that you are not pulling the flapper fully open. By
> design, the flapper (being filled with air) should pop up on it's own when
> the seal is broken as you flush -- that is, it should float up and rise on
> it's own once you pull the chain. This way it should fall back into place
> on it's own.
>
>
>

HeyHo wrote:

> Thanks, I tried lengthening the chain by moving it along the three possible
> hookups on the flusher bar to different lengths, no dice.
>
> Roger, I'll try your idea about the penny (maybe another coin), drain the
> tank, dry the flapper and superglue a coin on for a little more weight to
> help push it down.

Before you bother with draining and drying, just rubber-band the weight(s)
on, temporarily, to get an idea of 1. if it works, and 2. how much weight
is needed. With that extablished, then you only have to do the
drain'n'dry process once.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Blinky: http://blinkynet.net

On Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:50:31 -0800, Blinky the Shark wrote:

> Before you bother with draining and drying, just rubber-band the weight(s)
> on, temporarily, to get an idea of 1. if it works, and 2. how much weight
> is needed. With that extablished, then you only have to do the
> drain'n'dry process once.

Or, if you're lazy (and smart), just leave 'em attached with a rubber band
for all eternity. Why in ghod's name would anyone drain/dry a tank just
to glue it on?


--
"Ubuntu" -- an African word, meaning "Slackware is too hard for me".

Dan C wrote:

> On Sat, 01 Mar 2008 22:50:31 -0800, Blinky the Shark wrote:
>
>> Before you bother with draining and drying, just rubber-band the weight(s)
>> on, temporarily, to get an idea of 1. if it works, and 2. how much weight
>> is needed. With that extablished, then you only have to do the
>> drain'n'dry process once.
>
> Or, if you're lazy (and smart), just leave 'em attached with a rubber band
> for all eternity. Why in ghod's name would anyone drain/dry a tank just
> to glue it on?

Well, the rubber bands might eventually dry out and crumble and be
worthless. No, wait. They're in water. Never mind.

Seriously, though, here in L.A. it's dry enough that rubber bands do dry
out and crumble (and release the paperwork or old floppies or whatever
they're supposed to be binding). That was new to me when I moved here
from the Midwest a long time ago.


--
Blinky
Killing all posts from Google Groups
The Usenet Improvement Project: http://improve-usenet.org
Blinky: http://blinkynet.net

On Sat, 1 Mar 2008 21:43:45 -0800, "HeyHo" <> wrote:

>Hi everyone,
>
>I moved in to a new houes I'm sharing with a few cool people. I replaced the
>toilet seat in my bathroom (well worth the $5) and hooked the chain from the
>flapper back to the handle so it could be flushed (both done after a girl
>friend used my bathroom before I even saw it and reported about the nasty
>seat and how she had to reach in the tank to flush it).
>
>Problem now is, and according to the guy who lives here, the toilet tends to
>run and you have to jiggle the handle. Looking in the tank after a flush,
>the flapper isn't seating itself back down at all. It's staying in the
>upright position, so water flowing in the tank just goes through the bottom
>hole the flapper is supposed to seal.
>
>The flapper is in good condition, and it's not that it's sealing but
>leaking, it's just not falling back in to place after a flush. It takes just
>a very very light tap and it'll free up and float downward and seal.
>Jiggling the handle and the vibrations on the flapper from the chain will
>also make it drop down and settle.
>
>Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be done,
>to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal the tank
>like it should?
>
>Thanks
>
Buy a new flapper no matter how good it looks.

"HeyHo" <> wrote in message
news:Tsryj.42354$...
> Hi everyone,
>
> I moved in to a new houes I'm sharing with a few cool people. I replaced
> the toilet seat in my bathroom (well worth the $5) and hooked the chain
> from the flapper back to the handle so it could be flushed (both done
> after a girl friend used my bathroom before I even saw it and reported
> about the nasty seat and how she had to reach in the tank to flush it).
>
> Problem now is, and according to the guy who lives here, the toilet tends
> to run and you have to jiggle the handle. Looking in the tank after a
> flush, the flapper isn't seating itself back down at all. It's staying in
> the upright position, so water flowing in the tank just goes through the
> bottom hole the flapper is supposed to seal.
>
> The flapper is in good condition, and it's not that it's sealing but
> leaking, it's just not falling back in to place after a flush. It takes
> just a very very light tap and it'll free up and float downward and seal.
> Jiggling the handle and the vibrations on the flapper from the chain will
> also make it drop down and settle.
>
> Since the flapper itself is fine, is there an adjustment that can be done,
> to 'lube' the flapper so it is free'er to fall back down and seal the tank
> like it should?
>
> Thanks
I've dealt with this often, and as suggested, the chains often bind. A
cheap, and I always found it to be the best solution, is to use fishing
line. An added benefit might be catching the occasional carp, they love
sewage.