Hey, I have had a slow leak in my toilet and it seems to need a new overflow tube. Is that a hard thing to replace? Should I do it myself or call a plumber?
Update. I realize it’s poor carpenter who blames his commenters, but why didn’t you geniuses tell me just to take a hack saw to the corroded screws?
Jane2
Easy to do…there are tons of how-to videos on the net.
celticdragonchick
Nuke it from orbit. It’s the only way to be sure.
celticdragonchick
Wow. Triplicate.
Jewish Steel
Nah!
I’ve replaced stuff like that lots. Turn off the water to the toilet and give it a shot!
Frank
It’s a simple job, with parts available at your local hardware store.
Donut
The potential for fucking up with DIY plumbing is too great, IMHO. Peruse Angie’s List or Yelp for some good reviews on an honest plumber om your area. Maybe you can support a union guy/gal, at the same time.
trollhattan
This not being Cole (I have visions of big hammers, shattered porcelan and poo surfacing in the shower) I’ll opine that it’s pretty easy to fix a leaky toilet so long as it’s a common type with common works. I’d remove the works and go to a hardware/plumbing joint and get the equivalent. Easy peasy.
Should removing the works seem intimidating, call a plumber. Oh yeah, do you have one or two bathrooms? No fun destroying your only toilet.
Don
Rand Paul has trouble flushing his toilet.
Liberal Sandlapper
Easy peasy. Just remember to go potty before you start. Seriously!
Jewish Steel
And remember the 3 ironclad laws of plumbing:
Hot’s on the left, cold’s on the right and water runs downhill.
Earl in CA
sure it’s not just a new flapper ball that’s needed? slide over to the local hardware store and i’m sure the person in the plumbing aisle will advise you on an inexpensive replacement. it’s easy to do. just remember the manufacturer of the throne in question before going in. pop the top of the tank and get a good visual of the guts too. smartphone photo is an easy way to keep yourself in check while at the hardware store. good luck!
ed drone
Most plumbing tasks involving toilets are not that hard for the home-owner to do, as long as you’re careful. They sell kits for the float valves and such, which should have all the parts you need, or you can buy individual parts, like the overflow tube.
However, if there’s a leak, where is it? If in the replaceable parts, good; you can fix those. If in the less-replaceable parts, like the flange between the tank and the toilet, those are also replaceable, just not so easily. If there’s a crack or leak in the porcelain, you need a plumber. Probably.
If you have a bad tube, you can replace that. I’d get the whole kit, myself, since if one part is old and starting to go, the rest are likely the same.
Be careful, though. I ruined a tank once because I used too much force trying to loosen the threads holding the ballcock assembly onto the inflow hose. DON’T use a chisel and hammer!
A word to the wise from someone less so.
Ed
jibeaux
Is this something inside the toilet tank? Because I have over the years replaced pretty much everything in the tank by removing the part, going to Ace and asking them for another one, and then finding a youtube video. Believe me, I am not a handylady, but if it’s just a part in the tank I wouldn’t really consider that plumbing.
Big Baby DougJ
Yeah, tried that, anyway, the overflow tube broke when I was trying to move stuff around to find the leak (I think the overflow tube was where the leak was anyway).
jacy
I’ve done it, and if I can do it, anyone can. Go to the YouTubes and get a video. (Just make sure it’s not a video of cat playing an accordion, because that won’t help you at all.)
Jennifer
Former construction manager here – definitely DIY. They sell toilet kits at every home improvement/hardware store. This isn’t “plumbing” in any real sense of the word. If it was a leaky pipe or seal at the base of the toilet, yeah, you might want to spring the $75 or more it will cost to get a plumber out to your place. For this, it won’t be necessary and you’ll save at least $50 doing it yourself.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Take a drop of food coloring and add it to the tank. Watch to see if the water in the bowl turns that color. That will tell you if the flapper is leaking.
capt
Usually it is the flapper but DIY is the way to go if you have a little aptitude for household repairs.
If you know you are a poor handyman – call someone who is handy.
kindness
Easy to do yourself. Do it.
trollhattan
@jacy:
Where would you like your internets?
Jennifer
@Jewish Steel: actually, the most important rule of plumbing is “don’t chew your fingernails.”
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Jewish Steel: Not that many people have hot water running to their toilet. Also, those kinds of axioms can be tricky. Red is supposed to be hot on a car battery cable but it just takes one weenie to use a red cable on the negative to knock you on your ass.
phil
Check that you can turn the water all the way off at the valve before you start. Lefty loosey, righty tighty.
malraux
It’s pretty easy, and because it all happens after a local supply shut off value, the risk of things going poorly is pretty low. If water starts going everywhere, you can shut it all off and regroup.
But assuming you’re at all mechanically inclinded, replacing the guts of the toilet tank is pretty easy. You can buy all the pieces and whatever tools you’ll need for less that it would cost to have a plumber drive the van to your house.
Drop by your nearest hardware store and ask for help.
schrodinger's cat
Pray to Tunch and he will fix everything.
Derf
Speaking of plumbing.
Dow up +183. Almost at the point John Chicken Little Cole started flapping his wings.
https://balloon-juice.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/weregoingdowndowndown.jpg
kdaug
Whole damn thing’s easy to do. I replaced all the hardware and gaskets on a tank last summer, and by far, the hardest part was getting the old corroded bolts off the the bottom of the tank. Home Depot or Lowes will sell you a complete kit for ~$15.00, and once you have the old tank off, the replacement takes 20-30 minutes, tops.
Tonal Crow
Be cautious with the shutoff valve. It might be frozen, and might leak around the shaft when you try to shut it off. Usually a valve that leaks in this way will stop leaking if you turn it off and on several times; that makes the packing more flexible and thus better able to seal the gap between the shaft and the packing nut.
eemom
good Lord, this really is a full service blog.
So I need to get my vet a fecal sample — any tips on non-yucky ways to collect, store and transport dog poop?
sphouch
Are you sure you don’t just need to tighten your ballcock? Check the screw on the fulcrum – it could be as simple as a quick righty-tighty or lefty-loosie…
PurpleGirl
This is why I wanted a co-op apartment instead of having my parents help me buy a house. If I need something fixed, I call the office and have a guy come over from maintenance to fix it.
And Jacy’s visual of a cat playing an accordion is awesome. Definitely wins an internets.
Lurking Canadian
@Jewish Steel: I have it on good authority that there are only two rules of plumbing. (1) Shit runs downhill and (2) payday is Thursday.
I add my voice to the consensus. You can do this yourself. This was the first DIY type thing I ever did, and I did it at a time when I didn’t know what I was doing and had virtually no tools.
kdaug
@ed drone:
That’s what mine was (thus the tank removal), but yeah, if one part is going, the others aren’t far behind.
Bill
@Big Baby DougJ:
If you’ve already broken parts in your first attempt, I’d suggest that plumber.
As Dirty Harry said, “A man’s gotta’ know his limits”
jeffreyw
Old retired plumber here. Easy stuff, but be prepared to fuck it up and need to make another run to the store. Take a picture of the inside of the tank with you to show someone, describe the leak, follow advice. Minimal tools, but you do need some.
Big Baby DougJ
That’s what’s killing me so far.
apikoros
I have one question before I opine…
Can you shut off the water to the toilet?
There’s (supposed to be) a valve just below the toilet tank,usually on the right, but not always. From this valve there’s a pipe or hose up to the bottom of the tank. That valve may not have been used in a decade and may be frozen solid or spray like Niagara or just plain not stop the water from flowing into the tank. OTOH, most times you crank it closed and it peacefully shuts off the water to the toilet. *IF* that valve operates, THEN all of the advice above on how easy this job is applies. If not, call a plumber.
schrodinger's cat
I too have a question it is about hard water, is there an easy way to remove the hardness? I hate the taste and the dishes come out not so clean in the dishwasher. Just moved and we have hard water here.
artem1s
handyman is really the top level of expertise for this. plumber is over the top. but then again I try to stay away from water jobs. weirdly, I have no fear at all of the small electrical stuff. just replaced the switch on a dryer. but for some reason the universe loves to reward me with an abundance of the wet stuff over the last few years, even with simple fixes.
cckids
@eemom: I take it the vet didn’t give you a collection jar? Any glass or plastic jar with a TIGHT lid; or ziplock-type bags ( double or triple the bag; better safe than sorry). Hopefully the doggie doesn’t have the runs; if so, all bets are off & good luck to you.
jacy
@eemom:
I used to work for a vets, and we accepted fecal samples in ziploc bags. And you don’t need a lot. A tablespoon or two is plenty. (not that you should use the good silver). Just invert the plastic baggie, pick up a bit, flip the bag rightside out and seal it, then but on a bit of tape with the pets name and your last name to mark it. If you’re worried, double bag it.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
Depends on the toilet. Turns out mine was made by some company where the parts had to be obtained from a specialty plumbing supply house, not Home Depot. No way of knowing until all the effort didn’t fix the leak and I called my plumber.
Another word of advice: never start a plumbing job after all the hardware stores are closed.
malraux
@Bill: Depends on how old the pieces are. 30 year old plastic sitting in water will get brittle, and rubber will degrade. It makes it so that the best thing to do is a complete replacement of all the guts rather than piecemeal part replacement. But complete replacement kits are cheap and pretty easy to do.
malraux
@Big Baby DougJ: Check and see if the bolts inside the tank have a notch for a flat head screw driver.
Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason
@eemom: Collect dog poop? How about the same thing I did every time I walked the dog. Take a plastic bag (newspaper bag worked great) put it on like a glove, pick up the sample, strip off the “glove”, tie, and take it to the vet.
I found it a great way to keep my hands warm in the winter, too.
Jennifer
@Lurking Canadian: you also miss the most important rule of plumbing, which, again, is: “don’t chew your fingernails.”
Eventually someone will get it.
Josie
@eemom: If you use a freezer ziploc bag, turn the bag inside out. Then with your hand inside the bag, pick up the sample and turn the bag back right side out. The sample is now in the bag and ready to seal. You might want to double bag it to be safe.
Edit: My typing is too slow and others beat me to it. Oh, well, good intentions and all that.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodinger’s cat: Generally not without spending a bunch of $. Get a complete chemistry test on the water first, and not from somebody looking to sell you something. Is this from a municipal source, or your own well?
keith
Did someone leave you an upperdecker at the pizza party? Seriously tho replacing toilet hardware is one of the easiest household tasks.
Gin & Tonic
@Brother Shotgun of Sweet Reason: Carrying around dogshit to keep your hands warm? Never thought of it myself.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@eemom: Plastic grocery bag. Put it on like a glove, pick up da poop, turn it inside out wit said poop in it. Tie it up and they ya are.
The Dangerman
Do eemom and Big Baby DougJ live close to each other? Baby can collect the puppy poop and Mom can fix the toilet tank.
kdaug
@Big Baby DougJ:
I was able to get mine off by carefully removing the old gaskets in the tank with a flathead screwdriver and a razor blade. Once the gaskets were off, I had enough room to slide a hacksaw blade between the bottom of the tank and the bolt heads, and just sawed them off. (This after a couple of hours struggling with Liquid Wrench, WD-40, etc).
Just remember that you’re dealing with porcelain, which does not react well to high impact anything.
Lurking Canadian
@schrodinger’s cat: You basically need a water softener. Where I live, everybody’s water (municipal and private well) is hard, and everybody has a water softener. I’m surprised the previous owner didn’t get one when they installed the dishwasher. Dishwashers just don’t work if you have hard water. You get this white scale all over everything, including the dishwasher.
The good news is, the scale goes away once you have a water softener. The bad news is they don’t give water softeners away.
Gin & Tonic
@Big Baby DougJ: But why should you have to remove the tank from the bowl just to replace the overflow tube? Those bolts hold the tank to the bowl.
gsp
call Joe the Plumber. He must be needing a job right about now.
schrodinger's cat
DougJ@top
Why are you a big baby now? What is behind the latest name change?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Big Baby DougJ: Why are you doing that? Spray wd 40 on the external parts of the fasteners and let it sit for a while if you must.
gsp
Quit changing your damn name. i’m getting confused. Stick with one name and go balls deep with it.
Tony J
@ed drone:
I would like to hear that story while drunk. Please remain on call.
And jacy @15 is also the winner of my internets. It’s not that it’s a cat, it’s that it’s a cat playing the accordion. I did not know that I feared that until now.
Gin & Tonic
@Lurking Canadian: The other bad news is that “water softening” systems basically replace the calcium in the water with sodium (as in sodium chloride, or salt) so if you’re on a sodium restricted diet, like for blood pressure, this is not a good solution. Or else you use bottled water for cooking and drinking.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Gin & Tonic: That’s what I’m talkin bout!
Kilkee
@Gin & Tonic: A very good question. Not a tough job, but a seeemingly unnecessary one here.
David in NY
@Big Baby DougJ: This is easy if you can find the right kind of replacement parts. By “easy,” I mean “not difficult to figure out.” Doesn’t mean that the physical part — taking the right bolts off, etc., will be easy. I shoot some WD 40 on stuck stuff, and once in a while it helps loosen them. But I still end up sweating enough to half fill the bowl. Scraped knuckles, too.
malraux
@Gin & Tonic: Depending on the setup, the overflow tube can be one whole piece with bit at the bottom. To replace it involves replacing the whole flange, which involves taking the tank off.
kdaug
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): @Kilkee:
One part’s going, the rest won’t be far behind. Do it once and replace everything, or come back every 3-6 months to do it again.
DlewOnRoids
HEY NOW
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@kdaug: Yea but you don’t have to take the tank off.
David in NY
@DlewOnRoids: This exchange reminds me of a fine poem, “Naming of Parts,” by Henry Reed.
Ash Can
This sounds like a job for a professional. Call Marcus Bachmann.
kdaug
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Do if the tank/bowl gasket needs to be replaced.
David in NY
@malraux: I think that’s right, and I hate it when I find out that’s the way my toilet, or whatever, is made. To fix a simple part, you’ve got to take the whole thing apart. Wish designers would take this into account.
trollhattan
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
WD40’s for sissies. PB Blaster, baby!
namekarB
You need to look at the big picture. Which stimulates the economy more?
1) Replacing the parts made in China yourself or
2) Hiring some foreigner to replace the parts made in China
3) Hiring a “union” plumber to repair with only the best Chinese parts available
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@kdaug: Well dang!
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@trollhattan: That shit is good but, damn, it smells funny.
schrodinger's cat
@Lurking Canadian: Is water softener so chemical agent, or is it some complicated contraption that you have to install. BTW it is well water.
bob h
You will be astonished at how fast a slow leak adds up in your water bill.
Home Depot sells a replacement that you can do yourself if you can turn a wrench.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodinger’s cat: A water softener is a complicated contraption that has to be professionally installed, and for which you will continue buying chemicals forever.
trollhattan
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
Yep, it’s awful-smelling stuff. Just looked up the MSDS, looks like fracking fluid to me.
http://www.imperialinc.com/msds0065030.shtml
Confession–I actually like the smell of WD40. I suspect they know this. It’s the guyland version of “pine fresh.”
eemom
@sphouch:
wait, what kind of “plumbing” are we talking about here?
eemom
@trollhattan:
manly yes, but I like it too.
And mothballs and gasoline. Of course.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@trollhattan: yea, it ain’t bad. 3 in 1 is pretty good and that smell is part of my childhood
Calouste
@Big Baby DougJ:
WD40 for anything corroded, rusty and/or squeaky. It’s the magic spray. A complete replacement kit for all the inards of the tank is about $30 and well worth the extra dough over just buying the separate part if your toilet is a bit older. Mechanisms are a lot better these days than they were even 10 years ago and at least you can be sure you won’t have another issue in the next few years.
Gin & Tonic
@schrodinger’s cat: Oh, also, most water softening systems need to flush themselves periodically (this is generally programmed to happen at night) so you’ll need to know how much pressure your well can produce, and where your drainage is, i.e. are you connected to a sewer system or your own septic tank, is there separate gray water drainage (washer, dishwasher.) It gets complicated quickly.
burnspbesq
People who do their own plumbing are even crazier than pro se litigants.
Strandedvandal
Slow leak in your toilet?
Try Flomax!
lamh34
OT, but maybe Ben Smith and his MSM cohorts should just give up their careers as reporters and become Perry’s campaign managers
‘Iron my shirt’
It ends with a little advice from Mr. Smith:
YellowDog
@Earl in CA:
What Earl said, plus check if the float is out of adjustment. You did not specify what type of leak, but identified the overflow tube as a source, which suggests the float could be the problem.
As for replacement parts, they’re cheap and if you are careful, a DIY job.
kdaug
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Yurp.
Point being though – on my bowl, anyway – the tank was secured from the bolts through the inside of the tank and wingnuts in little recesses at the bottom of the bowl. Wingnuts make sense – you don’t want people over-tightening and cracking their bowl, just finger-tight.
25 years of corrosion, however, and those fuckers would. not. move. Not with vice grips, not with WD-40, not with Liquid Wrench.
Like celticdragonchick @2 said, sometimes you’ve got to nuke it from orbit. Or in my case, saw the damn things off from inside the bowl.
R-Jud
@gsp:
“Balls-Deep DougJ”?
MattR
@kdaug:
Wingnuts never make sense ;)
Gin & Tonic
@kdaug: saw the damn things off from inside the bowl
Leem
@Jewish Steel:
Rule #4 – Don’t chew your fingernails
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@kdaug: snap em off
eemom
@burnspbesq:
does that mean that the plumber who fixes his own toilet has a poopyhead for a client?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Gin & Tonic: nylon
Jennifer
@Leem: already been offered twice. You seem to be the only other person here who understands the significance of this plumber’s rule.
DanielX
@Jewish Steel: Actually, the three rules of plumbing work are:
1. Always wash your hands after work.
2. Shit flows downhill.
3. Anything over 40 hours is time and a half.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Jennifer: The rule only applies if the water lines are correctly installed, as you know.
David in NY
@burnspbesq: “People who do their own plumbing are even crazier than pro se litigants.”
I am the former and I deal with the latter and you are quite wrong.
Jennifer
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): actually, the rule has little or nothing to do with supply lines, and EVERYTHING to do with soil lines.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
Cheating is not just for the Atlanta Schools, the Navy does it too!
replicnt6
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): Wait, if the water lines are installed incorrectly, it’s OK to chew my nails?
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Jennifer: I beg your pardon?
Elie
@eemom:
During one of your walks take a pick up plastic bag, (like you always do, hopefully?) If its a small poo, a small baggie turned over your hand will keep your hand clean while you pick up a piece of the poo, pull the bag back over your hand and zip it shut.
Jennifer
@Raven (formerly stuckinred):
What?
StanA
If you need to ask you need a plumber.
Ian
@gsp:
I was going to say that :(
Lurking Canadian
@schrodinger’s cat: Gin & Tonic’s information is all correct. Water softeners are indeed big, bulky contraptions. You could install it yourself, if you are a really confident plumber, but I don’t know anybody who has done so. Some companies will even install it as a rental, but then you’re paying forever.
It also consumes salt at a rate of several kilograms per month. I imagine that rate depends on the exact chemistry of your water. And yes, the sodium ions wind up in your drinking water, which can have health effects.
The sodium issue is not a concern for us, because we can’t drink our well water anyway (the well is contaminated and has too much iron for the UV treatment system to work), so we already drink only bottled water.
Nevertheless, it is still the case that everybody I know who has a dishwasher also has a water softener. I have just learned through the magic of wikipedia that it is possible to install a reverse osmosis filtration system to take the sodium out (yet another expensive contraption) and that there is a widget called an “electrolytic scale inhibitor” that uses ionic action to prevent scale build-up by essentially precipitating the calcium and magnesium out of the water. I had never heard of this thing until today, but the website I found claims that it is less expensive and requires less maintenance than a water softener.
In the end, it comes down to how much you love your dishwasher. Some people also find that hard water irritates their skin; certainly it can make showering unpleasant because soap doesn’t foam properly.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
@Jennifer: And remember the 3 ironclad laws of plumbing:
Hot’s on the left, cold’s on the right and water runs downhill.
Bill Murray
@Gin & Tonic: you can get potassium-based salts rather than the sodium-based salts usually used. Potassium is a little more expensive, although it’s better for human and pet drinking, plant watering and release back into the enviroment
trollhattan
@Bill Murray:
Sooo, if my pet is drinking I just give her some potassium? Got it.
Elie
@Lurking Canadian:
Water softners add a lot of chlorine to fresh water systems. It would be great if you could do without one, as we do out here in rural Whatcom Co. In some places you don’t have a choice, and the township automatically puts softening agent in the municipal water supply.
Though hard water can certainly stain toilets, mess up dishwashers etc, over softened water makes it hard to rinse, is slippery to the feel and tasts awful if you have to drink it.
Anyway, my two cents which of course, you can ignore.
Thomas
The only plumbing I have ever done was: 1. replacing my toilet hardware, and 2. Replacing the entire toilet in the powder room. Both tasks turned out to be quite easy. Search for DIY vids or walkthroughs.
Thymezone
Any Democrat can go to Ace Hardware, get toilet repair kits, and fix their own toilets.
Republicans should call a plumber to avoid turning a small problem into a giant clusterfuck.
Jennifer
@Raven (formerly stuckinred): the FOUR ironclad rules: #4, don’t chew your fingernails.
Gin & Tonic
@Bill Murray: I wasn’t aware of that. We disconnected our system many years ago, as our problem is more iron and manganese than calcium, and we just cope. The maintenance and more importantly the backflushing into the gray water drainage was just more trouble than the slight benefit it provided.
And Bombay, to the best of my knowledge, doesn’t have any of those chemicals, so the drinking problem isn’t a problem.
Ron
I want to second the idea that a slow leak can usually be fixed by replacing the flapper. I just did that with our toilet. Honestly for most toilet fixes, calling a plumber is a bit much. (While Hot is on the left and cold is on the right, I don’t think any toilet has hot water running to it). The cardinal rule for working on the toilet is just turning off the water before doing anything. If it’s the flapper it has the added plus of not having to take anything apart to do it. just remove the old flapper and put the new one in.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Look into a greensand filter for iron and manganese.
schrodinger's cat
Thanks Lurking Canadian and Gin and Tonic for the info.
Dee Loralei
@trollhattan: that was one of the funniest things I’ve read today for sure. I second the win the internets comment!
Gin & Tonic
@trollhattan: Thanks. We did, but didn’t have the money at the time. May be time to take another look.
Bill Arnold
@Jewish Steel:
First rule of DYI plumbing is to never ever touch the plumbing after about 4 hours before the nearest place to sell plumbing parts closes. (Include driving time in that 4 hours.)
Old parts will sometimes break or start leaking if touched. Even odds you will screw something up. etc.
trollhattan
@Gin & Tonic:
Had an apartment once with heavy iron & manganese in the water. The diswasher interior, shower and toilet all looked like an oxidized penny and worse, iron bacteria would bubble up a horrid goo in the toilet tank, not to mention clog the supply lines.
The water purveyor eventually punched some new wells and the problem dissipated, but that situation convinved me I’d never subject myself to water like that again without a full-on counterassault.
Sinsiter Eyebrow
@Ron: I had a leaky flapper in a toilet in my house. Whenever you would run water from any other faucet in the house, the leak in the toilet flapper would cause the porcelain tank to resonate and make a really loud WOOOOOOOOOOOOOO! that you could hear throughout the house. Took a while to figure that one out.
It was the case of the haunted crapper.
DanielX
Actually – seriously – if the toilet is one of the old five gallon tank types, it’s going to be easier to replace than it will be to fix. If the bolts are corroded, so are the washers, and it’s an open bet as to whether you can find replacements that fit. Recently made trips to five places (including two plumbing supply stores) to try to fix a toilet in my late mother-in-law’s home, and it didn’t happen (DON’T try to find an “approximate fit”). After six hours of horsing around trying to preserve the museum piece, and a lot of trial and leaky errors, I said the hell with it and told my sis-in-law to just go get a new one. Took all of a half hour to install and it was watertight and functioning without problems. All this assumes 1) you have tools, 2) are not all thumbs and 3) don’t get all faint at the prospect of yucky stuff on your hands.
JGabriel
DougJ @ Top:
It’s like Jesus blaming the apostles! Did Jesus ever say, “One you of fucking geniuses will betray me tonight”?
Oh, wait, he did. I guess that makes it okay then.
Never mind, carry on.
.
JGabriel
@Sinsiter Eyebrow:
For God’s sake, man, let her out! The 20s have been over for eighty years!
.
pat
Re: water softeners and iron.
We built a new house a few years ago, and knew that our well water had a lot of iron and manganese. We installed an Iron Curtain for the iron, and got a state-of-the-art water softener that recharges only after a set number of gallons have flowed through it (water goes through the iron curtain and then through the softener.) We honestly have to refill the salt tank only ONCE A YEAR. Our neighbor with the old system is hauling salt every three months or so. I should mention that we are only two people, only run the dishwasher when it is FULL, and have a water-miser front-loading washing machine, so your mileage may vary.
The cold water taps in the kitchen come from the iron curtain, but not the water softener, altho the plumber assured us this was not necessary. Check around with local plumbers and see what is available.
trollhattan
@JGabriel:
I was going there earlier but figured nobody would get it. Please accept my slow clap.
Maybe enough folks watched “Boardwalk Empire”?
Elie
@JGabriel:
LOL!!!!!You are a stitch today, J….
Maude
When in doubt, don’t. Call a plumber.
David in NY
Thought he posted this to learn something. Hack saws explicitly mentioned above, comment 54.
Ruckus
@schrodinger’s cat:
It might be as simple as adding a whole house filter(s). I did this for my house in Columbus OH. Municipal water, just didn’t have the flavor I was used to. Put in a particle filter and downstream a charcoal filter. Bought at HD. Filter cartridges lasted about 3 months for one person. Figure 1-2 months for 2 people.
As someone up thread pointed out if it is well water you should get it checked first, the well may be bad.
I have also designed and installed industrial water softener systems for process water. Don’t like the flat taste of that water. Make sure you can check out the taste of the water in your house before you buy and water softener system.
sphouch
@eemom: With the right leverage, everything stops leaking eventually!
Ruckus
@burnspbesq:
Some of us do things ourselves because we have to. Some because they are masochists.
Ruckus
@Jennifer:
Understood the importance, just didn’t think anyone who hadn’t figured this out by the age of 6 would ever get it.
phil
We figured you would just get out your Dremel tool and cut them off. What, no Dremel tool?!
Big Baby DougJ
@David in NY:
I admit that’s where I got the idea, but why didn’t everyone say it? Do the bolts ever come off on a toilet? Mine weren’t even close to coming off.
Raven (formerly stuckinred)
If you have the clearance to use a hacksaw on the bolts holding the tank on just go right ahead. You are going to be sawing through the wingnuts as well.
Poopyman
Do you even bother reading the comments on your own posts?
Poopyman
@Big Baby DougJ:
FYI, I’ve never had to hacksaw them off, and that includes the 1928 cape with original plumbing.
Rihilism
Welp, Doug, toilet’s ahleakin’? Time to move. You can DIY. Just look for a video on YouTube…
kdaug
@Gin & Tonic:
Mine were brass. (~25 years old)
kdaug
Oh, and Doug, let me clarify – take the damn blade out of the hacksaw, lay in flat on the bottom of the tank, and get to sawin’. 4 minutes to cut through old brass ones, likely quicker if you have the preoprene ones.
dybevick
You may not need to replace anything. It could just be a buildup of sand in the valve at the top of the tube. Turn it off at the wall. Pop the cap off the valve tube. Put a glass over it. Turn it on and off to flush. Replace cap and turn the water back on.
It works about half the time, is free, and is a good warm up for a more extensive operation should it come to that.
Carol from CO
Take the old one to the store when you buy the new one.