Recent content by Brucet99

I need to remove uric acid scale from my Toto 1.26gpf toilets. Pool acid available nearby is 14.5% hydrochloric. Should I plunge the toilet to remove most water, then pour in acid to normal water height so that acid gets into all passages that would have scale build up, or simply pour into...

Thanks for the further info. We're taking Navy showers and using a recirc pump to eliminate wasted water while waiting for the lines to deliver hot. I guess your examples show why mellow yellow is not such a good water saving idea after all.

FYI A plumber friend told me that the gray stains look like urine salts. We are in SoCal, so don't flush every time, (If it's yellow, let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down) to conserve scarce water. He suggested lowering the water level and dumping in muriatic acid to dissolve...

Thank you! I had swapped flush towers between the problem toilet and another with no difference, thus eliminating that part, and tried cleaning the under-lip water ducts, but hadn't noticed the siphon jet hole. Sure enough, one minute with a small bottle brush (remind me not to use it on...

Toto Carlyle II, one of four installed 4 years ago now won't flush completely even when flush lever is held down. The other three work fine. Dump a 1.25 gallon bucket of water in the bowl and I get a complete flush. Problem would seem to be that the flush valve delivers less than enough water...

Thanks for the zip tie idea. I posted about the same problem with my new Toto and solved it by making a shim from a piece of 3/16" plastic tubing to keep the flapper from moving on the pivot; I never would have thought of using a zip tie. I placed my shim between the overflow and the BACK...

Friend of mine said he had to fix an old Kohler toilet that leaked at the base, so he was going to change the wax seal. I said that I did not think you could get a leak at the flange unless water was backing up from a clogged waste line, and that the purpose of a wax seal was primarily to...

See how over-large the tank looks? That toilet does not have an 8-gallon tank and the tub is not giant nor is the vanity extra high. That bowl is at least 5" lower than standard and smaller in diameter as well. HJ is right on, I think. It looks like the right size for a kindergartner or...

Not since kindergarten, maybe.

I found my Toto toilet at National Builders Supply, Austell GA, delivered to my door in SoCal in 5 days for $100 less than at a local discount plumbing supply. They actually packed the original cartons in bigger boxes surrounded by packing peanuts foamed in place with expanding foam...

"Besides, I enjoy living dangerously " Still, I wouldn't flush before getting up if I were you. :)

Aw c'mon now. McGuyver woulda used bamboo and a spine from a pufferfish. :)

Well, I can report success costing less than 1 cent. As the flush lever rotated toward the front of the tank, dragging the flapper off line, I could see that the flapper's attachment ears had lots of room to move on the pivots that they attach to, and were actually being pulled off center...

Now I see what you mean. The factory config is actually very close to directly over the flapper. In testing, I would pull the chain straight up by hand and the flapper stayed centered and didn't seem to leak, but I noticed that the first time I flushed using the handle, the off-center pull of...

PVA primer is perfectly fine for drywall. In fact drywall is the only substrate for which PVA is suitable.