Toilet Double Flushes

[WhittneyG]

The plumber installed a high flow flapper in a low flow toilets.
Flushing twice uses twice the water. At least twice.
They do make flappers that adjust. Fluidmaster has a nice one for that purpose.

Would you recommend this being something we need to bring to the plumbers attention and have him come and fix it, or should we try to fix it ourselves?

 

[Smooky]

You could do it yourself:

http://www.fluidmaster.com/new-install-toilet-doesn-t-flush-correctly.html

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Jadnashua]

The plumber SHOULD know what flapper is required for the toilet he fixed! Unless you have a really weird toilet, changing the flapper valve is a no-tools, couple of minute affair that most people can do themselves. Both Fluidmaster and Korky (and probably others) make an adjustable replacement flapper valve that should work for most toilets out there. Or, you can buy an OEM or flapper specifically designed for your specific toilet. If you call him back, he should NOT charge you, as it was his error in installing the improper part. Flush it a couple of times before he leaves to verify it is working properly.

 

[Flapper]

I have a similar problem with my toilet in the spare bedroom. It sounded like it was running water constently, so the plumber changed the flapper. Now the toilet doubles flushes after every use. I'm not knowledgeable about toilets, but I was told it was an older low flow toilet and uses a lot of water.
Is the double flushing a problem? What happens if it goes untreated?

You need an adjustable flapper. An adjustable flapper can be adjusted to control how much water it lets through. One kind uses a float on the chain that holds up the flapper that lets the flapper down when the water level reaches the float, and another kind adjusts by adjusting holes that let air out at different rates when adjusted.

You probably have a standard flapper, which will simply stay open until the water level reaches the flapper.


Old 3.5 and 7 GPF toilets usually use standard flappers, while many/most 1.6 and 1.28 GPF toilets use a special flapper (or adjustable flapper) to close the flapper before the water level reaches the bottom. However, not all 1.6- GPF toilets use special flappers; our toilet is a 1.6GPF AIO toilet but it uses a standard flapper; that is because the flush valve is extra tall. That is nice because I can just replace it with any standard flapper
If the original flapper had a float then you need to replace it with an adjustable flapper (preferably with a float too).

 

[Flapper]

Alternatively you maybe can adjust the fill valve so that the water level is very low so it uses 1.6 GPF; you'd probably have to adjust the height of the fill valve itself because the water level adjustment (if it even has one) won't reach so low.

 

[Jadnashua]

Lowering the tank level might work at limiting the amount of water going down the drain, but it is purposely set high to provide a bit more pressure, which will also affect how well it actually empties the bowl.

 

[WJcandee]

The short answer is that it isn't going to "hurt anything" if you just leave it as is. It will, however, unnecessarily waste water, which is of varying concern to people. I am always intrigued when I flush a 1.6 toilet in a public place and see that whatever plumber worked on it set it to empty the tank and use 5 or more gallons. I know plumbers who have told me to "just use the blue flapper" on my Totos -- the blue flapper empties the tank. They think the more water the better, which really isn't true. The key is to have the toilet use the designed amount of water -- that will produce the proper flush and not waste water.

You can change a flapper yourself. It's a simple DIY job that should take a complete newbie no more than 10-15 minutes to do; I can do one in less than 2. You can check the model number in the tank, or post a picture of the toilet and a picture of any writing in the tank here, and we can recommend a flapper for you that will make it work the way it did before.

 

[Jadnashua]

FWIW, most newer toilets are designed to NOT empty the tank...they use the water like water tower, to provide a bit more pressure, and the proper flapper valve shuts the flow off once the needed amount has been dispensed. Screw with the design, and you may get unpredictable results like it 'double flushing'.