Did I wreck the toilet? ;)

[SusieQ]

I was going to replace all the innards of the toilet tank. I drained it and shut off the water. Then... I forgot about it for a month.

Did I goof anything up by letting it dry out or can I replace the parts inside the tank now? **



** (Without worrying I will start a gushing waterfall into the condo downstairs)

 

[Reach4]

You are fine. Usually you want to replace the supply line at the same time.

I always very lightly lube rubber seals with silicone plumbers grease when installing stuff. https://www.danco.com/product/0-5-oz-silicone-faucet-grease/ Danco 88693 is an example. I am not a plumber.

You might consider replacing the stop valve with a nice quarter turn shutoff, maybe Dahl, valve, but that may not be needed.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[SusieQ]

Thanks, Reach! I didn't know the supply line is usually replaced. Never did that, but it makes sense. So you think there could be a problem with the stop valve parts since I had the water turned off?

 

[Terry]

So you think there could be a problem with the stop valve parts since I had the water turned off?

He was just thinking that replacing the shutoff at the wall would be deluxe. It depends on how old the home is, and how new and nice you want the install to look. Most of the time we're reusing the shutoff. Some shutoffs we have to replace, but most of the time we're reusing the old stuff.

 

[Reach4]

Thanks, Reach! I didn't know the supply line is usually replaced. Never did that, but it makes sense. So you think there could be a problem with the stop valve parts since I had the water turned off?

Good quarter turn valves are nice. The escutcheon sometimes gets ratty looking, and the fact that you would get a new escutcheon to go with the valve could raise the appearance level. Terry's picture illustrates it nicely. He probably would have changed the escutcheon if it were not for that baseboard being so close. But if your valve looks good, no problem keeping it. Changing valves takes more skill, and there are various connections that you might be dealing with -- threaded, compression, etc.

 

[Gary Swart]

To your original question, a toilet is a piece of bake clay. If that is not broken the toilet is not ruined. However, the design of the inside of toilets has changes greatly over the last several years since the mandate that toilets use 1.6 gallons of water or less per flush. Older toilets just don't work well by just reducing the water in the tank. Now, besides the body of the toilet, there are parts that can wear out and must be replaced. New parts are not expensive, but new parts will not remake an old toilet to meet modern standards. Not knowing how old your toilet is make it impossible to say if you should rebuild the old fella or update to a new one, but in my opinion, if this is over 15 years old, consider a new one. Even most low flow toilets 15 years ago did not perform well, Toto toilets excepted.

 

[SusieQ]

You all are awesome. Thanks so much for the help! My condo is 1970ish. I don't care how the shut-off valve looks so I'll just leave it. Now I have the confidence to do this without fearing I'll flood the downstairs bathroom! It's not a tricky enough job to have to call a real plumber, so thanks again!