Gerber tank modification

[odSteve]

Hi,
Recently purchased my first house - small 2 bedroom one bath house. Today I noticed a large puddle on the bathroom floor. Turns out the toilet tank has a crack top to bottom in the back. I live in a very small town and had to take what ever the only plummer had available. Turns out to be an entire Gerber 1.2 toilet.

My house was built in 1929 and the old toilet had a good, strong flush with lots of flow - kept the toilet sides clean and sewer flowing well. My new Gerber toilet is the most pathetic toilet I've ever seen - wimpy flush, requires several flushes just to clear the toilet. Looking inside the tank, it only fills about half-way! And its necessary to hold the lever down on each flush just to get the last couple inches of water out. What a waste of $300. Unfortunately I can't afford another replacement.

I'm hoping a bit more water volume will make this toilet work better. What other taller or adjustable water valve float assembly can I use to replace the short Gerber assembly with? The plummer told me there is nothing else that will fit - but I don't understand why. Seems like float valve assemblies look rather self-contained to me with only the hole in the bottom of the tank to be concerned with. I'm sure I can glue a short piece of plastic pipe to the overflow to raise that up a few inches. But aren't there any universal, adjustable water float valve assemblies that would work?

I was also told I cannot just order a new tank for my old toilet as every tank is made for a specific base. And because there is no model number on my old toilet, I'm out of luck. Is it true I can't order a tank by dimensions and hole locations?

Thank you for any help and suggestions you can provide. I just feel like I made the worse decision I could have made, because I needed it done right away. And now I'm stuck with a semi-functional piece of junk for the next few years.

 

[odSteve]

or can I get an extension fitting adapter so the water fill / float assembly sits higher in the bowl? I'm just trying to find ways to make this thing work better. I feel devastated I spent so much money on something that does not work anywhere near as well as the old unit.
Any suggestions, anyone?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Terry]

Gerber makes several different toilets. The flush valve may be a 2" or a 3".
Can you replace or extend the overflow tube? Yes. There are kits for that at any hardware store.
The tank holds about three gallons of water, of which it only needs 1.28 gallons to flush with. If you extend the overflow tube, make sure it remains lower than the handle. You don't want water leaking through that square hole that the handle fits in. In 1992 they changed how much water is used for flushing. They dropped it to 1.6 gallons at that time, and since that worked just fine, they further reduced many to 1.28 gallons. Depending on how much you pay for water, it may wind up saving you money on the monthly water bills.
Wow! Your home was built before television! Do you have one of those new newfangled things that show talkies on it? Or do you only have radio?
Toilets from the 20's had a tank mounted to the wall and connected to the bowl with a metal elbow. I still pull out a few like that.

 

[odSteve]

Thank you! Thank you!
I had no idea they made extensions for the overflow tube. Thought I'd have to cobble something together for that. But the big question, how can I make the fill valve fill up the tank fuller? Is a taller, universal fill / float assembly available that can be swapped in? The plummer who installed it said there is nothing available.
Perhaps I was just used to the strong flush the previous toilet had. And I don't want a low flow unit like I had at the apartment where I previously lived as it always required multiple flushes with every use.
This is my first home I've been able to save for and fortunately previous owners kept it in good condition. Everything is wood and plaster, not sheet rock dry wall.

 

[Terry]

The Adjustable 3" Flush Valve and Tank to Bowl Gasket Kit fits specific toilet models made after 1997. Quick and easy to install, the flush valve height easily adjusts from 7" to 11-1/2"

The Adjustable 2" Flush Valve and Tank to Bowl Gasket Kit is universal to fit all 2-piece toilet tank brands. Quick and easy to install, the flush valve height easily adjusts from 7" to 11-1/2"

http://www.korky.com/universal-toilet-repair-kits

 

[odSteve]

hi,
I have a 28-990 Gerber tank. Will Korky part number 818 fill valve work with this tank? I don't really need the flapper as the one in the toilet is new. Looking at the video, the fill valve looks too easy to install, assuming the hole at the bottom of the tank is the correct size. If it fits, I don't understand why the plummer said no parts other than the stock Gerber parts will ever work in this toilet.
I assume I can just get a plastic pipe slip-on coupling to raise the over flow higher. That would save a lot of install time as I don't feel comfortable pulling the tank on a brand new unit. Don't want any new leaks to develop.
Thank you.

 

[Terry]

The 21-902 Gerber Maxwell toilet gets 600 grams on the MaP testing. Anything over 500 grams is very good. The way you are talking about this, it sounds like it's plugging every other time. Have you even plugged it once? Or are you just worried you might?

Either the Korky 818 or the Fluidmaster 400 will work on this.
What you have is the 3" flush valve tank.

 

[odSteve]

No, it has not plugged on me. But I've only had it about two days though. The low flow toilet (brand / age unknown) in the apartment I moved out of a month ago also didn't plug on me, but it required multiple flushes to clear everything out of the bowl, and the tiny amount of water dribbling down its sides never cleaned anything from its sides. I had to use a brush and comet cleanser frequently to keep it somewhat presentable.
I moved into this house and it has a strong flushing toilet (age / brand unknown) and it worked really great. Then it gets a crack down the back of its tank. The plummer brings out a new toilet (I never heard of the Gerber brand before, except in baby food) and it has a wimpy flush with almost no after-flow, just like the one in my apartment. I was unhappy paying almost $300 to have a toilet installed like what was in my apartment because of my bad experience with it. Perhaps this is a good toilet, or at least acceptable, I don't really know, but its flush reminded me of the piece of junk in the apartment.
I still like the idea of increasing its volume as much as possible. Somewhere I read old houses sometimes require the larger flow to keep their sewer pipes flowing.
Thank you, Sir, for your help. I wonder why the plumber says these toilets can only use proprietary Gerber parts?
And does MaP testing only test grams of dirt dropped into the water or does it also test the ability to clean any stickiness from its sides?
The video of the Korky 818 made it look really simple, and it had a good warranty, so that is what I will probably go with.
Thank you again.

 

[Terry]

MaP only tests for bulk waste removal in a single flush. There are other tests that are performed during the required certification process that look at bowl wash and splashing.
MaP testing uses plastic wrapped paste, so it also doesn't test for streaking.

Consumer Reports tests with sponges and baby wipes. Neither of those products are a good test for home use in my opinion. There are some toilets that will blast those items out and leave bits of paper and solids behind. It's not a test for streaking either.

Never use powder on a toilet bowl. Once you score up the glaze, it's a constant cleaning battle. I use the standard liquid bowl cleaners that you find at the grocery store.

I put nothing in the tank. Chemicals in the tank are hard on the rubber parts inside the tank.

If you got a toilet installed for $300 that's pretty good. I start at $200 and add a basic $175 installation, which is frankly too little. I should be charging more.