How to Repair a Toilet
By Toni Wilcox
Nothing can ruin a day quite like watching water rise over the edge of a toilet. Of course, this happens only during deployment. Fortunately, many problems can be solved quickly with simple tools and a few easy techniques.
Let your family know that they should never flush a toilet when the water is high. If it happens, you can prevent overflow by turning the water off before it gets to the tank. Look for the handle on the pipe going into the tank, and turn it clockwise until you hear the water stop running. Use a small, plastic bucket (or other container) to bail water from the tank into the sink.
Wait a half hour or so for the water level to go down. Firmly push the plunger over the bottom of the toilet where the water flows out, and then pull up. Repeat several times. Often the clog will clear with relatively little effort. Use your bucket to fill the bowl, and put a little water in the tank so you can flush without risking overflow.
If the plunger doesn’t work, it’s time to try a toilet auger, or snake. Any home-improvement store will have a variety ranging in price from about $6 to more than $50 for a version that can be hooked up to a power drill.
To start the snake, uncoil the hooked end into the toilet, continue to crank the handle until you feel the clog. The hook will help break up large blockages. Work the snake back and forth until water can move past the clog or push it away. If the obstruction is hard, like a child’s toy, it may be small enough that the auger will just push it through. However, if you can’t break up the clog or push it clear, it’s time to call in a professional.
A BOWL OF FACTOIDS
• The first commercially successful toilet paper was introduced in America in 1857. Earlier, corncobs and mussel shell scrapers were popular.
• Most U.S. plumbers earn $15-$26 an hour.
• The toilet is the largest water user in your home. You can check for “silent leaks” by putting 10 drops of food coloring in the tank. Twenty minutes later check to see if the bowl water has changed color. If it has, you have a leak that can be easily fixed by replacing the tank flapper.
• When using a public toilet choose the first stall in the row. Studies show they get the least use, so they’re the cleanest.
• Fact or myth? Thomas Crapper invented the toilet. A little of both. Mr. Crapper held many patents in early 20th-century England, and popularized flush “water closets” that resemble those we use today. However, the first flushing toilet may have been in use as early as 1596.