Toilet Tank Over Fills

[Cruiser Too]

Greetings DIY'ers !

Searched TUG for "toilet" but wasn't able to find answers to my situation.
One post referred to http://www.toiletology.com/ but unfortunately, even checking out its INDEX was not fruitful.

Okay my issue:
Our toilet tank overfills up to the rim of the "vertical pipe". It makes a soft hissing sound. I suspect that water from the tank slowly seeps into the vertical pipe (wasting water during our drought condition ).

Looking at the inner walls of the tank, it appears the water lever is about 3/4 on an inch higher than "normal" (dark discoloration below the 3/4 inch mark).

Is there an adjustment to shut-off the inflow of water into the tank before it reaches the rim of the vertical pipe ???

Thanks for any advice !

Doug in drought-stricken California.

Doug

 

[vacationhopeful]

Do you have that BLACK float thing on the end of the metal stick? That is the FLOAT and it usually connects with an ALL THREAD.

Lengthen the ball on the all thread - to have it cut off the supply of water earlier.

Or do as us early water savers did, put a big rock or two inside the tank .. to reduce the water capacity of the tank... make sure they are big enough to NOT MOVE when the water is flushed out of the tank.

Or buy a 2 step flush toilet .. 1 level only for "waste water" use the 2 levels for "solids".

 

[Cruiser Too]

Do you have that BLACK float thing on the end of the metal stick? That is the FLOAT and it usually connects with an ALL THREAD.... Lengthen the ball on the all thread - to have it cut off the supply of water earlier.

First of all, thank you for responding !

I'm familiar with the black floater.
But... we don't have it in our unit.

Ours is a Fluidmaster Toilet Tank Complete Repair Kit I installed years ago.
(We bought two so I still have the unused one which I'm reading).
It doesn't have that black ball (floater) but it has what may be a replacement.
It resembles a hockey puck !!!
When I pushed it down deeper into the water...
water from a spout flows into the vertical pipe.

Any ideas ?

 

[Cruiser Too]

Hey Gang:

I received a private message from a "Miss Molly" which I believed
led me to the correct solution.

Web Page: http://www.wikihow.com/Fix-a-Running-Toilet

I followed the following advice:

• If the float is around the valve post, pinch the metal clip and slide the float down on the wire.

I pinched the clip and lowed the clip a quarter inch.

(I can't figure out how to slide the float down the wire so next time I'll try to slide the float down the value-post)​

And it appeared to work.
The water stopped filling at the "normal" level,
but... when I checked it 10-minutes later,
the water crept back up above the normal-level.

So for some reason, even tho the water shut-off when it should,
water slowly.. kept filling !!!

 

[Cruiser Too]

Continuing saga:

Well this time while pinching the metal clip, I slid the float down on the value-post.
But... water level again returned to the ABOVE normal level !!!

Any suggestions, short of selling the house ?
Miss Molly? anyone ???

Arrrrrgh !!!

 

[Passepartout]

I'm just guessing here, but is the float rising higher along that valve post because the little metal clip is sliding on the rod it's supposed to grip? Perhaps bending that clip in such a way as to give it more 'grip' on the rod?

 

[isisdave]

You probably have a little bit of dirt in the fill valve that is preventing it from closing completely.

Shut off the water to the toilet. Open the top of the valve by turning it CCW about 1/8 turn. It will come off. Look for a little piece of rock and wipe or wash it out. Put the cap back on. Turn the water back on.

If that doesn't work, replace the valve assembly. They're less than $10.

 

[Cruiser Too]

You probably have a little bit of dirt in the fill valve that is preventing it from closing completely.

Shut off the water to the toilet. Open the top of the valve by turning it CCW about 1/8 turn. It will come off. Look for a little piece of rock and wipe or wash it out. Put the cap back on. Turn the water back on.

If that doesn't work, replace the valve assembly. They're less than $10.

Hi IsisDave !

Miss Marty sent me another clue to FluidMaster's site.

I viewed a video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3txuOZoZ4Xo&feature=youtu.be) which pretty much duplicates your advice.
Take a look at it will you ?

I'll give it a whirl and see if it'll correct my issue.

Thanks, Doug

 

[Talent312]

If it were me... I'd say the heck with this and buy a new toilet.
I have no patience with stuff that won't stay fixed. To the street!
.

 

[HatTrick]

Ours is a Fluidmaster Toilet Tank Complete Repair Kit I installed years ago.
(We bought two so I still have the unused one which I'm reading).

Perhaps it's time to put that unused kit into service!

 

[Kal]

Shut off the water supply, drain the tank and remove the level control assembly. The "stand pipe" should be fine as is. Then install the new control assembly. It should work fine. If not, purchase another one as they only cost about $10.

Placing a brick in the tank (or a plastic container full of water) will cut down on water consumption. However, the toilet is designed for a specific volume/flush. If you decrease the available water volume the toilet will not operate as it was designed. BTW, the problem with the level controller will not be affected by adding a brick or other means to reduce available water volume.

 

[cotraveller]

I agree with the Replace the Valve advice. I did that to two of our toilets in the past year. The toilets weren't overfilling but the valve replacement solved several problems, including slow and noisy fills. As noted, the valve replacement kits were under $10 at Lowes and the installation is a simple task.

 

[Cruiser Too]

If it were me... I'd say the heck with this and buy a new toilet.... I have no patience with stuff that won't stay fixed. To the street!.

LOL... Ordinarily no one is as impatient as moi.
But... I hung in there and reviewed the video a few times.
Then with wife's assistance (I'm recovering from Rotator Cuff surgery)
I (we) bit the bullet and followed the video's instructions.

Then held our breath for 30-minutes (just kidding) and rechecked
the water level in the tank.

Hallelujah, pass the wine and Praise the Lord: It worked !!!

Many, many thanks to all, especially to Miss Marty.

Doug

 

[Don]

You probably have a little bit of dirt in the fill valve that is preventing it from closing completely.

Shut off the water to the toilet. Open the top of the valve by turning it CCW about 1/8 turn. It will come off. Look for a little piece of rock and wipe or wash it out. Put the cap back on. Turn the water back on.

If that doesn't work, replace the valve assembly. They're less than $10.

My feeling is that the valve gasket needs to be replaced. There is a Fluidmaster repair kit sold with this gasket in it and its easy to do. And as you said, replace the assembly. That's cheap enough and easy enough also.

 

[Cruiser Too]

My feeling is that the valve gasket needs to be replaced. There is a Fluidmaster repair kit sold with this gasket in it and its easy to do. And as you said, replace the assembly. That's cheap enough and easy enough also.

I might just do that.
My FluidMaster are pretty old.

 

[billymach4]

TUG

Toilet User Group

 

[Passepartout]

TUG

Toilet User Group

That's pretty much everyone, isn't it?

 

[KauaiMark]

grit

You probably have a little bit of dirt in the fill valve that is preventing it from closing completely.

Shut off the water to the toilet. Open the top of the valve by turning it CCW about 1/8 turn. It will come off. Look for a little piece of rock and wipe or wash it out. Put the cap back on. Turn the water back on.

If that doesn't work, replace the valve assembly. They're less than $10.

That's what I thought.

If you don't find any grit on the rubber valve, it might have fallen back into the water supply line and will clog the valve again when the water supply is turned back on.

While the valve stopper is off, you might try turning the water supply back on for a few seconds with your hand on top to deflect the water flow and any grit back into the toilet and not up and out on the floor.

Then reassemble the unit and test. If THAT still doesn't work, then replace it.

...Mark

 

[UWSurfer]

I'll note that I get about 3 years from the rubber in any of these inexpensive consumer replacement kits. After 3 years they work fine until you begin messing with them and then the rubber just melts and smears on you when you touch it.

I ended up rebuilding the interior of our toilet tank last month after looking to adjust our flapper valved and found the rubber was just hard jelly. It cost me maybe $20 in parts and a couple hours of my time as I ended up removing the toilet from the floor and reinstalling with a new wax ring on up. (different problem)