Dealing With A Toilet That Refuses To Flush

Flush buttonAnyone'shopping here obviously takes pride in their household. They want things that look great and work well. And part of that is a desire to have things work as smoothly as possible. However, everyone knows that the world tends to laugh at the idea of a fully accident free life. Accidents happen, but preparation can make the difference between a ruined day and a moment of victory. And when it comes to home repair, people are often surprised by just how little it takes to become an expert repairperson. They're also usually unprepared for the feeling of triumph they'll have when faced with a plumbing issue that they can easily fix.

Imagine a common situation. One's just back home from work, and feeling exhausted. He heads off to use the bathroom, eager to just relax and finally claim the rest of the day for his own. And then on flushing the toilet something strange happens. Or, rather, what's strange is that nothing happens at all. There's no flush, no noise, and the only action is an increasingly confused expression creeping onto his face. Now, this can move in two directions at this point. It can end up needing to call a plumber and wasting the day'stressing out over it, or it can be fixed up within a few minutes. This is where'some DIY bathroom knowledge comes in handy.

The first thing to do is take the top tray off of the toilet. There's always a chance of needing to do this. As such, one'should be careful not to clutter it. Don't keep anything on the top of the top of the toilet's tank. When one needs to get at the internals of a toilet, he?s not going to be in any mood to carefully move and then replace things. The task needs to be able to start and stop at a pretty good pace.

That'said, what will someone'see on opening up the tank's tray? The person opening up the tank is going to see water. And one'should be prepared, because the water will be quite cold. However, it's also important to remember that this water is clean. It's isolated from the water in the toilet bowl. So there's really no need to worry about anything in the water other than temperature.

But, cold or not it?ll be time to take the plunge and immerse their hands into the murky depths of the toilet. It might be possible to actually see the lower areas of the tank. However, many bathroom layouts don't give much priority to a toilet's tank. With the distortion of water this might mean that one needs to simply feel his or her way around. There'should be a cap at the very bottom though, with a raised area at the top of it. This is known as the flush valve.

First, one'should grip the flush valve and gently lift it up. What happens next falls right in line with the name. The toilet should flush. Normally, the toilet handle raises up the flush valve. However, constant use can wear down the connection between valve and handle. Assuming the toilet did flush, the next step is to find some twine, rubber band, or string.

One should look for a lever attached to the toilet's handle. Remove any chain or string that's already there. Then, rethread the loop with the material one has on hand. A metal chain works best, but fishing lines or twine are more commonly on hand. In either case, one'simply needs to thread the line from the lever on the handle to the flush valve. The valve should also have a small hook or circle on it to attach to the line. And that's it. What would take hours to a day of waiting for plumbers can literally be done in minutes once one is prepared with a little knowledge!