A couple of weeks ago I finally decided to investigate our phantom flushing toilet. As the toilets in the US are nothing like the UK (really they are not!) I looked on youtube for some help. The first answer was to brush the rubber flapper seal to get rid of the crud that had gathered on the seal. I tried that, but all that happened was that my hands got covered in black stuff due to the rubber disintegrating – so if you try this and get black hands, you might as well stop as it’s not going to work.
So the next stop, two weeks later (today) was to take the old flapper off and get a replacement….Took me a while, but I eventually snapped the flapper attachment off the base unit, wrapped it in a bag and went to Lowes. I’m glad I took the old unit with me as I didn’t realise there were so many different types of flappers. It didn’t help that there were two versions of the American Standard (which is a bit of an oxymoron if there are two standards) flapper – it turned out I had type number 5 – but only by comparing the units shape and size. However I then found that I could buy just the flapper seal itself. So risking this not solving the issue I purchased it, took it home and pulled the old seal off – note to anyone else looking at doing this – when the seal pops off it will spray water and rubber everywhere….I think I cleaned it all up…
Couple of seconds later the new seal was on and the toilet hasn’t flushed itself since. Saved me a plumbers bill, water and a new toilet – thanks to Kristen for putting up with the tank lid off for so long!
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