Easy Fix When You Have to Hold Down the Toilet Handle to Flush Your Toilet

Do you have to hold down the trip handle to flush your toilet? If yes, I may have a simple solution for you.

PROBLEM

When you press down on the toilet handle, chain that is attached to it pulls up a toilet flapper (a.k.a. tank ball).

Toilet flapper’s job is to open (to allow water into the bowl via flush valve inlet), and remain floating until the water level is lowered. As the water level is lowered, flapper is lowered at the same time, ultimately closing the inlet so that the water can be refilled.

You have to manually hold the flapper open by holding down the toilet lever because the flapper is unable to stay afloat by itself.

SOLUTION

Flappers are made from rubber and it degrades over time, especially in a mineral rich, wet-environment. The degradation allows rubber to lose its floating capability so to solve this problem, we need to replace it (during the removal process, the old flapper literally disintegrated in my hand – see fig. 1.1).

Required Tools and Materials

• Pair of latex or Nitrile gloves;
• Sponge;
• Vinegar;
• Korky Universal Flapper Repair Kit – Fig. 1.2

I tried bunch of different flappers and found Korky to be the best. I chose the repair kit version, just in case I needed to put on a new rim.

ALL-THUMBS-DIY-STEPS

1. Shutoff the toilet water supply;
2. Flush the toilet to drain the water in the tank;
3. Disconnect the trip lever chain from the flapper;
4. Slip off the flapper’s collar from the overflow pipe;





5. Before replacing the flapper ball, gently scour the seat or rim, of the outlet valve with paper towel. If there are any remaining deposits, soak a sponge in a 50/50 mix solution of hot water and vinegar and to gently scour the rim again; Do not use a steel wool or scouring pads as they may score the rim, resulting a leak;





6. Reverse installation Steps #3 – 4, making sure that the “ball” side is facing down;
7. Turn on the water supply and test flush

WRAP UP

Korky flapper repair kit comes with a tube of silicone and a new seat. If your seat is nicked or otherwise damaged, you may want to use these parts to ensure that your new flapper does not leak.

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Good luck with your repair and let me know how it turns out!