Plumbing 101

Have you ever heard a little tinkle from your toilet and then the filler (that’s the technical term, I promise) kicks on? The culprit is typically a warped flapper.

A flapper… you know, the technical term for the plug in the toilet tank. Serious this time.

Well, today I’m going to show you how easy it is to fix the flapper. Plumbers all over the world are cursing me right now, but it’s for their own good that I show this to you. Really, when they get called, it needs to be for something more challenging than replacing a flapper.

Step One: Turn off the water to the tank. Lefty loosy, righty tighty. That means turning is clockwise turns the water off.

Step Two: Remove the tank lid.
This is where some of you are getting squeamish. Ewww, you say, I don’t want to touch the inside of my toilet. But I assure you, this part of your toilet is clean. The other part, I can’t vouch for. That’s your call.

Step Three: Flush the toilet and watch the water drain out.

Step Four: Disconnect the flapper chain. (See that blood blister on my thumb? That was from another home project, but not from changing the toilet flapper. The flapper is a low-hazard job.)

Step Five: Unhook the sides of the flapper from the tank. They are little bridge-like clasps that grip a rung. Just pull firmly until they come loose. No sweet talking necessary.

Step Six: Wipe drain. Now your flapper is off. My local Home Depot pro recommended I wipe the rim of the drain with a rag. So I did. Sometimes there is scum build-up that occurs. In fact, you can try this before replacing the flapper just to make sure the scum isn’t the problem.

Here is the flapper in all her glory.

Step Seven: Push the grippers (another technical term) in place. Again, just a little firm push until you hear them snap over the rung.

Step Eight: Connect the top of the chain.

Step Nine: Troubleshoot chain length.
This is where you might have to get creative. You want your chain to be long enough that it doesn’t pull on your flapper (you want a nice, tight seal), but long enough that when you flush the toilet there is enough slack to pull the flapper all the way open. Play with it. You’ll figure it out.

Then loop your chain through the hook so the bottom of it doesn’t drag on the bottom of the tank and chance getting caught under the flapper (and you thought the first leak made your water bill spike).

Step Ten: Befriend this little lady again and turn the water back on.

Step Eleven: Flush the toilet to test that everything works the way it should.

Watch to make sure your flapper comes open enough and closes properly.

Step Twelve: Replace the lid and walk away from the toilet. Just walk away. Don’t turn to look back or you might turn into a pillar of salt. No seriously. Pat yourself on the back for saving a $149 plumbing bill and walk away.

Note: It took me longer to post these instructions than it did to replace the flapper!