| HOW TO INSTALL A NEW TOILET If your toilet is old and in need of repairs, it is really cheaper
to install a new one. This is the easiest of all the plumbing jobs in the home to do and
if you follow my simple instructions you can put yours in yourself.
1. Shut off the water to the toilet, use a bucket and a
cloth or a sponge to remove the water left in tank and bowl after you flush the toilet.
2. Using a pair of channel pliers, or a small pipe wrench
(8"), remove the nut where the water line fastens to the ballcock valve under the
left side of the bottom of the tank. Next use a small crescent wrench, remove the two
1/4" nuts holding the bowl to the floor flange. Remove old toilet. Remove the water
line from the valve or fitting at floor or wall.
3. Now you are ready to install your new toilet. Put the
two 1/4" bolts in the side holes of the flange with the bolt head in the flange. Put
some of the old wax at this spot to hold the bolts straight up and across from each other.
Put new wax ring on flange, flat side up if tapered.
4. Set new bowl only straight down so it centers on wax
rings and both bolts come through holds on each side of bowl. Sit on bowl facing wall
until your weight puts bowl flush with the floor. Put metal washers and nuts on bolts and
tighten until snug. Do not over-tighten as you can crack the bowl. Tighten these again
after toilet is completely installed and filled with water.
5. Next put 2" rubber gasket on tank where it sets
on the bowl, put rubber washers on bolts provided under the bolt head so they will be on
the inside of the tank. Pick up tank and set on bowl over holes in bowl where bolts go
through. Sit on bowl facing wall. Put bolts on from the inside of the tank into holes in
bowl, put on metal washers and nuts and tighten. Hold tank level and tighten so it brings
tank down level. Use a large screw driver inside tank and a crescent wrench or end wrench
to back up nut under bowl. Tighten with screw driver. Hook water supply to tank, turn on
water, check for leaks, snug up the bolts holding bowl to floor. If there is a space
between the back of the tank and the wall, put a spacer of sort there to brace tank. A
piece of wood or hard rubber works fine.
PARTS NEEDED:
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- Toilet bowl
- Toilet tank
- Toilet seat
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- Two 1/4" bolts for bowl to flange
- Wax ring
- 20" water supply with fitting at valve or floor
connection
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Now DO put my DO's and DON'Ts into use, and
your new toilet will never need a plumber!
WATER CONSERVATION BEGINS AT HOME
I believe if we tried we could cut our water use in half.
There are many more ways other than the ones I have in my report. Have an idea of your own
? Write it down. Sometimes some things we don't think are worthwhile are great ideas.
Like the young man who went into one of the larger
toothpaste companies and told the president of the company if he paid him a sizeable
amount of money, he would give him his idea on how he could double his toothpaste
business. The company president agreed, and the young man said, okay here's what you do,
make the hole in all of your toothpaste tubes twice the size it is now, this will double
the use of your toothpaste, and double your sales.
HERE ARE SOME OF MY IDEAS
The first thing to do is to check your entire plumbing
system for leaks - leaking faucets, water pipes, etc. If you don't think a leaking faucet
will waste water, put the stopper in a sink where one is leaking overnight.
The toilet is the worst water waster of all. Flush the
toilet and wait until it supposedly shuts off, then listen at the tank for a hissing or
trickling sound, if you hear a noise here's what to do:
Check the rubber tank ball or flapper in the middle of
the toilet tank at the bottom. If the ball is old and has lost its shape, replace it. Also
using a fine steel wool pad, clean off the seat under the ball till it is smooth. If the
noise is from the ballcock valve on the left side of the tank, and is of the type with the
quarter inch rod with a metal or plastic float ball, lift up on the rod. If the noise
stops, then starts again after you let go, chances are your ballcock valve is bad and
needs to be replaced. If, when you are holding the quarter inch rod up and the water leaks
out of the tank, and you have already replaced the rubber ball or the flapper, check the
liftwire or the chain from the ball to the handle, and make sure it is not dropping the
ball wrong, or is in a bind.
WHEN YOU FLUSH YOUR TOILET AT ANY TIME, ALWAYS WAIT UNTIL
YOU ARE SURE IT SHUTS OFF, ESPECIALLY IF YOU ARE LEAVING THE HOUSE. IF YOU ARE LEAVING
YOUR HOUSE FOR A VACATION OR ONLY FOR A COUPLE DAYS, IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO SHUT YOUR MAIN
WATER VALVE OFF. IT MIGHT SAVE A GREAT WATER LOSS, AS WELL AS A LOT OF DAMAGE TO YOUR
HOME. HERE'S WHY:
I had a plumbing call to a home where the people had gone
on vacation for two weeks. The last person to leave the home flushed the toilet and did
not wait to be sure it shut off before leaving.
HERE'S WHAT HAPPENED:
The toilet stopped up when the last person flushed it.
The rubber ball did not drop back straight and the water ran over the toilet bowl for two
weeks.
HERE'S WHAT THEY FOUND WHEN THEY RETURNED HOME AFTER TWO WEEKS:
- The bathroom and the kitchen floors had warped.
- The tile and the carpet was ruined.
- The plaster ceiling in the kitchen had fallen.
- The woodwork and the doors were all warped.
- The formica counter tops in the kitchen had lifted.
- Below the kitchen in the basement, the father and son's
very expensive car and train set were severely damaged.
NOW this was in the winter time, and the furnace was left
on to keep the water pipes from freezing. The water went down from the first floor and
leaked onto the furnace which made steam, the steam went into every room in the house and
caused the wallpaper to fall off the walls in every room.
LOOK AT THE WATER WASTED HERE AS WELL AS THE $ COST
- When using your bathroom or kitchen sink, don't let the
water run when you don't need to.
- Take shorter showers.
- Turn off the shower when you are lathering up.
- When using your washing machine, and only washing a
small amount of clothes, set the water level for less water.
TRY THIS:
Take the quarter inch refill tube that goes from the
toilet ballcock valve into the overflow pipe in the toilet tank, and fasten it so the
water from it goes into the tank and helps to fill it faster. You can only do this if when
your toilet is flushed it retraps itself. While the toilet is refilling after being
flushed, it doesn't take as much water as is put into the bowl from the refill tube. Every
little bit helps.
HERE IS A GOOD WATER SAVER:
If the water pressure in your home is more than you need.
DO THIS:
Close your main water valve until your pressure slows
down some, but is still enough for your needs. Or do this to the smaller valves under your
kitchen and bathroom sink. A lot of homes have a lot more pressure than they need.
UNDERGROUND WATER LEAKS
Sometimes there are water leaks underground between your
home, the street, or your outside water supply.
These go undetected for years. Here's one way you can
check your line for a leak. Put your ear on the water meter in your home and put your
finger in your other ear. If you hear a hissing sound like pressure releasing you probably
have a leak in your line. Be sure no one is running water in the house when doing this.
Most of the time a leak underground will eventually come to the top of the ground, but I
have had some leaks that I found had worked their way into the sewer line under it, and
had been leaking for years.
To check this, remove the clean out plug on your sewer
line to the street. Put your ear at that point and listen, if you have a leak you will be
able to hear it in the sewer line. Again be sure no one is running water.
HERE ARE SOME OF THE WAYS A CITY COULD SAVE WATER
In areas where the water pressure is greater than needed,
the city water deptartment could install a pressure regulator valve at the water meter in
these homes to control the amount water used.
Another good water saver would be to require in new home
construction that a small spring valved wall hung urinal be installed in all bathrooms.
A TOILET WHEN FLUSHED USES ABOUT SIX GALLONS OF WATER.
A SMALL WALL HUNG SPRING VALVED URINAL USES LESS THAN ONE
GALLON.
LOOK AT THE WATER THAT COULD BE SAVED HERE.
HERE IS A TWENTY FIVE YEAR WATER LEAK...
I worked as a maintenance plumber in one of the larger
hospitals in the area. Here's what I found one day.
The kitchen of the hospital had a tile floor, and at one
area the tile floor was always hot, so much so, the workers were always complaining of
being too warm. One day while working on the water piping, we had to turn off the water
for a long time.
I later happened to kneel down on the floor where it was
always hot. It had cooled down. When we turned the water back on we found a water line
leaking under the floor where it was always hot. We repaired the hot water pipe, turned
the water back on, and the floor stayed cool.
I then began to explain to the kitchen supervisor what we
had found. She said she had worked here for twenty five years and the tile floor in that
area had always been hot.
A twenty five year water leak. Can you believe the water
loss here? I'll bet if we checked all over the good old U.S.A. we could find some water
being wasted. |
