EWEB Home > For your home > Water savings and efficiency > Finding and fixing leaks > Toilet flapper
How to replace your toilet flapper
Find out whether your leak is in the flapper or fill valve. To do this turn off your water supply valve, then put one teaspoon of food coloring or a dye tab into your toilet tank. Wait about 15 minutes. If you have color in the toilet bowl, you have a flapper leak. If color did not appear in the bowl you have a fill valve leak. Sometimes both valves leak.
Step-by-Step
- Turn off water supply valve and flush toilet to empty tank. Sponge out excess water, then remove refill tube from overflow tube.
- Remove chain from flush lever. Remove old flapper by sliding it up and off the overflow tube. For new plastic flush valves you may bend flapper ears out and off pins on the flush valve.
- Install new flapper by sliding it down over overflow tube until ring touches bottom of tank and then adjusting flapper bulb so that it centers on the valve opening. For plastic valves cut ring off flapper along lines marked "cut" and slip ears of flapper over pins on flush valves.
- Reattach chain to flush lever, adjusting length as necessary
- Turn water supply valve on. Fill tank and check that the flapper works properly.
For a more complete toilet repair guide, see your local plumbing store or home improvement center.
|
