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There isn't a forum for repairs, but I thought I might get lucky here. So far, I have had about five handymen, three plumbers, and multiple calls to the manufacturer, with no success.
I have a short one-piece Kohler tank toilet (Rialto K3402) which has more problems than any toilet I've ever had. For over a year, there has been a drip inside the toilet bowl, dripping from under the inside rim, mostly from the left, but not exclusively. Sometimes it drips every few seconds, or every few minutes--and sometimes it will stop for a few weeks. But it always comes back.
Apart from the fact that we've changed the flapper 3 or 4 times, it couldn't be the flapper, because if that was the problem, it would re-fill itself periodically. We've also fiddled with the float and the water level inside the tank. I'd become convinced that the problem was with the fill valve. It had been one by Coast (1B1-X), but Coast seems to be dead, so we just had a Larsen/Lasco one (04-4165) put in, which seemed fine. But then, by evening, the drip was back again. We were adjusting the screw at the top of the fill valve, but that makes no difference. Finally, we rinsed out the top of the fill valve, which helped for a few weeks, but now it has started dripping again.
The problem seems to be that water is seeping in via what I think is called the rim fill tube, leading from the fill valve into the ceramic, into the bowl. It looked like the problem was finally solved by drastically lowering the water level inside the tank. But the water in the tank, even though the level was carefully set by the plumber, has repeatedly risen all by itself, back to the level of the rim fill tube. How can it be rising by itself?
I think this toilet is possessed by a demon. What would you try?
The fill valve is the problem. The bolded part you wrote above is the clue. "But the water in the tank, even though the level was carefully set by the plumber, has repeatedly risen all by itself, back to the level of the rim fill tube. How can it be rising by itself?
The fill valve is supposed to shut off ALL water from coming into the tank unless/until the float drops down far enough to open the valve. If you want to test this, simply shut off the water to the tank at the valve on the supply line below the tank.
This will also tell you if the flapper is leaking water into the bowl. If you shut off the valve below the tank, any water that leaks into the bowl then will be due to a leaking flapper valve. If the water is shut off to the tank and the water level keeps dropping in the tank, then it's a leaking flapper valve.
In your case, you said that the water was "rising" in the tank. This means the fill valve is faulty. After the water rises so far, it will start running over the overflow pipe which leads down to the rim of the bowl.
Stop nickel and diming yourself. Buy a new toilet, the TORO brand. They are far more reliable, and breakdowns or problems are virtually nil.
This was told to me by a friend who works at the physical plant of a large, multi-floor office building. They have literally hundreds of toilets, to accommodate the thousand-plus people in the building. There was never a moment when some toilet was having problems, often many toilets at once. Even new toilets joined the problem train within a few months after installation.
He finally ripped them ALL out, and replaced them with TORO brand. Now, three years later, they still get maybe one problem per month from ALL those toilets... and it's often where somebody dropped a pen, or a big wad of paper hand towels, into a toilet.
My house has three toilets. We would occasionally get problems. I replaced all three toilets about four years ago, with Toro. Zero problems since then.
Location: Was Midvalley Oregon; Now Eastside Seattle area
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Replace the valve and flapper. A complete kit maybe $25.00. A DIY, see YouTUBE for easy instructions: About 30 minutes installation time, tops, with most of that time for soaking up remaining water in tank and small amount spilled from hose connections. DO NOT do any plumbing on a Fridays or weekend because if you need a plumber, it will be costly.
Biggest danger is turning off toilut value at the wall. These values are cheap and prone to failures.
Biggest danger is turning off toilut value at the wall. These values are cheap and prone to failures.
Very true. My family was one of the first to move into our present neighborhood, in 1997 when the houses were first built. In 2012 we turned off a valve to one of the toilets, repaired the toilet, and turned th valve back on. It started leaking and didn't stop. Called a local plumber, and he remarked that he was getting a ton of business from people in this neighborhood.
It seems ALL the valves (toilet, under sink, washing machine etc.) in the neighborhood had been bought from the same contractor, same make and model, in 1997 when the houses were being built. Now they were all failing at the same time, about 15 years after they were new. Three months later another such valve started leaking. We wound up replacing every valve in the house.
Stop nickel and diming yourself. Buy a new toilet, the TORO brand. They are far more reliable, and breakdowns or problems are virtually nil.
This was told to me by a friend who works at the physical plant of a large, multi-floor office building. They have literally hundreds of toilets, to accommodate the thousand-plus people in the building. There was never a moment when some toilet was having problems, often many toilets at once. Even new toilets joined the problem train within a few months after installation.
He finally ripped them ALL out, and replaced them with TORO brand. Now, three years later, they still get maybe one problem per month from ALL those toilets... and it's often where somebody dropped a pen, or a big wad of paper hand towels, into a toilet.
My house has three toilets. We would occasionally get problems. I replaced all three toilets about four years ago, with Toro. Zero problems since then.
I’m assuming you mean Toto. What you recommend is just a load of bull.
My neighborhood has street water pressure of 185 lbs and some original homes have no pressure reducing regulator.
The problems started happening when the old 1950's Brass American Standard guts were replaced my modern plastic fill valves... simply can't take 3x design pressure...
Only a thought.
Another is the quality of the water... about 3 years ago the city was upgrading sewer and water in a 100 year old neighborhood... a long time after sediment and junk kept ending up in the water supply playing havoc...
When I buy toilets I only buy Toto Drake... not saying it is the best but it is the only low flow I can live with in rentals and commercial property I manage.
I don't know of any residential appliances that can handle that kind of pressure.
Still, a crappy situation.
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