What To Do With A Broken Ballcock
What To Do With A Broken Ballcock, is a talent you will have to become familiar with when the float valve, or (Ballcock) ceases to function properly on your water closet, (Toilet). Repairing this calamity is an easy operation and the new parts that are out there can convert your tank to a water saver.
The first thing that must be accomplished when this repair is attempted is to shut off the water to the unit in question. Neglecting to do this will make a heck of a mess and deter your future attempts at plumbing repair rather rapidly.
Normally there is a shutoff valve behind the bowl at the base of the toilet. This shutoff may come out of the wall or up through the floor, depending on your particular type of installation. If there is a valve on the line, shut it off tight and then flush the toilet. No water should enter the tank and most of the standing water will go down the bowl and out the drain.
Next we must empty the residual water from the bottom of the toilet tank to avoid it spilling through the resulting hole when we remove the old ballcock assembly. This can be done with a wet dry vac if one is available or a sponge will suffice to sop up anything that doesn't go down the drain.
After emptying the tank, use a pair of plumbers channel locks to remove the supply tube nut on the fill line under the tank. This is a plastic nut on newer units and will be brass on older models. Use caution not to ruin this nut as we will be screwing it back on the new fill valve.
Once the fill tube nut is removed the supply will pull away from the fixture. Now loosen the retainer nut that holds the fill valve into the tank. After removing this nut the fill valve can be removed straight out of the tank and discarded.
Your new Ballcock will come with a rubber gasket that fits over the stem and sits on the bottom of the tank. The new retainer nut is started and hand tightened from underneath the tank. Then use the plumbers pliers once again while holding the valve inside the tank and snug up the plastic nut. please take care to remember this assembly is plastic and too much force will strip the nut.
After this is tight reattach the supply tube nut to the stem and again hand tighten at first and then use the pliers to snug it up. Always hold the unit on the inside of the tank when you are tightening either nut underneath. This will prevent the valve from spinning when it's being tightened.
Make sure you read the instructions that came with your new valve to locate how you connect the bowl fill tube. This is a small diameter piece of tubing, usually rubber or plastic, that goes from a stub on the top of the fill valve to the overflow tube in the tank. As the water enters the tank a bypass pours a stream of water down the tube to refill the bowl.
After this tube is secured in place with the clip provided or the existing attaching parts the water can be turned back on with the valve below the tank. Slowly open the valve as air will clog th new valve with sediment that can be jogged loose when the water is turned back on. Once the water is full on watch your level in the tank to note when the valve shuts off. If it's to high or too low a water level adjust according to the directions with your respective valve.
If your tank flushes and refills and there are no leaks around the tank or valve, then what to do with a broken ballcock, is something you now know. Your job is done and you can move on to the next job on the honey do list.
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