This toilet has been a pain in the neck ever since we moved in twenty years ago.
It's a lame one-piece design of unknown make. I had a go-round once with its fill valve, and I swore that would be the last time I'd ever repair the thing. So when it started leaking again in earnest, that was it. It was off to Lowes for a new toilet.
A two-piece unit this time -- a Kohler Cimarron; I never want to see a one-piece toilet again in my life.
So it's on with de-installing the old toilet, and discovering just what sort of ordeal I've let myself in for here.
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Water Supply Turned Off; Tank And Bowl Sponged Empty
Water Supply Tube Removed
At the valve, the 3/8" compression fitting end, a 5/8" open end wrench is needed. At the tank, the 7/8" ball cock (BC) fitting end, one should theoretically need only one's fingers to unscrew the fitting. I needed Channellocks, because the last time I worked on this toilet, I reinstalled the original water supply tube with Permatex Ultra Grey gasket maker at both ends. (I know, I was supposed to have used a new tube, but I was being cheap about it.)
Permatex Ultra Grey is great stuff. It did what I needed it to for years.
The Toilet Unbolted From The Floor
The studs are 5/16"-18, so the hex nuts are 1/2" A/F (across flats). The nuts came off readily enough in spite of the corrosion of the studs.
And now I have to wait for assistance with hoisting the toilet up off the studs, and out the door to the roadside.
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The Old Toilet Out Where It Belongs
The New Toilet's Home-To-Be
The old installation had been done with a rubber gasket, so at least I don't have old wax gasket muck to clean up.
It's past 5:00 pm, and I don't do overtime if I can possibly avoid it, so the job can keep till tomorrow.
I'll keep the bathroom's door closed tonight, so the albino sewer alligators can't get further into the house.
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Snags -- SUNDAY, MAY 5, 2019
I fully expected to run into snags. A lot of the work done on my house was done by a DIYer who knew just enough to be dangerous. I've repaired many of his botches already, so I wasn't surprised at running into trouble with this job.
A Chrome Plated Water Supply Pipe
I had bought a new mini ball valve to solder on in place of the old valve, but it turns out that the water supply pipe is chrome plated -- it can't be soldered to. The old valve is attached by a compression fitting.
I could go get a shut off valve with a compression fitting, but compression fittings are not my friends. I'm afraid of opening up a real can of worms if I try to replace the valve.
I pressure-tested the old valve. It doesn't exhibit any leakage at its stem, so I'll just leave it be.
An Iffy Flange Fastener
The leftward 5/16"-18 bolt in the above photo is steel, not brass as it ought to be like the rightward one. It's head doesn't have quite the right profile to keep it from turning in the flange. I've chased its thread with a die so the nut will go on smoothly.
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A Minor Boo-Boo With The Wax Gasket -- MONDAY, MAY 6, 2019
Kohler supplies a wax gasket with the toilet, and on the box that the gasket comes in, it clearly shows that you're supposed to put the gasket in place on the underside of the toilet before lowering the toilet into place on top of the floor flange.
I managed to overlook that, and I put the gasket on the floor flange, then lowered the toilet bowl down onto the affair. No big deal, but a stupid blunder, especially from a guy who so values sound documentation and instruction.
And Another Boo-Boo
The floor flange bolts ended up being too long for the concealment caps to fit over. Kohler's installation instruction sheet advises one to cut down the bolts with a hacksaw when that occurs. I can't imagine a more awkward, difficult hacksawing task than that, so I used a cut-off disc in an angle grinder to cut down the steel bolt at the left side, and ended up doing some cosmetic damage. Here's a view of it. (Poorly lit, so it didn't photograph well.)
The particles flying off from the cutting job had such force behind them that they bruised the porcelain. I tried using metal polish to fix that damage, but it was no go. I should have seen that coming, and masked the area with masking tape. If there's ever a 'next time', I'll know better.
Anyway, aside from those two boo-boos, the installation went smoothly, and I'm delighted with the toilet. The unit got a genuine test this morning, and the flush action is amazing. The flush is forceful, and eyeblink-quick. Kohler has a good product here.
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Tank Fill Level Adjustment
There's a screwhead affair in the tank for adjusting the fill level.
There's allegedly a fill level mark on the flush piston to go by, but I can't see it. I set the fill level to about 1/2" below the top of the flush piston, and that seems to work fine.
All Done
All in all, a success. That wretched one-piece toilet is gone -- no longer will it leak away money to Toronto's water meter.
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