What’s going on inside your toilet tank? If you hear a strange sound coming from your toilet, or if your unit won’t seem to stop running, it’s worth taking off your toilet tank lid and taking a look inside.
But just what are the various pieces to your toilet’s mechanism, and how do they work? Before diving into a DIY repair or reaching out to your plumbing pro, let’s take a look at one of the most important parts of your toilet system, and one of the pieces most likely to “go bad” – the flapper.
With our thanks to DoItYourself.com, let’s take a look at the three most common types of toilet flappers – and what home plumbers need to know about each:
1.) Rubber Flappers
If your toilet is a relatively newer model, odds are that you have a rubber flapper.
How do they work? Attached directly to your toilet’s overflow pipes, rubber flappers act like caps: When your toilet is flushed, the mechanism’s chain lifts the flapper; when the flushing is finished, the chain simply drops the flapper back into place.
Rubber flappers are relatively reliable, thanks to their few moving parts and solid design. If your flush mechanism’s chain comes loose or is, for some reason, too short, your flapper may be unable to lift and seal properly.
2.) Seat Disk Flappers
We’ll let DoItYourself explain a little bit about seat disk flappers work:
“Seat disk toilet flappers are the oldest variety of toilet flappers. This particular variety of flapper has a small circular disk that covers the overflow pipe, preventing water from traveling through it. Below this is a plastic tube, which is attached to the overflow tube by a hinge. When the toilet is flushed, the entire mechanism tips and the flapper exposes the overflow pipe. Seat disk toilet flappers can also be either snap-on or threaded.”
With seat disks, a reservoir of water actually helps open and close the flapper: The weight of the water helps open the flapper when you flush, and the flapper lowers back into place as the reservoir drains out.
The downsides? Seat disks can warp or damage fairly easily, and their large size, taking up a good portion of your toilet tank, can make them tricky to repair or modify.
3.) Tank Ball
In a toilet with a tank ball system, a large ball sits directly atop the toilet’s overflow pipe. When the flushing mechanism is engaged, the chain lifts the ball straight up and off of the pipe, allowing water to flow through.
Tank ball systems may cause your toilet to use more water than you’d like: As with rubber flappers, if the chain isn’t set exactly right, the ball may fail to lift or resettle properly, causing excess drainage.
Have any more questions or concerns? Can’t wait any longer to tackle your toilet? That’s where we come in! Drop Combat Plumbing a line today for all of your plumbing, kitchen, , water leak, sewer and gas line needs. Day or night, our experienced team is here and always ready to jump into action!
