July Monthly Project
- , by Trudy Chuoke Trudy Chuoke
It’s a new month and a new project! And it’s more than halfway through the year so I felt like you might be ready for a project that involves plumbing. To be specific, your toilet. Did you know that your toilet can be the one of the most expensive water wasting appliances that you have? If you have ever had a running toilet, and you didn’t know it…. you certainly found out when you received your water bill. So, let’s talk toilets and saving money.
Do you have a noisy toilet? Does it take a long time to refill or is the toilet running and wasting water? Replacing your fill valve is the solution. And it’s so easy if you use the right one. Fluidmaster 400A is a universal fill valve and is easy to install. Let me walk you through the steps. Turn off the water to the toilet. Flush the toilet and then put a small bucket underneath the toilet tank to catch any remaining water in the tank. Unscrew the water supply from the tank and remove the existing flush valve by loosening the white nut. Lift the old valve out and place the new valve. Adjust the height of the valve to be 3” above the top of the overflow pipe. Then place the refill tube onto the valve and attach the clip to the other end of the tube. Attach the tube to the overflow pipe with the clip. Use the white lock nut to the valve shank (the part that is below the tank). Attach the water supply. Turn the water back on and check for leaks. Before you put the lid back on the tank, check the water level. It should be ½ inch below the overflow pipe. If you need, adjust the water level with the water level screw. Once you have the water level correct, put the lid back on the tank. You’re done! See it really is easy. If you are a visual learner, check out their videos on the Fluidmaster website.
While you have the water off, replace the flapper. Have you ever heard of “ghost flushing”? That’s when the toilet flushes, and there is NO ONE in the bathroom. Which is eye opening scary in the middle of the night. There are a couple of good choices. I like Frugal Flush Flapper. It’s adjustable. There is a dial at the bottom of the flapper that will let the flapper stay up longer and let more water through or dial it to close quicker. But there are other flappers that have floats on them and adjusting those will adjust the fall of the flapper. Best idea is to take your old flapper with you to match up to a new flapper. Don’t worry, the salesperson in the plumbing department will not be offended. They have seen worse! Last Sunday when I was working with a customer and he brought me not one video of their toilet but three and wanted to know why their toilet was screaming.
I hope this clears up any questions that you have about replacing the flush valve. There is one more thing that I want to remind you about. Many of you have 2 story homes, and possibly you don’t really spend much time upstairs anymore if your primary bedroom is downstairs. Do yourself a favor and place a Zircon Leak Alert underneath the toilet upstairs. If your toilet in your bedroom starts to leak, you notice it because you use that bathroom every day. But with the upstairs bath, you don’t know if the water supply develops a small leak. And that’s the way they start, just a small drip, hardly noticeable. But then all the sudden, Niagara Falls happens, and you have a flooded upstairs. I know this because it happened to me. And it was expensive. Leak Alerts are under $20.
Now to the email….
Question: My cedar fence is very dirty. I want to clean it, and I was wondering what the best cleaner would be. And is it easier to use a pump-up sprayer or a hose end attachment?
Answer: 30 Seconds Outdoor Cleaner is a great way to brighten up the fence and remove stains. It comes in a convenient hose-end or a concentrated gallon that makes two gallons. If you have a long fence, use the concentrated gallon and a pump-up sprayer.