How do you fix a toilet flapper tank ball?

The flapper controls the timing.

The solutions have already been given but here is some troubleshooting to try.....

When you flush the flapper should come up and stay up until the tank empties. The rubber part on the bottom traps air and makes the flapper buoyant keeping it up until the water is gone.

Simple test. Just pull up on the chain by hand and then give it some slack. Pull quickly to make it work properly. Does the flapper stay up until the tank empties. If yes, then the problem is not the flapper. If no, then you need to examine the flapper for damage or stiffness that is keeping it from coming up as high as it needs to.

Reattach the chain to the flush arm and see if the flapper works properly. Check the flush handle and the arm to make sure the arm isn't loose from the handle. The arm should move with the handle. If it doesn't you will need to replace that part as well. If the handle works fine then it is just about adjusting the chain length and where it attaches to the arm.

If the flapper and handle are working properly then check the water level as suggested. It is easy to accidentally change the float level when trying to change the flapper. The float is attached with a metal clip that slides up and down the metal rod. Move it up the rod until the tank fills up enough to flush the toilet properly. You can reduce water usage by setting it at the level that just flushes the toilet.

"I'm giving up for now. The problem is that the water in the tank doesn't go down into the bowl within 2 or three seconds like it's supposed to, and I have no ******* idea how to fix that. Time to call in the super....."

In the meantime, I would stick to a diet of vindaloo or anything that includes oodles of jalapeno, as when it comes round to plunger time, you don't want to be fighting to clear deposits that are too obstinate.

(until it gets fixed, just hold it in...)

Thanks for the tips/suggestions.

I don't think the flapper is working properly. It opens when you push the toilet handle down and then immediately falls right back down. The flapper is brand new, and I don't see any damage to it at all. So if it's too stiff, then how can I fix that?

I may just give up for real now and call the super. Goddammit, I can't even fix the simplest ******* thing. I suck.

try sitting on it to warm it up, Kicky.

to make it more pliable and stuff...



or call the super, who's job it is to fix toilets and stuff.






and you don't suck, you are just more in touch with your less handy side...

Ha! That IS good advice.

No, really, I do suck. If I can get Calamity Jane back here I'll demonstrate my technique.

If it falls right back down when using the handle, it usually means the handle isn't pulling the flapper high enough for some reason.

Shortening the chain between the handle and the flapper is the most common fix.

Move the chain out farther on the handle if it has that option. If the chain is at too much of an angle it can't pull the flapper up all the way because it is pulling at an angle. Lengthening the chain slightly may also fix this issue.

Double check that the handle doesn't have some other issue like it is loose or broken.

You rang?

Oh my god, I can't believe that this saga is still going on, a month laster. All over a stupid running toilet.

I thought I'd update any who have been following along. This all began because every tenth flush or so, my toilet would not stop running. I decided to change the toilet tank flapper in my toilet, because it seemed like a cheap and easy fix.

Anyway, once I did that, the toilet wouldn't flush anymore unless I held down the handle all through the entire flush. I couldn't fix it, so after a few more days, I called the super.

Well, the super came. He discovered that the flush handle itself was broken. He goes out to the hardware store to get a new one. About an hour later it's done and he shows me how he fixed. So he flushes it with the top still off the tank, and it works, but I say, "does it work with the top on?"

That should have been my first clue that this guy is not very good with toilets.

Dumbass then puts the top back on, and because the handle on the inside can't go high enough without hitting the top of the tank, it won't flush.

Three hours and three more different flush handles later, he's not happy, but he's got it somewhat working, with a handle that is clearly not the correct one, for reasons that I will not bore you with here; but it was working for the moment. You had to push the handle down and then, at the end, push it down a little bit further.

It was clearly not right, but it worked, and that whole Saturday afternoon was almost gone by then, so I let him off the hook. He told me to call him if it stopped working.

That worked for about a week. It actually started to work a little better for a couple days, smoother, almost like a normal flush, and then of course, it stopped working altogether, so I called up Drinky McDumbass again to come and give me the right flush handle.

He showed up yesterday, and after fooling around with it for about an hour, gave up. First he made a suggestion about how to fix it by turning the entire toilet tank around that sounded ludicrous even to a know-nothing like me.

Anyway, so now I have to call the management office so they can get me a plumber to come in here and fix this stupid thing. But I'm going away for Christmas, so it's going to be at least another week and a half before this thing is fixed.

I hope to have a working toilet before 2011.

Yes, my dear. I would like to demonstrate my sucking technique. Please disrobe.

I love it. You could work up a TV series about the tenant and the effed up landlord. It's gold, kicky; gold.

The length of your chain is not right; try to shorten it a little.

It is hard to believe that this all began because every so often my toilet would keep running after I flushed it.

Anyway, today was the big day. The plumber came (to fix the flush handle) AND Bad Super came (to install a new toilet seat, since he broke the other one the last time he was here "fixing" my toilet).

Bad Super showed up first, and he installed the new toilet seat in about ten minutes and was out of there, without much talk. I think we were both just happy to be done with each other.

The plumber showed up about a half hour later, was in there for less than five minutes, came out and said, "O.K., it's fixed." I asked what was wrong with it and he said, "It wasn't installed properly."

So it wasn't my fault! It was Bad Super who f---ed it up! Haha! Of course, I take responsibility for screwing up the original toilet flapper installation, a household task that I'm pretty sure could have been taken care of in one try by your average twelve-year-old, but it's not my job to fix stuff like this, it's his!

The plumber kept saying as he was leaving what a shame it was that they had to come out to do such a simple thing. I think Bad Super is going to get in some trouble for this. And he'll probably blame me.

Three months in my new apartment and already the super can't stand me, and I'm probably thought of by the management office as a big pain in the ass. Great start.

But at least now my toilet doesn't run.

...until the next time. It's either the stopper or the length of the chain (usually happens when you install a new stopper).

Simple stuff I've worked on at home for most of my married life.

However (and there's always that however), the last time our toilet didn't stop running, we just replaced both toilets with new Toyo one-piece that cost an arm and a leg. At my age, I don't want to fool with toilets any more.

This was a very funny saga, Kicky. Please go break something else in your apartment so we can read another episode.

Don't encourage him; I enjoy him on a2k without "those" problems.