Author Topic: Rehabing a toilet  (Read 1033 times)

Grande

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Rehabing a toilet
« on: July 03, 2019, 08:19:23 PM »
I have a toilet of an unknown age since I just moved into the house 7 months ago. The toilet sweats, creating mold around it. This seems to be made worse with the warmer weather. I noticed that a while ago but didn't do anything about it. Last week I noticed a few drips on the basement floor (toilet is on the first floor). Best I can tell it came from the feed line. My guess is that its not a leak but a sweaty pipe. I closed the feed line and have not used the toilet for a few days and there's no leaks.

I have shopped around for new toilets and something decent and not too fancy goes for about $160-180 for what I am looking for.

My question is should I try to rehab the toilet with new fill valve, wax seal, etc or just get a new one? I have 2 young kids and I really don't care about the ascetics of it. The porcelain is fine.

Thoughts?
 

BudgetSlasher

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Re: Rehabing a toilet
« Reply #1 on: July 04, 2019, 06:04:34 AM »
I am confused all of your problems seem to be regarding condensation (the sweating on the tank and the "sweaty pipe"). Those are signs of humidity in the air and cold incoming water temperatures. What you are asking is how to mechanically repair the toilet (which you have given no sign there are problems).

In many places warmer weather is also more humid weather and with the water in the tank close to the same temperature year round there is a greater chance for condensation.

To you actual question, if there is nothing wrong with the porcelain, then yes you can replace all the valves seals, bolt and mechanicals. They make things called toilet rebuild kits that will contain all of the toilet internal mechanicals (bolts flappers, valves, and so on) and of course you will need a new wax seal, supply line, and shut off valve to replace everything.

If it truly is a condensation issues not of that will help. If the supply lines are sweating your best bet is to go in the basement and insulate then with standard pipe insulation. For the tank they make toilet anti-condensation liner kits (basically internal insulation), but I haven't heard great things about them. They also make anti-sweat valves, that mix in a little hot water (you would need a hot connection) to bring the temperature of the tank above the condensation point.

You should also check to make sure the toilet flapper is not leaking. If the toilet tank is constantly leaking into the bowl and refilling it will sweat more as it will stay cooler longer.

If you decided to get a new toilet as a result of this look into getting one with low flush volume and an insulated tank.

If the toilet is in a bathroom with a shower that gets used the extra humidity from the shower might not be helpful. Consider taking shorter or cooler showers, running the exhaust fans in the bathroom for a period of time after a shower (my parents have a timer on the exhaust fans), and possibly using a squeegee to get water off the shower walls. 
 

Papa bear

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Re: Rehabing a toilet
« Reply #2 on: July 04, 2019, 06:24:09 AM »
Put some food coloring of one color in the tank. Put different color food color in the bowl.  If there is a leak, you will see color on a white paper towel when you clean it up.

If it’s condensation forming on the bowl, you’ll visibly see the tank “sweating.”  Go buy some 1/4 to 1/2” foam insulation panels and put them in your tank on the outside.  Should fix the problem.

Unless your porcelain is cracked somewhere, you can repair the toilet.

Though I did help with a problem toilet that we didn’t discover the hairline crack under the toilet until after multiple failed attempts at trying to fix.





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Jon Bon

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Re: Rehabing a toilet
« Reply #3 on: July 05, 2019, 07:32:39 AM »
Turn down the water valve to 25%. The issue stated above is a bunch of cold water (ground temp) hitting the hot air of your house and sweating.  So anytime you have a hot bathroom and cold water this will happen. (usually May June where I live) Cold ground temp and hot air temp lead to this. So usually late spring.

If you slow down the amount of water coming into the tank it should slow down the sweating of the tank. Turning on the AC will also help with this. The good news it it should only happen for a few weeks every spring.




habanero

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Re: Rehabing a toilet
« Reply #4 on: July 05, 2019, 07:39:38 AM »
Is there a small amount of water running into the toilet when it's not in use? In that case the water pipe and tank will be constantly cooled and the hot, humid air will condencate on the pipe and/or tank. If there is no water running, pipes and the toilet itself should eventually have the same temp as the room its in and no condencation regardless if the water is shut off or not.



 

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