Having a faulty toilet tank fill valve can result to some costly leaks for the household. The best thing to deal with this type of problem is to replace it right away. Perhaps you are hesitant to do this as you would think this will take a little bit more than eternity to finish. Well, basically, it only requires a little amount of time. In fact, you can do it for yourself because it is so easy to install. As long as you have the interest to handle it, then you have nothing to worry about. You can learn a few tricks from the list below.
Replacing the Fill Valve with Ease
1. Shutting Down the Water Supply.
First off, try to remove the tank lid to check the tank with some obstructions before beginning to drain. Then, shut off the water supply from the shut-off valve right below the tank in a clockwise direction.
2. Draining the Water from the Tank.
If the tank still has water in it, drain it by flushing the toilet. In order to drain completely everything, try to hold the flush lever down until necessary. If possible, try to use towel or sponge to sip the remaining water out of the tank.
3. Disconnecting Water Supply Valve.
Use a pair of pliers to disconnect the tube or hose of the water supply connected to the toilet tank fill valve. Be careful not to grip too tightly to avoid damaging the thread.
4. Loosen the Lock.
There is a lock nut holding the fill valve and the tank located under the tank. Try to locate this and carefully loosen the lock using a pair of pliers or wrench. After completing the routines, you can now remove the old toilet tank fill valve.
5. Replacing the Old Fill Valve.
Make sure that all bolts have been disconnected or loosened before pulling out the old valve. Consequently, reattach the new fill valve the same way the old one was removed from the tank.
6. Attach New Components.
There are a few components that can be replaced in this setup. One is the refill tube that will be attached to the overflow pipe. This is similar to the one previously removed from the tank.
7. Restore Water Supply.
Check everything to ensure the correct setting has been followed. Thus, you can now reattach the supply hose or tube to the tank by doing exactly the opposite as you did earlier. Tighten the gears or bolts so that water will flow back to the tank to restore proper operation of the toilet.
8. Check for Leaks.
Finally, after tightening the lock nut located below the tank and after reconnecting the water supply valve to the main end, you can check if water can successfully flow over the hose or tube. At the same time, you can now determine if there are possible leaks that will happen upon refilling the tank.
If symptoms recur, try to check the installation using the procedures above. Leaks can happen even with newly installed toilet tanks. However, if you are cautious enough, you can avoid costly consequences.