Toilet Repair Take 2

Yesterday, while I was on the computer and Amy was cleaning the bathroom, I heard her say, "there's something wrong with the toilet." The problem was that the tank refused to fill with water, preventing a proper flush. Since I had experience, I dove right into the tank to begin tearing down the fill valve. I quickly noticed that the metal post which drives the diaphram open and close had punctured right through, preventing any actual functioning.

Of course all this occurred at 2:30 on a Sunday afternoon. The local hardware store is closed on Sundays and Carter's would close at 3:00. So I raced over to check out the selection. They had a replacement fill valve assembly for $9.

All I really wanted was the replacement piece but apparently no one sells them. Neither was I going to be forced into buying the first thing I saw, so it was down the street to Wal-Mart. They have everything, right? Nope. They only had 1 kit for the total toilet parts replacement at a whopping $20. So it was back to Carter's and then home to wrestle the new parts into place before leaving for church.

I thought everything was fine and in working order but in the middle of the night our oldest went to use the bathroom and discovered water all over the floor. His solution? Put a towel down to soak up the water and go back to bed.

We discovered his "fix" in the morning which pointed us towards the leak. The nut that attaches the fill line to the valve below the tank was cracked. But at 6am with the car pool waiting outside, the toilet was simply shut off for the day until I could get home this evening. A new nut is now in place, and the bathroom is once again fully functional.