On 02/10/2015 10:53, Tony Hwang wrote:
philo wrote:
On 10/01/2015 10:43 PM, John Smith wrote:
Two of my toilets are of the same model. Both are made by American
Standard and both use the flapper as shown in the following link:

http://www.lowes.com/pd_236807-143-P...ductId=3375098

Lowe's sells this flapper for around $9. Here, I need to pay more than
$30 for it.

About three months ago, one flapper would not come down after flushing.
I thoroughly cleaned it and then put it back. It started to leak. I
tried many things but ended up buying a new one.

Now, the other toilet has the exact same problem. Yesterday, I was
informed that the flapper would not come down. I went to check it. It
was not leaking at that time. I removed the flapper and cleaned it.
After I put it back, it started to leak, just like the other one. I used
a toothbrush and a plastic brush to clean. They should not damage the
flapper.

Can anyone explain why a flapper which was not leaking leaks after
cleaning? Much appreciated.



Maybe you did not ruin it...possible it was just deformed a bit and not
seated properly.
I don.t remember ever clng a flapper but tank seat for it. We have
pretty hard water. Flapper is made of pretty springy rubber like fish
fins. Rough handling it may render it no good. For slow leak check use
some dye drops.

The water tank is coated with a layer of black gunk, up to the water
line mark. The chain, inlet valve, flapper, everything is coated with
the black gunk. It is not difficult to remove. It just take time.

The reason the flapper stayed up and refused to come down is because the
drain hole on the flapper was plugged with the black gunk.

There is no need to use dye to check for leaking. Two minutes after the
water tank is full and water is cut off (no hissing sound) water starts
to slowly fill again. This is definite a sign of leaking.