One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So, when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the float.

On 12/26/2010 5:17 PM, John Smith wrote:
One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So, when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the float.

Most standard flappers are hollow inside and this makes them float when
the the chain connected to the flush handle pulls them up high enough.
Check out these sites:

http://www.toiletology.com/howtofix.shtml

http://www.masterplumber.net/how_to.htm

TDD

On Dec 26, 3:17*pm, John Smith wrote:
One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So, when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the float.

1. Had you recently replaced your flapper when the problem started?
2. What do you mean by a float? Are you referring to the piece of foam
on the chain or the one inside the flapper itself?
3. What kind of flapper do you have? Can you find a similar picture of
it on Google image and put up a link to it?

On Dec 26, 6:17*pm, John Smith wrote:
One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So, when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the float.


Look at the bottom of a flapper without a float.
It will likely have a bulb that holds air and causes
it to float on the water rather than dropping quickly.

So when you just pee, the tank empties as much
as when you deliver a brown load.

And then there are others, that have an adjustment,
so that if you want it to drop as soon as the flush
handle is released, you move an opening to the front
rather than it being able to hold the air.

Some people have used a pair of diagonals to nip a
hole in that bulb at the high spot, so it'll drop.
Especially apartment complex owners that want to
reduce their water bills. They tell the occupants that
it's being done that way so that if they have a blockage,
all they have to do is release the handle instead of
watching the toilet bowl continue to fill to overflowing.

My favorite flapper? The Original Korky, without the
bulb. Drops like a stone when the handle is released,
plenty more water when needed.

And the float, or not? It lets the flapper drop SOONER,
rather than most of the water having to be gone to let
the one with the bulb drop back into place. And you
adjust the timing by changing the distance between float
and flapper.

On 12/26/2010 5:17 PM, John Smith wrote:
One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So, when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the float.

I don't know if my explanation is better than others, but I hope
so. The ones with floats may be for water saving toilets. With
the water saving toilets the flapper drops almost immediately
after the handle is released. Without the float the flapper
drops immediately after you release the handle. If you put
a non-water saving flapper in a water saving toilet it will
flush all the way down and use a lot more water than it is
supposed to. I know mine takes about 5 seconds.
That is long enough for most flushes. If you need a longer
flush you have to hold the handle down. Some flappers have
the adjustment that one of the other replies referred to.
When I tried one with my water saving toilet it didn't work
right. It was supposed to work on any toilet, but the
longest I could get it to hold was to short to flush all the
way down. It started working after I got the float off of
the old flapper and put it on.

Main point, if you have a water saving toilet be sure to
get a flapper for it, if you have an older toilet, be
sure to get a flapper for that variety.

Bill

John Smith wrote in :

One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So, when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the float.

About midway down starts the float on chain info.

"The New And Improved Flapper Valve:"

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/b...ve/flapper.htm

A toilet, a flapper, and a float walk into a bar. The
bartender looks up and says.....

My flapper has an empty cone. When the toilet finishes, the
cone (under the seal) is full of air. When flushing, the air
in the cone helps hold the flapper up.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
www.lds.org
..


"John Smith" wrote in message
...
One of my toilets had worked fine until few days ago. When I
push
the handle, the flapper is lifted and water goes down into
the
bowl. When I release the handle, the flapper should stay up
for a
few seconds until most of the water has drained. But now, as
soon
as I release the handle, the flapper drops down and closes
the
opening. Thus, no water can go down. I have to hold the
handle
down until most of the water is gone before releasing it.

I went to Home Depot to purchase a new flapper and noticed
that
some of the flappers come with a float but most don't. I
asked a
Home Depot employee why some flappers come with a float and
some
don't, he couldn't tell me. I went to Lowe's, asked the same
question and got the same result. They don't know.

Anybody knows? Why some flappers come with a float and
others
don't? What's the function of the float? If it is to hold
the
flapper up, shouldn't every flapper come with a float? So,
when
you change the flapper, you also change, not reuse, the
float.

On Mon, 27 Dec 2010 17:34:38 GMT, Red Green
wrote:


About midway down starts the float on chain info.

"The New And Improved Flapper Valve:"

http://www.hammerzone.com/archives/b...ve/flapper.htm

"...He explained that if the float was placed lower on the chain, that
the flapper would stay open longer, and if the float was placed
higher, the flapper would close even earlier."

Sure makes sense. All along I've had the wrong idea about the float.

I though it was to prevent the chain from falling under the flapper,
thus causing the toilet to run constantly trying to fill.

I stand corrected :-/