Repair the Toilet or Replace It

Flappers, fill valves, handles, chains, supply lines and seals are all replaceable parts on a fixture that is otherwise a piece of glazed ceramic with no moving components. A toilet that runs, flushes weakly or will not flush at all is almost always a part, not a fixture.

Ceramic is not repairable in any way that lasts. A crack in the tank or bowl — including a hairline one that only weeps — ends the fixture, and a crack below the water line in the bowl is the one to act on rather than watch.

Cracks near the base are frequently the consequence of a toilet that has been rocking, or of bolts tightened to stop it.

If it has always needed two flushes and the usual causes have been ruled out, the bowl was designed badly. Nothing on the parts shelf fixes that. EPA’s WaterSense label exists partly because early fixtures cut volume without redesigning the bowl, and labeled models are tested for whether they actually clear it.

Source: US EPA WaterSense, Residential Toilets.

A seal at the base means removing the toilet. If the fixture is pre-standard, the work of putting the old one back is the same as the work of setting a new one down, and the running cost of what goes back is the difference. EPA reports more than $170 a year in water costs for a household that replaces old toilets.

That is not an argument for replacing a working toilet. It is an argument for asking the question at the moment the fixture is already off the floor.

Ask which part was tested before the fixture was blamed, and on a leak at the base, ask whether the flange was inspected. A quote to replace a toilet that does not mention the flange has not established why the last seal failed.