I discovered a small leak in the water supply to the toilet. from what I could see (using a mirror), there is a flared fitting on the supply pipe that connects to a nipple that has a flared fitting on one end, and a straight thread on the other, which goes into the ball-valve. I was able to get the flared fitting off, and remove the nipple...I re-taped the threads, and re-connected, but it only made the problem worse. I could then see that the water was coming from behind this large nut on the ball-valve..looks like it can be tightened, but I can't reach it without taking the toilet out.
So, I'm wondering if the seal under the toilet needs to be replaced when you do this? I seem to remember seeing something that looks like a rubber gasket in some diagram somewhere. Or can you just re-attach the toilet?
also, this is a Thedford "Bravura" toilet. I think there's just 2 nuts holding it down. One is under the foot-pedal, and the other is accessible through a cover in the rim of the toilet using a long extension. is (are) there any others hiding?
I had to R&R my toilet also for the vavle not letting water thru but once removed it appeared to have a small leak also. I replaced it while I had it out. Also with the toilet being "hard lined" inplace due to the solid copper tubing it appeared to be "pre-loaded" when on the flange. I cut the copper and installed fittings to allow me to put a flex line to the valve so as to take the tension off the base. The gaskets are available at most RV suppliers and cost about $2.00. I found the base flange that holds the t-bolts had 4 of the 6 screws stripped. The wood was rotted away just enough to not let them hold. I cut .032 aluminum into 3 half round pieces, countersunk 4 outer screw holes to catch the remaining wood on each piece, slipped inner edge under flange and installed 6 new stainless screws to hold base flange down. Toilet is very tight and this repair was easier than the description.
I'm old and stiff, so I raised the toilet. Now I lean forward and get up. I did this change after replacing house toilet with a 17 inch. I'm also replacing the hand spray , as the original spray leaked some times. I also added a stainless water shutoff ball valve. Frank
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Well, I got it fixed. What a nightmare taking out and re-installing the toilet!! sheesh!! Its extremely difficult to access that rear nut. Some past mechanic even went to the trouble of cutting an access hole in the side of the toilet that helps...can't see it; the toilet is so close to the wall on the left side, I only found out it was there by feeling around. It is impossible for human arms to access that nut through the back of the toilet. Is there some trick to doing this? something I'm missing? getting both of those closet bolts into their slots AND through the holes in the toilet at the same time was a real bitch. (oh, and I'm aware of the access hole in the rim of the toilet; useless, as the height of the closet bolt and its proximity to the bowl makes it impossible to get a deep socket on to that nut. not enough clearance; anyway, that doesn't really impact the othe problem of getting the toilet back onto the bolts when you're done).
The valve replacement/re-plumbing went pretty well, though. I was able to find a series of fittings at HD that converted the female fitting on the ball valve to a 1/2" male. I wanted to use braided flex-pipe to turn the corner into the vanity to attach to the water supply, which was 3/8 copper. turns out that HD had the braided stuff, and it even had the 1/2 pipe thread connector on one end, and 3/8 compression on the other! (serendipity ). So I just cut the bent 3/8 copper supply line under the vanity, connected the compression fitting, connected the flex-tube to the compression fitting and the toilet on the other end, turned the water on and winced......nothing leaked! first try!! wooHOo!! could't believe that...something always leaks on the first attempt
The ball-valve kit actually came with a new seal, so I just put it in. It looks kind of like a donut...fits around the "output" of the toilet, and is about a half-inch think, kind of squishy. Here's a bad pic:
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). So I just cut the bent 3/8 copper supply line under the vanity, connected the compression fitting, connected the flex-tube to the compression fitting and the toilet on the other end, turned the water on and winced......nothing leaked! first try!! wooHOo!! could't believe that...something always leaks on the first attempt
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