One hundred twenty-nine toilet repair parts: fill valves, flappers, flush valves, trip levers and push-button actuators, tank-to-bowl kits and gaskets, rough-in adapters, flange spacers and shims. From TOTO (43), Fluidmaster (29), Pasco (11), Sioux Chief (9), American Standard (8), Duravit (7), Geberit (7), Oatey (4), DXV (4), Moen (3), Brizo (2) and Grohe (2).
Diagnose it before you buy
Almost every toilet complaint is one of two parts. A toilet that runs - water trickling into the bowl, the tank refilling every few minutes with nobody in the room - is nearly always the flapper. A toilet that refills slowly, overfills into the overflow tube, or hammers when it shuts off is nearly always the fill valve. They age together, so replacing both at once costs little more than one part and saves the second trip.
Flapper size is the first thing to check
Two-inch and three-inch flush valves are both common, they look identical in a photograph, and a 2" toilet flapper on a 3" valve will not seal at all. Measure the opening in the bottom of the tank before ordering - not the flapper you pulled out, which may itself have been the wrong part.
Fluidmaster's PRO53, PRO54 and PRO55 are universal-fit flappers; the PRO56 and the 502P21 Adjust-A-Flush are adjustable, which lets you tune how long the flapper stays open and therefore how much water each flush uses. The PRO58 is the 3" adjustable. Pasco's 22001 and 22054 are the plain 2" trade flappers. TOTO's THU500S fits their 3" tanks, and the THU227 is the Aquia dual-flush seal, sold ten to a pack.
One thing that kills flappers: in-tank chlorine tablets. The rubber goes hard and glazed in months instead of years. If the flapper you removed feels like a hockey puck, that is why.
Fill valves
The Fluidmaster 400A is the part most American toilets end up with eventually - a universal anti-siphon toilet fill valve that adjusts for height. The 400LS adds Leak Sentry, which shuts the valve if the flapper leaks. The PRO45, PRO45B and PRO45K are the contractor-grade versions, and the K is the kit with the shank washer and refill tube. American Standard's 7381125-400 and TOTO's TSU99A.XR are the manufacturer equivalents. TOTO's Geberit-style concealed tanks take their own filling-valve nipple and fixation clip.
Set the water level to the mark moulded into the overflow tube - usually about an inch below its top. Higher and the tank simply drains into the overflow forever; lower and the flush is weak.
Flush valve is not the same as the flapper
The flapper is the rubber seal. The flush valve is the whole seat-and-overflow assembly it sits on, and it only needs replacing when the seat itself is pitted or cracked - run a fingertip around it, and if it catches, no new flapper will seal. Fluidmaster's 507AP7, PRO57 and PRO57K cover the common sizes; the 555CRP8 Flusher Fixer Kit bonds a new seat over the old one without pulling the tank, which is the repair to reach for when the tank bolts are corroded.
Trip levers are handed, and the nut is reverse-threaded
Front, left-side and right-side mount are separate parts - check which one you have before ordering. And the trip lever nut is left-hand threaded on most brands: it tightens counterclockwise. This catches people constantly, because the instinct when it will not loosen is to pull harder in the direction that is actually tightening it.
Levers are visible, so finish matters: chrome, brushed nickel, polished nickel, matte black, platinum, cotton white and ebony are all stocked. TOTO's THU068 fits Drake tanks except the R-suffix models, which is the kind of detail worth reading twice. For in-wall tanks, six TOTO DuoFit push-button plates and the Duravit, Geberit, Grohe and DXV actuator plates replace the lever entirely.
Tank-to-bowl kits are brand-specific
The bolts, washers and sponge gasket between tank and bowl are not universal - the bolt spacing and the gasket diameter follow the manufacturer. Sioux Chief stocks six kits by brand: American Standard, Gerber, Kohler (two versions), Eljer and Mansfield. American Standard has its own EZ Install kits, and TOTO's gaskets are called out per toilet model rather than per size. If you are pulling a tank, replace the gasket and bolts - they are a few dollars and they are the reason the tank leaks at the base.
Unifit adapters change a toilet's rough-in
Seven TOTO Unifit trapway adapters let one bowl serve a 10", 12" or 14" rough-in. This is genuinely useful in a remodel where the flange is not where the new toilet expects it: instead of moving the drain, you fit the matching adapter. TSU01W covers CT474, MS614 and MS644; TSU03W the 934, 964 and 974 one-piece toilets; TSU08W the Aquia IV. See replacement toilet tanks for the rough-in question from the tank side.
Flange spacers, shims and Liquilock
When the finished floor went in over the old one, the closet flange ends up below the tile and the bowl rocks. Oatey's 43412 and 43413 flange spacers (1/4" and 1/8") and the Pasco 1018 extension bring it back up; Sioux Chief's Wedge-It shims level the bowl without shimming with coins. And Oatey Liquilock is the one nobody knows about - a gel that turns the water in the bowl and trap solid so you can lift the toilet without it running down the hallway. It liquefies again with water.
Related
See also replacement toilet tanks, toilet bowls, wax rings and closet bolts, toilet seats, and the angle stop and supply line that feed the tank. Everything else is in the bathroom department.
