- This topic has 7 replies, 6 voices, and was last updated 21 years, 4 months ago by
.
-
Posts
-
-
-
-
-
-
The high pitched sounds are either created by a mixing valve inside the wall (sometimes outside) or the fill valve in the toilet tank. Fixing the latter is easy, just get rid of the old ballcock or other type valve and install a Fluidmaster valve, and new flapper while you’re at it. Easy to install with a channellocks and they come with directions.
If it’s the former then it’s a bit more complicated. Sometimes a high pitch whine or banging is caused by water hammer and can only be cured with a hammer arrestor on the riser feeding the toilet stop. Or it could be a mixing valve, which are notorious for water hammer themselves.
As far as the hot water coming into Gal’s toilet, I’d say it’s a mixing valve that’s become mal-adjusted or clogged up with sediment on cold side and needs to be readjusted or replaced. They are most often inside the wall feeding the angle stop to toilet or are installed off or near the water heater. If the water gets too hot, you can risk the premature failure of the wax ring on flange and the flapper, and even the fill valve itself. -
Thanks AK! Your response is the most logical I’ve heard so far. A few questions for ya;
1. The noise is definitely coming from the float valve in the tank. Is that related to the hot water or just coincidence?
2. How can I tell if the mixing valve is near the toilet or near the hot water heater?
3. Is this something that I can repair myself if I open the wall near the toilet?
4. On average, how much should this type of repair work cost?
5. The house is only two years old. Would you expect this kind of failure so soon? -
Glads to be of help Gal.
I’ll try to answer your questions in the order recieved, lol.
#1. The noise the fill valve is making may or may not be related to the hot water problem. Fill valves can go out of adjustment on thier own, due to old age, heavy usage, etc. Since they are not made to work under hot water conditions, it can be assumed that overly warm tank water may cointribute to thier demise, since they are made of only plastic parts and have washers, gaskets, etc that may be affected by very hot water. Long and short of it, hot water is no good for them.
#2. This is a tricky one (or can be). A mixing valve for a toilet can be installed just about anywhere, but the most common places you’ll find them is either coming off the water heater directly, by tapping into the main hot line and tee’ing into the toilet line and other fixtures in the house which may also require mixing. Another common practise is to tie the mixing valve in with the hot side of a bathroom faucet, in which case the mixing valve will be somewhere in the wall between the angle stop valve of the toilet and the hot riser to the bath sink faucet. Sometimes, if the latter is the case, a concientious plumber will install the mix valve behind an access panel which opens with a screw, but if that’s not the case all you can really do is try and guess where it is, and listen for it (many mixing valves make a slight water hammer noise or other type of telltale sign it’s there, try flushing the toilet while listening closely to the wall in between the sink and toilet down towards the angle stop). Look at the lines feeding your bath faucet….you may see where the hot riser has been “teed”, and a branch is running off of it to feed the mixing valve under your sink/inside the bath sink cabinet. It may take a bit of investigating to find, but rest assured, it’s there.
#3. Depends on how much experience you have, and how mechanically inclined you are, and how much you’re willing to invest in tools to get the job done if you don’t have any. Fixing the hot water in your tank may be just a matter of re-adjusting the mixing valve (some types have a small screw on the hot side to allow for precise adjustment of mix temp) or the valve could be plugged up with corrosion or sediment and may need to be cleaned out, or sometimes the valve needs to be re-built (though I usually don’t mess with that option and instead prefer to replace them if accessibility dictates possible). If the mix valve needs replacing, ease of which it can be replaced again depends on how it was installed….some are installed using just the compression fittings most come with, but many plumbers prefer to “sweat” them in, throwing away the ferrules and nuts of the compression ends and simply inserting the copper lines into the threaded ports and soldering them in for increased durability/leak-proofness. If they are sweat in, you will need some amount of copper soldering experience, as well as a torch, solder, flux, etc, plus you are looking at the necessity of sweating the pipe inside a wall which can pose a fire hazard. If it’s just compression used, then yes changing one out for the same model/size should be relatively painless, though the compression fittings may be old and corroded and difficult to loosen, and I recommend sweating these types of valves in anyway ESPECIALLY if they are to be inside a wall, and this is also code.
If you don’t have much plumbing/sweating experience, and have no idea where the valve is, for all the above reasons, you may be better off going with a reputable plumber who can locate it for you easily and replace it just as easily, possibly only leaving you with drywall repairs to effect.#4. On average, I myself would’nt charge much more than an hour of labor plus parts, for a TYPICAL mixing valve replacement job. As long as the valve is relatively close and accessible, does’nt pose any unforseen problems (such as corrosion on the line, inability to stop main water flow to effect repairs, etc). A normal mix valve for a toilet runs around 25$. So an hour’s time, plus 25 minimum parts, you may be looking at 125-150$ for such a job by a licensed plumber, maybe more depending on your locaqtion and how good the plumber you hire is. Repairing the fill valve in the tank can definitely be done yourself, and so can adjusting the one you have in there already.
#5. No, I would’nt expect a mixing valve to go out so soon. Normally they should last about 10 years, depending on the water hardness in your water supply and usage. But, as with all things, sometimes you get a lemon, and is you are’nt covered by warranty anymore then it’s one of those things. The fill valve I suspect is surely being affected by the hot water, if it’s really hot, so you are possibly experiencing a domino effect with the mix valve going out, and as previously mentioned, if you don’t get that water back to normal in the tank if it’s running very hot now, you will experience more domino effect in the way of your wax ring, tank gasket, and flapper.
Hope this helps.
-
-
- You must be logged in to reply to this topic.
