Jiggle the Handle
Handle jiggling is the stuff of TV sitcom lore. Most notably the "Home Improvement" bit in which Tim Taylor was convinced that the privvy wouldn't stop filling because nobody in the family could master his special touch.
OK. So why does jiggling the handle work? More important, is this a viable plumbing solution? I think not. After seeing our water bill nearly double because my family went to the Tim Taylor school of handle jiggling, I decided to risk the obvious and look inside the mysterious device to see if I could plumb the depths of its plumbery for an answer. What I found probably won't surprise you, but it still makes me laugh when I think of it: the huge water bill was caused by a tiny chain that couldn't have cost more than $.15 at the local hardware store.
What happens when you jiggle?
Before you get to this point, you need to know that the real cause for the endless tank filling is the chain that lifts a flapper from the flush valve. When the tank has emptied, the flapper goes back down and the tank re-fills...unless the chain gets stuck in the flush valve before the flapper closes. When you jiggle the handle, you're just taking the chain out without actually lifting the flapper enough to flush the toilet.
Mystery solved. If you decide that adjusting the chain or putting in a lever mechanism is too complex, you can simply pull the top off of the tank and show your family how the process works. After several attempts at adjusting chains, I decided to try the training approach. My results were pretty much the same as you have probably had. Plumbing fixtures without works, it turns out, is dead.
There are two possible solutions if chain adjusting and performance-based training fail.
- Install a lever device. This is just a length of plastic or a wire that attaches to the flapper with a small chain at the top that attaches to the lifting arm of the handle. Because it does not have anything that can get under the flapper, you do not have any handle jiggling worries once it's installed. For a small tank, it can be a bit cumbersome, and it's almost an insult to your manhood to spend so much time on what is arguably a simple task. But it works.
- You can install a pressure flush tank (one of those that fills with water and air and then flushes by air pressure.) Don't try this if you have weak pipes. An alternative would be one of those automatic devices you see in restaurants, airport restrooms, etc. Push a button and the right amount of water is dispensed on demand.
The second alternative is much more expensive than the first. Remember that whatever you do, a blessing may be missed if you don't go with the tried and false method of handle jiggling before you get down to the real work of fixing the darned thing. After all, it is a tradition that even Tim Taylor pretends to have mastered.
