Replacing a Broken Toilet Handle

Many homeowners prefer to go the do-it-yourself or DIY route whenever something needs fixing anywhere in the house, while there are those who choose to call a plumbing professional. However, let’s face facts here. Some repairs are easy enough to be done by “the man of the house”, but there are some problems that may require a lot more skill and experience to deal with effectively. Replacing a broken toilet handle is somewhere in between. The task sounds simple enough, but it can get incredibly frustrating especially when you don’t really know much about fixing fixtures like this one in the first place. In any case, should you decide that DIY is the road you want to take, here are some steps that you might want to follow if you are replacing a broken toilet handle by yourself.

Easy-To-Follow Instructions for replacing a Broken Toilet Handle

1. Lift the tank lid up and set it aside. Just make sure you lay it on something soft like a towel or any piece of cloth to avoid breaking the thing since most of them tend to become more brittle over time.

2. With a wrench, loosen the nut that’s keeping the broken tank lever in place inside the tank. Hold the handle on the outside while doing this. Once it’s loose, remove it completely from what’s left of the handle arm.

3. You can then proceed to pull the broken toilet handle out from the front, or you can push it out from inside the tank. If the broken toilet handle feels stuck, just wiggle it a little and it’ll break free.

4. Get the replacement handle, take the nut off it, and, just like the way you pulled the old one out in the previous step, put it in through the tank hole and make sure it’s nestled into the tank quite snugly.

5. Put the nut back in, but don’t tighten it too much. You will also need to make sure that the handle is parallel to the floor on the outside.

6. Look into the tank and you’ll see that there is a chain that leads from the broken arm to the flapper or flush valve. Find which hole is hooked to the chain and unhook it.

7. Hook the chain to the new arm. If the new arm has two holes, it would be up to you to decide which hole you should push the pin through. In most cases, people go for the hole that would give them a better flushing experience.

8. Test the flush. If it refills just fine and does not continually run, then you’re done. Just remember to put the toilet lid back in place.

Call a Plumbing Professional

The above instructions for replacing a broken toilet handle seem simple enough to follow, but in case you can’t spare the time or the effort to fix the broken toilet handle yourself, know that you can always call a plumbing professional to do the job for you. If you live in Sydney’s North Shore, call a plumbing professional through Beez Neez Plumbing, and we will make sure to send your way a plumbing professional who can quickly and easily replace your broken toilet handle.