Can't Fix My Toilet Handle!

November 5, 2006 10:40 PM

I am having a problem installing a new toilet tank handle assembly and need to know if anyone has suggestions.

Our house is nearly 60 years old and this toilet is an original. The old handle was replaced not long ago as it had deteriorated; the cheap assembly used by the friend who was trying to do us a favor came apart shortly afterwards and was not able to be fixed.

I bought what is supposed to be a universal tank lever that is of good quality. Problem is, the square stud on the base of the assembly is just a bit too large to fit through the hole in the tank. The one my friend used was some sort of plastic, and I think he might have chosen this one because he was unable to get a normal sized one to go through and the plastic was more malleable.

I thought I would try to grind the opening in the tank a bit larger with my dremel tool to see if I could make the handle fit, but have not had much luck with this. Is there any special sort of file that will work on a porcelain toilet tank, or is it even advisable to do it this way?

I really hate the thought of having to use the plastic again because the first handle literally fell apart. I've been searching the net and have not found anything that addresses this particular problem, they all sound like it should be cut-and-dried replacement of the tank lever.

posted by doplgangr to home & garden (11 comments total)

Why not file the shaft of the handle rather than alter the tank? It's most likely made of brass so it'll be an easy job.
posted by buggzzee23 at 10:52 PM on November 5, 2006

Never mind, I forgot about the lever that the shaft has to fit into.
posted by buggzzee23 at 10:54 PM on November 5, 2006

Your success in opening the ceramic tank's through hole will depend upon a couple of factors:

1) Is the finishing glaze carried through the hole or not? If the inside edges of the hole are glazed, you're in for a lot more work, of a lot finer nature, than you are if the hole is not glazed. The problem is to carefully cut through the hard glaze, without causing cracking of the ceramic around the hole, especially the kind of crack that rapidly propogates radially from the hole, as this is likely to cause a slow but steady leak. If the glazing is carried through the hole, your best bet will be to score the glaze deeply around the hole, on both the inside and outside of the tank, hoping to create a barrier to crack propogation across the rest of the tank wall, if a chip should start a glaze crack. Then, with time and patience, you could use diamond reamers to carefully cut through the glaze, until you are down to pure porcelain. The fired porcelain is considerably softer than the glaze, and you can cut it with something as soft as a high speed steel tapered reamer, if you work slowly and with moderate pressure.

2) The wall cross section around the through hole. Some tanks have a thicker section land around the tank through hole, to make it less likely to crack in manufacture. If yours isn't made that way (constant thickness cross-section) your tank will be more susceptible to cracking as you cut the hole larger. Tape around both sides of the hole, and/or use clay or plumbers putty to damp vibrations from tools.
posted by paulsc at 11:22 PM on November 5, 2006

But seriously: if you have any option at all, modify (part of?) the shaft rather than the porcelain. It's almost certainly made of something much, much more biddable and less likely to result in disaster.
posted by flabdablet at 12:05 AM on November 6, 2006

If the problem with modifying the shaft is that doing so will stop the result fitting snugly into a square socket that has to twist it, I'd still modify the shaft, then shim up the square socket with a bit of scrap sheet metal bent to fit.
posted by flabdablet at 12:07 AM on November 6, 2006

Get some valve lapping compound use a piece of copper pipe that fits the hole and file away, keep adding compound, siliconcarbide cuts as fast as diamond but does not last as long. doing it by hand with the right size tool won't take long or create heat.
posted by hortense at 1:27 AM on November 6, 2006

If the hole is only slightly smaller than the shaft, get a diamond file and file it bigger. Not a reamer- a file. The hole is square, yes?
posted by Kirth Gerson at 4:21 AM on November 6, 2006

Sorry - I had to go take care of some domestic things. Diamond file. Even the unglazed core ceramic of the tank is hard enough to dull high-speed or carbon steel. A fine-tooth carbide grinding point in a rotary tool might work, but a diamond file definitely will.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:22 AM on November 6, 2006

You're gonna crack your tank. Get a cheap plastic handle.
posted by Mr. Gunn at 6:28 AM on November 6, 2006

Using a diamond hand-file will not crack the tank, unless you use it as a hammer.
posted by Kirth Gerson at 6:41 AM on November 6, 2006

thank you all for your suggestions, they are greatly appreciated. i will give it another go this weekend.

the hole is more of a rectangular shape, wider than the shaft, but not as tall. the difference doesn't seem to be more than 1/16", if that. just enough to make it not fit. the inside edge of the hole isn't glazed. the shaft for the lever/handle is square and a pretty solid looking metal that is part of the plate behind the handle, so i don't think that can be modified. i'm hoping one of the suggestions for filing it will work. (Diamond file sounds like it could be the best solution; the valve lapping compound seems like another possibility.) I can see I need to be really careful about it no matter which solution I try.

Thanks again -- i'll let you know what ends up working!
posted by doplgangr at 12:00 AM on November 7, 2006