Hi all,
I have a couple of Universal Rundle 4471 / 4474 toilets, circa 2003, elongated bowl type. They've served us well over the years and I've made some minor basic repairs (tank bolts / fill valves / flush valves / inlets / gaskets) , but I'm not skilled at plumbing by any means. Stuff that would probably take most of you maybe 30 minutes takes me hours to get right.
With that said - I noticed that in recent months some of the jet holes stopped letting water through.
On one of the bowls it's just a small section near the back of the bowl, maybe about 2 inches worth. And with a small mirror, though I can't really see much, and I can that the ceramic / porcelain in that small section is sort of "pinched" very close to the bowl. I never knew that defect was there, because for almost 20 years all the jets worked fine. The cloggage seemed to occur very slowly and only reason I noticed was because of an orangish / yellowish film building up in an approximate 2-inch "strip" from under the rim down to the water in the bowl. Being a bit naive about this stuff, I figured I just needed to clean the bowl and under the rim more often (before I discovered the pinch).
On the other one the situation is a bit more prevalent and happened quickly, just over the past 2 months. Started out with just a small section of the jets, maybe about 3 inches worth toward the front of the bowl, but is now spread to around almost half way toward the back of the bowl. And on this one I only noticed it just recently. Being that my eyesight is not so great, I can't seem to see the jet holes. I'm going to get a better / lighted mirror that angles to help me with this.
After searching this forum I found a few threads in which it is recommended to use a wire hanger end to try to reach up there and scrape and maybe try to feel for / poke through the holes, so I'm definitely going to try that.
But on another website, one of those sort of homeowner DIY help sites, they recommend first pouring 12oz of heated white distilled vinegar into the overflow tube and just letting the toilet sit for 30 minutes, then flushing and then using the hanger trick.
Does anyone here think that using the heated vinegar into the overflow tube idea is a good one? Or do you think it would be better to use something else in the tube?
I'm asking because I can't really tell if it's mineral buildup or maybe some kind of bacterial / mold buildup, and I sure don't want to put anything in there that is not recommended by real plumbers.
I would be truly grateful for any thoughts and suggestions.
Thanks a bunch!
Dave
I have a couple of Universal Rundle 4471 / 4474 toilets, circa 2003, elongated bowl type. They've served us well over the years and I've made some minor basic repairs (tank bolts / fill valves / flush valves / inlets / gaskets) , but I'm not skilled at plumbing by any means. Stuff that would probably take most of you maybe 30 minutes takes me hours to get right.
With that said - I noticed that in recent months some of the jet holes stopped letting water through.
On one of the bowls it's just a small section near the back of the bowl, maybe about 2 inches worth. And with a small mirror, though I can't really see much, and I can that the ceramic / porcelain in that small section is sort of "pinched" very close to the bowl. I never knew that defect was there, because for almost 20 years all the jets worked fine. The cloggage seemed to occur very slowly and only reason I noticed was because of an orangish / yellowish film building up in an approximate 2-inch "strip" from under the rim down to the water in the bowl. Being a bit naive about this stuff, I figured I just needed to clean the bowl and under the rim more often (before I discovered the pinch).
On the other one the situation is a bit more prevalent and happened quickly, just over the past 2 months. Started out with just a small section of the jets, maybe about 3 inches worth toward the front of the bowl, but is now spread to around almost half way toward the back of the bowl. And on this one I only noticed it just recently. Being that my eyesight is not so great, I can't seem to see the jet holes. I'm going to get a better / lighted mirror that angles to help me with this.
After searching this forum I found a few threads in which it is recommended to use a wire hanger end to try to reach up there and scrape and maybe try to feel for / poke through the holes, so I'm definitely going to try that.
But on another website, one of those sort of homeowner DIY help sites, they recommend first pouring 12oz of heated white distilled vinegar into the overflow tube and just letting the toilet sit for 30 minutes, then flushing and then using the hanger trick.
Does anyone here think that using the heated vinegar into the overflow tube idea is a good one? Or do you think it would be better to use something else in the tube?
I'm asking because I can't really tell if it's mineral buildup or maybe some kind of bacterial / mold buildup, and I sure don't want to put anything in there that is not recommended by real plumbers.
I would be truly grateful for any thoughts and suggestions.
Thanks a bunch!
Dave
