Toilet 101

Get to Know Your Toilet 

Use this helpful toilet 101 guide to better describe your toilet maintenance problems. Please submit all maintenance requests in writing through our web-site. Click here to submit your request.

Tank: The tank is the top portion which holds either the freestanding water to be flushed (gravity-fed) or the pressure-assist cylinder (pressure-assist). On a gravity-fed toilet the tank houses the fill valve (frequently called a "ballcock"), the flush valve (usually including an overflow tube with a flapper and flapper seat) and the

flush or trip lever. These parts are called "trim."

Tank Lid: It's the top most part of your toilet tank and covers the mechanisms inside your tank.

Tank to Bowl Seal: This is the round "donut-shaped" seal between the tank and bowl in a two-piece toilet. This seal provides a cushion upon which the tank rests and acts to prevent water leaks around the coupling between the tank and the bowl.

Shut-off Valve: The valve on your wall near the base of the toilet with a round or oval handle that allows you to shut your water off while servicing the toilet.

Billy Bolt Set: A package of "T" shaped bolts, flat and dome nuts, and round and/or oval washers used to connect the toilet bowl to the closet ring.

Closet Ring: The metal or plastic flange that is permanently installed at the end of your waste line (at floor level) and has slots for the "T" bolts/Billy-Bolts. The inside diameter is normally three to four inches. The closet ring mates with the outlet on the bottom of your bowl and provides the means for evacuation.

Ballcock: You will only find this in a gravity-fed toilet. It is the tall mechanism you see inside the left-hand side of your tank with a float connected to it by means of a metal rod or plastic arm. Or, instead of a float mounted at the end of a rod, it can have the float sliding up and down the barrel of the mechanism itself.

Float: The bulb-shaped sphere on the outer end of the float rod or the can-shaped float that slides up and down over the fill valve tube.

Float Arm: The metal rod or plastic arm that connects the ballcock's float to the shut-off lever on the ballcock valve itself. On those fill valves without the float at the end of a rod or arm, a rod-like stiff-heavy wire link with an adjusting clip connects the shut-off lever to the float, performing the same shut-off function.

Float Arm Adjusting Screw: This screw is normally only found where the float is connected to the shut-off lever by means of the metal rod or plastic arm. When turned clockwise, this screw causes the water flowing into the tank to shut off earlier. The same effect is accomplished by moving the stiff wire link downward using the adjusting clip for the slide-type float mechanism.

Douglas Flush Valve: You will find this in most gravity-fed toilets. It is the mechanism you see directly in the center, inside your tank. On one side of it, you will see a hollow tube approximately one inch in diameter. Connected to the tube is the flapper. The flapper regulates the amount of water that passes from the tank into your bowl during the flush cycle.

Flapper: The flapper is the flush valve seal and serves to control the volume of water passing from the tank to the bowl during the flush cycle. It mates with the seat on the Douglas flush valve to complete the seal and prevent water leaking from the tank into the bowl between flushes. Almost all flappers are shaped like a flying saucer on top and a bulb shape on the bottom. This whole assembly is usually one molded part and is made of flexible rubber-like material.