I have learned far more about toilets than in the past 24 hours than any programmer should ever know.

I went to the Toiletology 101 site to see how to determine which part in the toilet is leaking and how to fix it. I figured out that it’s the flush valve, usually the fault of the flapper/tank-ball thing.

I investigated the existing flapper and didn’t see anything wrong with it, but I was sure it was just making a bad seal or something, so I went to the store and picked up a new one.

Installed the new one, tested again. The leak is still there, but a lot slower now (about half a centimeter of water drains from the tank every hour; before it was doing that in about 15 minutes). I think I’m on the right track, but I think the seal still isn’t the greatest.

I went this morning to Home Depot and picked up a Flusher Fixer Kit. That fixes the seal that the flapper connects to, which I think is also part of the problem. I drained the tank and dried it out this morning in anticipation of that project tonight.

If that doesn’t fix it, then it’s the gasket beneath the flush valve, which means I need to take the tank off the back of the toilet. At that point, I’m going to have to debate with myself whether it might be an idea to actually call a plumber. After reading the box on the replacement flush valve products at Home Depot, it sounds easy enough, but there are reasons that professional plumbers exist. If it was so easy everyone could do it, we wouldn’t need them, would we?

Oh, and a follow-up on my dishwasher issues: After removing the rubber band and the broken glass from the mechanism in the bottom of the dishwasher, it seems to work slightly better. It actually washes all the soap out now (where before it left soap everywhere) and the dishes look reasonably clean. That said, it’s still not as good as the dishwasher we had in the apartment, so while I may have staved off the need to buy a new dishwasher, the idea that we need an upgrade has not left my head. According to Greg, a dishwasher is one of those things that you go “all-out” on. Get the top of the line. I couldn’t agree more.