I made an attempt to fix the guts inside the tank of my toilet. The flapper was leaking and this caused it to run every 30 minutes and it was driving me crazy. This was a mission to test myself and my mechanical ability. I’ll give you a hint of how it turned out. This is me asking the toilet not to overflow.
That’s a joke as I didn’t have any overflow problems because I stopped the water to the tank. I bought a $20 dollar kit from Amazon that said how easy it was to install and it had many positive reviews. I was able to remove all of the old components rather easily, although I did have to buy a large flat head screw driver and a pair of pliers to complete it which cost whatever. I installed the new components simple enough…or so I thought. When I connected all of the new parts and turned the water back on, it was spraying out of the connect. I read to put some Teflon tape around the threads. No dice. So I then tightened the piece so hard onto the nut, that it got stuck. After 30 minutes of trying to unscrew it, and many swear words of making efforts to remove the over tightened piece, I gave up and called a plumber. I wasn’t happy.
The plumber arrived today and unscrewed the piece I couldn’t within 5 seconds. He took one look at the water connect and said that it was missing the rubber washer. He looked at what I had put together and said I was 95% of the way there, but that washer was the missing piece. He charged me $180 for the complete install. My guess is that even if I did have that washer, my install wouldn’t have been done correctly or at least not the way he did it. The fill line would have been off or some component would not have been done right. If I had to do it again, I would be able to but for my first attempt, failure. If I call the plumber immediately I don’t waste my time or energy, but I don’t gain any self respect. Going about it the way I did cost me my self respect, my time, and my money. I learned a bit and feel better for the next time. No learning in not doing.
It makes sense to try it. You typically learn for the next time, and it’s rare that anything you mess up can’t be fixed.
Sounds like you could have replaced the flapper for $5. The whole kit should not have cost $20. Go to an actual store (like Lowe’s). You’ll pay less, and some employees can actually help you. Don’t give up on yourself. You can screw up A LOT for $180.
I hope you called Gildea Plumbing and Heating