What is a Refill Tube,and How To Replace

When your refill tube gets terrible, there are only two possible results. Either you come back to meet a flooded bathroom, or you want to flush, and you find out there is no water because water is not filling the basin fast enough. These two situations are dreadful, and you do not want to experience them. It is not a good one in any way.

But before it gets to this, we will be telling you what a refill tube is and how to replace it when it gets bad, or it wears out and messes up the workings of your toilet. We will highlight the needed materials and everything you need to replace them in the home. So, let’s get started, shall we?

Materials Needed

• A flat-head screwdriver
• Scissors
• Sponge
• Adjustable Crescent Wrench
• A bucket or appropriately sized basin
• Rubber gloves
• A Handsaw (To be used to cut through the PVC)
• A cleaning towels
• A plumber’s wrench (This must have a wide mouth opening). The Irwin pliers have enough opened for a start.
• Level

If you follow the steps highlighted in this article, you should be done in about 15 minutes. Although a professional would be done in far less time. Before we start, you might want to replace the entire flush valve assembly, especially if you are using an old model toilet bowl. Just take the time and do a total maintenance upgrade.

A malfunctioning refill tube can be a great source of water wastage, as the toilet bowl can get filled up unnecessarily. This guide would be helpful for you to replace it without hassles. Do well to go through the outline and follow each step, as they are all critical.

What is a refill tube?

We honestly get it if you do not know what a refill tube is. When getting home and trying to get things like this fixed, we just called the neighborhood plumber. The world is hard enough, and there are many things to remember. So, trust us when we say we get it.

You are here now, and even if you are unwilling to learn, something is probably broken in the toilet, and you are now forced to check us out. Well, we are more than happy to learn. So, see, a refill tube or valve, as some call it, is simply that part of your toilet that helps refill the tank after flushing.

If you have ever wondered about how the toilet refills itself, and you are probably too lazy to open the basin and find out, all we can say at this point is, “You are welcome”. So, as it is typical for wear and tear to occur when moving parts, the refill tube can pose a problem. It can start to wear off to the extent that it leaks. It might also expand and affect the functions of other parts.

As we mentioned earlier, if your toilet bowl is old and comes with the old-fashioned float ball, this might be your chance to replace it with a more dependable option. You could make use of the fill valve that comes with its integrated float cup.

So, if your valve is “done”, water continues to flow after flushing, and you are thinking of cutting costs by not inviting the plumber, we are here to help you with how to replace the refill tube of your toilet.

You do not need to do any heavy lifting, as this replacement can be done in a few minutes with the toilet tank in place.

1. First, You Disconnect the Line of Supply

In many cases, you would find the water supply valve on the wall just behind the toilet. However, irrespective of the location of the source of water, it must be switched off before moving to solve this problem.

• You can switch off the water supply by simply turning off its valve. Most times, you can rotate the shutoff valve in a clockwise direction and keep turning till the water stops running.
• Drain the toilet water tank by flushing the toilet. Make sure to hold down on the flush lever, so you get to drain off as much water as can be drained. The goal is to flush the toilet and keep the toilet tank as dry as possible. You can even move to use a small cup or bowl to drain as much water as possible.
• Remove the lid and the float cup from the tank, and mop up any small puddles of water that might remain using a sponge. After doing this, you then detach the old supply line. If it is convenient enough, you can withdraw the refill tube itself from the overflow pipe holder and disconnect the flapper chain from the flush lever so you can get some space to allow you to do the installation freely.

2. Remove the old refill valve

After draining off the water, it is time to remove the refill tube. Note that a valve nut fastens the toilet valve body to the toilet tank.

• You can take down the valve nut by using an adjustable wrench or suitable-sized pliers.
• After removing, raise the valve from the tank, and then using a sponge or any micro-fiber cloth, wipe the tank down to remove any debris, stain or water that might be left.

3. Adjust the new valve, and connect the supply line

At this point, you should note that toilets exist in different sizes. You need to adjust the height of the toilet valve so that it is a minimum of 1 inch over the overflow tube. You can ask for more information in the neighborhood plumbing supply stores.

Endeavour to place the valve shank on the fill valve, after which you can now fit the fill valve base into the tank opening. Press down on the valve shank and make the locknut as tight as possible to ensure the valve is sealed. Then reattach the supply line to allow for the easy flow of water.

4. Attach the refill tube and adjust the water level

If you managed to listen to us and follow these steps to the letter, congratulations, you have done well. Now, this is the essential part of the entire process.

In the toilet tank, recouple the refill tube. You might need to trim its edges to make it fit, and angle the overflow pipe holder against the adaptor. This must be done because you do not want water leaking or getting blocked from flowing to fill the toilet tank.

After you have completed all the installation steps and double-checked to make sure, you can get ready for the water to flow again. Turn it on and fix up the water supply flush valve to ensure that your toilet flushes. No one wants a toilet that does not flush.

Turn on the water supply and allow the toilet tank to get filled. You can then proceed to make an adjustment to the water level, using the adjustment clip and fixing the float upwards and then, downwards. In some toilet models, a threaded screw which can be found right by the float cup, is used for the adjustment.

These steps have been explained in a clear and easy to understand language, and we can only hope it is useful for you as you set out to fix your refill tube.