If you have made the decision to get a Toto brand toilet, you have made a good choice. Whether you want to install a new toilet or repair a Toto toilet, it is important to have the knowledge and tools that you need. More importantly, you need the right parts to do the job. There are many different types of toilets and brands on the market, so it is good to do your homework beforehand.
Though you may not think about it, a toilet has many parts and pieces to it. It is most likely that you have not put a toilet together or even installed one. Most of the time, when you move into a home or an apartment, the toilet is already installed and you don’t have to do anything except for utilize it. So let’s try to get a little more familiar with this fixture that makes our lives a lot easier.
First of all, there are three basic types of toilets: the round bowl, the elongated bowl, and the ADA height bowl. Round bowls are the smallest toilets and the bowl is-like you probably can guess-round! Elongated bowls are longer and the bowl is shaped kind of like an egg. The ADA bowl is an elongated toilet that has a height that is taller than both the round and the elongated bowl.
On top of the bowl there is a tank attached. This is where the handle is found to flush the toilet. If you open up the lid of the toilet tank, you will find that there are different parts inside. On the outermost sides of the tank are some bolts, these are what secure the tank to the toilet bowl. Connected to the toilet bowl handle is a chain that leads down to the flapper. The flapper sits on a valve that leads down into the bowl of the toilet. So when you push the handle down on the toilet, the chain goes up, lifting the flapper and expelling all of the water that is the tank down into the toilet bowl
Also found inside the toilet tank is the fill valve (and in older models this valve has a float valve with a ball attached to it). After the water leaves the tank and goes into the bowl, the tank needs to be refilled again with water; this is where the fill valve comes in. Water goes into the tank from the supply valve. The supply valve is found on the wall or the floor of the bathroom. It is connected to the toilet on the bottom of the toilet tank. Water goes into the tank until the fill valve senses that there is enough water and then it stops water from flowing into the tank.
Why talk about all of this? Well, if you have a certain brand of toilet, like Toto for example, there are many replacement parts that are toilet specific. There are many universal parts that you can buy, but it will save you time and money to get the right parts the first time you fix your toilet.