When you buy a two-piece toilet for your home, you probably look for good features such as water efficiency (gallons per flush), noise level during flush, and shape (round vs. elongated). You probably pay attention to these details because two-piece toilets come in a bundle, a pre-determined bowl and tank matching your description. While this is fine if you’re not looking for anything in particular, there are some folks who like to buy their toilet bowl and tank separately.
You can buy your bowl and tank separately for more reasons than particularity, though. Sometimes, when ordering your two-piece you may come to find that your toilet tank got banged up during the shipping process, causing some chips or cracks in the porcelain. The nice thing about two-pieces is that you can easily replace only the damaged part, in this case the tank, instead of having to replace the entire toilet. When looking for features for a toilet tank, the flapper is probably the only thing you’ll really be able to customize. Below are the three basic flappers, each offering their own unique characteristics:
- Rubber Flapper – Rubber is the material that’s most often used in these flappers because it’s the least likely to fail. Rubber provides a tight, waterproof seal and does not conduct electricity in the event something was to fall into your tank full of water. Rubber is also fairly inexpensive to mass produce, and with a simple design, can be produced quickly and efficiently.
- Seat Disk Flapper – This type of flapper is the oldest type used, but this means bulk. Unfortunately, bulky pieces like this aren’t ideal because they’re difficult to repair and take up a lot of unnecessary space in the toilet tank. The cap is sensitive and can easily be damaged, so consider all this before purchasing. If you are interested in seat disk flappers, there are two kinds to choose from, threaded and snap-on.
- Tank Ball Flapper – You’ve probably seen this sort of flapper before. This is essentially a buoyant rubber ball that sits on top of the water in your tank. This type of flapper is exceptionally reliable, but you’ve got to watch out for chain length, as this is the most critical aspect of this flapper and having the wrong length can result in problems such as a faulty seal or excess waste of water.
Besides this internal features, if you want to further customize your tank you may do so by choosing its aesthetic properties. That is, do you want it to look contemporary, or vintage? Are you happy with the standard look, or do you want something that stands out in terms of basic design? What color are you leaning towards? There are many different possibilities to look for in your toilet tank, so make sure you choose the one you love that fits within your budget! For one of the biggest and best toilet tank selections online, visit Plumber’s Stock to browse through their virtual warehouse of name brands, all from the comfort of your home.
Till next time!
Casey
A Plumber' s Daughter 