Does it ever make sense to repair or replace a broken toilet seat hinge? The seat is in good condition otherwise, but a new seat is under $50.
Just a standard elongated toilet seat from glacier bay with plastic hinges.
Cracked toilet seat hinge: repair seat or replace seat
toilet
Related Solutions
Check out some of the fittings and repair parts from Oatey. Not sure what sizes of pipe you have. But if you have a 4 inch pipe, 43539 is supposed to slide inside of it. It has a rubber piece that expands using 3 socket cap screws.
Link to Oatey site product page for the fit inside, expanding rubber flange
I have been repairing my own toilet bend, which is a lead piece coming from a cast iron drain stack. I would have used that part above, but I think I'm going to go with a 3x4 repair flange instead because this non expanding flange was shorter and fit better. The "3x4" part means it will fit over a 3" pipe or fit inside a 4" pipe.
I hope this helps, every toilet flange problem is different. I had to buy many of the repair parts and test fit them before I found the right piece.
Water probably isn't "shooting upwards", but rather not draining fast enough based on the inflow of water. Per your plumber, it is probably partially clogged. With a toilet, you want to use a toilet auger instead of a snake as it is designed to get around the bend without damaging the finish of your toilet.
If you want to confirm its a draining issue, try pouring a bucket of water into the toilet. It should drain almost instantly without the level increasing. If it doesn't, it's clogged.
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Best Answer
I see universal hinge replacements online for $10, but a new seat (low-end) would cost $10-$20.
This is somewhat of a personal decision. My recommendation would be to start by trying to glue the hinge back together if that makes sense. Use a glue that says it works on plastic. Will this work? Maybe, but you probably have an appropriate glue lying around the house somewhere, so there's little actual risk. I think it's likely that it'll break again after a while, but that might give you a few more months of use for free.
If that doesn't work, I'd just buy a cheap replacement. I did a quick look over Lowes, and they don't seem to offer seats with nylon hinges, and while they have "chromed" options, that phrasing sounds dubious, and the design doesn't look strong; I doubt it offers much more in the way of durability over plastic. What it looks like is that paying more money can get you more style (a wooden seat, or a padded seat, or different colors), but not more durability. On the other hand, my experience has been that the cheap seats are actually okay, and won't snap in half after a month or disintegrate when humid. My usual recommendation is to buy the cheapest option that is actually designed to last, and even the cheap seats seem to pass that test.