Last night at about 1am, I heard running water that sounded similar to a washing machine filling up with water. I ran into my bathroom and saw water overflowing from the toilet tank (not bowl). I immediately shut off the water valve behind the toilet and took off the toilet lid. The fill valve had completely broken off at the base! I flushed the toilet to try to empty the tank, but the water was still coming up to the tank even though the stop valve was turned off; I could also still hear water loudly flowing through to the tank. The only way I could get the water to stop was to turn off the main cold water valve to the entire condo.
I have not done much toilet repair at all, but am
I correct in thinking that the issue here is the stop valve? I initially thought it was a surge in water pressure, but now I am wondering if something simply failed in the valve, which caused the surge in pressure which broke off the full valve? The fact that I can't fully turn off water to the tank by using the stop valve alone seems to be an indication of the main problem.
Another possibly unrelated problem (or maybe related??) is when I turn off the main cold water to the condo, my shower hot water trickles out. A friend told me it could be a mixing valve issue, but up until today, we haven't had much problem with hot/warm water in our shower. Others in my building have had mixing valve issues.
I am in a condo that is about 10 years old so I know I am going to have to start replacing things! Just would like to know what and to see if I can do it myself.
Best Answer
It's fairly common for gate valves to fail, causing them to not open or close properly. In this case you can either repair them (most of the time), or replace them. If you're replacing them, I'd recommend installing a ball valve instead.
I'm not sure what could have caused the fill valve in the toilet to break off. Without a photo or two of the broken valve, it's difficult to even speculate what could have caused it.
As for the trickling hot water... It's not clear if you mean it always trickles out, or trickles out when you open the hot water valve. If you mean that it trickles out when a hot valve is open, that's completely normal. If the main water supply is turned off, there's no pressure to push the hot water out of the tank. Remember, the hot water tank is supplied by the cold water supply line.
Without being able to come on site and investigate, it's difficult to say for sure what's going on. Obviously, you'll want to replace the broken fill valve. You'll also want to repair, or replace the shutoff valve for the toilet. If you don't have the tools or knowledge to do so, you might want to have these things handled by a plumber.
You also might want to investigate whether or not there's a pressure regulator installed on the main water supply line. If there's not, you might want to consider installing one. If there is, you'll want to make sure that it's set, and working properly.