Tank ball / seat not sealing = leak

[jaypee]

Hi all, I have an old American Standard ter-let (like we say in brooklyn) that has a slow leak at the ball / seat. The seat is copper, i tried 5 different balls. I also tried gently steel wooling (med then fine) the seat but this does not have much of an effect on the seat surface :o . Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

[master plumber mark]

steel wool aint gonna cut it.

go get a sanding stone and try to get the rougu spots out of the brass with it.
Basically its the type that you use to sharpen a knife, its about 1 1/2 by 5 long and about an inch thick.

Just lay it down on the brass ring and start
scaapeing it back and forth till you get a nice shiney base for the flapper or ball to seat down on.

Be very careful not to break off or damage the brass overflow tube comming up .

Sometimes its better to install a flat flapper type of seal on the older brass
types like this once you have sanded it down to where it has a really flat surface.

[hj]

AA tank ball seals to the inner surface of the flush valve, so unless you have a Douglas Valve resurfacer you will not get the proper shape by grinding it. Either smooth the surface and use a flapper, assuming yours is not an American Standard valve with the high "boss" that does not allow a flapper to slide down far enough to seat properly, or use a Fluidmaster #555 kit that glues a new seat and hinge to the existing surface.

[jaypee]

Thanks alot guys! Can I use just the seal from that repair kit giving me a new surface for the current system (ball) to seal against? thanks

[hj]

It might but why would you want to have to deal with it along with the wires and guides that are nothing but problems?

[jaypee]

ok thanks, i thought that it may have been a gasket that bonded to the existing bad seat surface. Thanks