Water from above

Some advise please. My brothers second story toilet has twice in 2 yrs. overflowed causing thousands of dollars in repair costs.His kids flush and go not waiting for the refil to stop, both times toilet has overflowed during each time no one was home, water in walls & floors downs stairs. Major mess. Now my question. Is there any devise auto shut off etc made that will shut off water or toilets that sences when to much water has flowed into tank? He replaced all components in tank 1st time it happened, still occured a year later.Any suggestions

A toilet should not overflow unless the drain line is plugged, regardless of whether the tank keeps running or not. With maybe a few exceptions, all toilets have an overflow tube that provides a path for excess water coming into the toilet's tank to go into the bowl. If the bowl isn't clogged, then that water runs down the drain (think teakettle - you keep filling it, but it runs out the spout/drain). So, if the toilet frequently clogs, maybe a new toilet or some serious talk to the kids about how much toilet tissue they use is in order. take away their allowance for a few months, or their computer priviledges or TV watching time. If the tank has been damaged, or the overflow tube was replaced for some reason and is too high, then water can come out of the tank before it hits the overflow, but other than that...it should do what it is designed for - prevent an overflow.

On the old, 5+ gallon tanks, not sold for probably close to 20 years, if there was too much in the bowl that blocked the flush, there was enough water in the tank to cause it to overflow. If the fill valve kept running, then you'd have a big mess, but again, it should stop once the tank refills.

Replace the toilet for one with reliable flushing capability (probably ADA height to maximize the siphon). The current poorly performing toilet is causing far more damage than it is worth.

Time for a Toto Drake.

Replace the toilet with an American Standard Cadet 3 and buy one of these if you are still worried.

Replace the toilet with an American Standard Cadet 3 and buy one of these if you do.


Haha sorry couldn't resist.

Now, that was funny!

Look, it's a quality toilet for a discerning thirty-something year old living on the East Coast.

Ian Gills said:

Look, it's a quality toilet for a discerning thirty-something living on the East Coast.

Click to expand...

If it truely was a quality toilet, buyers wouldn't have numerous defects and not have to reengineer the fill valve. the fact that you ended up with one that works fine is a tribute to your stubborness and willingness to reengineer something the average person would not put up with nor should they have to. The design works, and if you make enough of them, the factory is bound to make some defect free ones, but most people won't put up with that, or don't know any better. What is your time worth?

About $50 an hour.

But trust me when I say I would have paid to work on that baby.

It was a joy to work on something so well engineered. I feel privileged to own one. Certainly made the trip to America worthwhile.