How to flush a toilet without the handle?

[laylamilon]

Do you know the way to flush a toilet without the handle? Maybe my toilet is clogged or with broken parts so I can't flush it.

 

[PeterDonis]

Do you know the way to flush a toilet without the handle?

Take the top off the tank and move whatever the handle would have connected to by hand.

 

[256bits]

And, it should be noted, in the vast majority of situations, the water within the tank cavity is the same water that comes out of the tap piped in from the city that you drink and with which you wash. Nothing icky about it ( although there is that aspect about it that people do get ).

 

[Tom.G]

If you can not find the right parts in the tank, you can quickly pour about a half bucket (1.5 gallons) of water in the bowl. Quickly because if the water in the bowl does not get high enough it won't flush. You may need a bit more than a half bucket.

The bowl will not automatically re-fill after the flush. You will need to add water to bring it back up to its normal level.

the water within the tank cavity is the same water that comes out of the tap piped in from the city that you drink

But please don't. There is usually brown or orange algae growing in the tank.

Cheers,
Tom

 

[Mark44]

Do you know the way to flush a toilet without the handle? Maybe my toilet is clogged or with broken parts so I can't flush it.

What you describe sounds like two different problems. If the handle is missing or doesn't work, you can flush the toilet by taking the lid off the tank and pulling up on the chain that connects to the flapper valve at the bottom of the tank. Hardware stores carry all of the parts needed for replacing whatever might be broken or missing: the handle and its internal rod, the float, the flapper valve, and the chain that connects the handle to the flapper valve.

If the toilet is clogged, that's something completely unrelated to the handle. A clog is something that prevents the water in the toilet bowl itself from draining into the waste line that goes to the sewer or septic tank.

 

[anorlunda]

But please don't. There is usually brown or orange algae growing in the tank.

Ugh. I've never seen that any place where I lived. Are you sure about "usually"?

Do you know the way to flush a toilet without the handle? Maybe my toilet is clogged or with broken parts so I can't flush it.

The most frequent cause for that in my experience is that the chain broke. Can you elaborate on in what way it doesn't work?

 

[Lnewqban]

Do you know the way to flush a toilet without the handle? Maybe my toilet is clogged or with broken parts so I can't flush it.

Welcome, @laylamilon !

Please, see what your situation may be here:
https://www.familyhandyman.com/project/parts-of-a-toilet/

 

[256bits]

If you can not find the right parts in the tank, you can quickly pour about a half bucket (1.5 gallons) of water in the bowl. Quickly because if the water in the bowl does not get high enough it won't flush. You may need a bit more than a half bucket.

The bowl will not automatically re-fill after the flush. You will need to add water to bring it back up to its normal level.But please don't. There is usually brown or orange algae growing in the tank.

Cheers,
Tom

Well if the water is not slimy( ie a lot of iron precipitation to make the slime- no bacteria needed yet ) there should be little of the bacteria as there might not be enough iron compounds within the water to support their biology.
The thin brown or orange coloring of the inside of the tanks is a mineral deposit.
How that occurs, I am not too sure, as the solubility of a lot of mineral compounds, or at the very least the majority, increases with temperature. and it should be assumed that cold water is entering the tank and warming up towards room temperature.
Oxygenation, and pH changes, from being exposed to the air would play a part in iron compound precipitation, most likely some form of iron carbonate., which is what one sees I believe in a toilet bowl with the water hanging around for a long time between flushes.

My point was that the water is clean category 1 water coming into the tank, and not water already contaminated from being in contact with other harmful surfaces ( in most areas ).
Any water standing for long periods of time, as you are alluding to, should be suspect as to being drinkable without precautions such as boiling or by other means of eliminating possible contamination.

 

[PeterDonis]

pulling up on the chain that connects to the flapper valve at the bottom of the tank

On newer toilets, the chain pulls up on a piston (which pushes water up over the top of a U-tube inside the tank) instead of on a flapper valve. That's why I was a little vague in my response about what to pull on once you opened the tank.

 

[sophiecentaur]

On newer toilets, the chain pulls up on a piston (which pushes water up over the top of a U-tube inside the tank) instead of on a flapper valve. That's why I was a little vague in my response about what to pull on once you opened the tank.

Interesting that you call them "newer toilets". In the UK, the syphon system was universal until plastic parts became common. The flap valve system is more and more common and suffers from not being fail-safe; water can leak slowly through a tired flap and waste water 24/7. The original system used an inverted cast iron bell (as in this link). The syphon itself had no moving parts apart from a lever to lift the bell and nothing to replace ever (except if the links of the chain and the pivots rusted through) but hard water can leave scale inside the bell and reduce its volume and slow down the flow. Afair, they were always situated high up to ensure reliable flushing; there was a knack to making them work. It was a fail safe mechanism (apart from the ball-cock filling system, of course). A very dramatic process; clank, clank and then the end of the world!!!

The more modern syphon systems use a piston to fill the syphon tube.

It's largely fail safe but a dodgy piston washer can crack or fray and no amount of pumping will get the syphon going. As with most plastic moving plumbing parts, they don't last well. A common problem with these is the shoddy crank arrangement and the internal link just coming adrift. Visual inspection will solve most problems.

 

[PeterDonis]

Interesting that you call them "newer toilets". In the UK, the syphon system was universal until plastic parts became common.

It's possible that something like this was the case in the US before my time. The earliest US toilets I'm familiar with had flapper valves, probably because they were cheapest. The piston system has gradually become more common because it allows you to reduce the amount of water per flush and "water saving" toilets have become a thing. The fact that piston toilets also don't have the leaky flapper valve problem is an added benefit.

 

[PeterDonis]

A common problem with these is the shoddy crank arrangement and the internal link just coming adrift.

Another modification I've seen is to have a plastic float wrapped around the inlet tube instead of a float ball; when the float rises high enough on the tube, it closes the inlet valve. This is easier to adjust than a float ball arrangement, but it also means that if anything goes wrong with the float, you have to replace the whole inlet tube/valve/float. Fortunately I've never had one of these floats go bad.

 

[sophiecentaur]

. . . . . and we haven't mentioned those strange flushing systems that were common in French hotels in the 60s. There was a pipe with a moderately big bore (presumably fed from a common tank) with just a lever valve for flushing. The water flow was very poor and it ran for as long as you deflected the lever.
But the OP won't be suffering from one of those.