Leaking toilet blade seal fix

[psa0298]

I replaced all the seals in my Thetford toilet about 4 years....it cost about $60...rediculous. Last fall the blade seal started slowly leaking again. I tried cleaning it, scrubbing the groves with a brush, etc without success. I figured they should last a little longer. I decided to order an entirely new mechanism service package(another $60 from amazon).....4-6 weeks delivery time. When I was dewinterizing and cleaning I decided to throw a littlte CLR in the bowl and it has since stopped leaking. There must have been some sort of mineral buildup on the blade that the CLR has removed. I'm not sure if anyone else has tried this but it might be worth a shot before replcing you seals.

Moved to Tech Issues forum from DIY.

[ScottG]

psa0298 wrote:
Won't oil cause the seal to deform?

Not vegetable oil.
Works good on dump valves too.

[psa0298]

Won't oil cause the seal to deform?

[bob_nestor]

$60 for the seal kit? I got TWO kits for mine for under $30 by shopping on-line.

[Old-Biscuit]

YEP....when cleaning seal gotta scrub blade/ball valve.

CLR works well. Just be sure to not let CLR sit too long and rinse seal then lube it with veg. oil/olive oil/plumbers grease....not vasoline/petroleum.

When I winterize I poor some oil in bowl for the winter.

[remdog_1]

Rub some vegetable oil on rubber seal once a year, keeps it from drying out

[ryanw821]

CLR is some great stuff, we have such hard water here you can drink it with a fork, so we use CLR in dang near everything in our stick and brick, sinks, dishwasher, toilet, tub, you name it. 🙂