Some general thoughts on Mansfield toilet repair
After spending a few good hours going through the process of repairing my running Mansfield toilet, I had a few general thoughts that I would like to share.
Locating replacement Mansfield toilet parts
First off, I actually had a fairly hard time finding a replacement Mansfield flush valve. I live in a city of about 120 000 people, so its not the largest city out there, but its not the smallest. I initially went to a local Home Hardware where I bought a few rubber seals (when I still suspected it was the culprit), but after I found out my problem was with the flush valve float, I had to run all over town to find a replacement part. Our local Home Depot did not carry any Mansfield parts and they referred me to a local plumber (who was closed for the weekend).
If you are in the USA then you likely have a few more options (like Amazon or Ace Hardware; your local Home Depot may carry Mansfield toilet parts).
Replacement parts can be faulty
I ended up purchasing a few replacement rubber seals for the bottom of the flush valve for a couple of reasons. First off, spares are nice to have around and these can usually be found for less than two dollars so its not a big investment.
Secondly these seals can go bad. Even if you get genuine Mansfield parts there is no telling how long its been on the shelf (e.g. It could get brittle with age, or it could warp). Who knows what has happened to that seal before you bought it; could somebody of stepped on it and caused some stress? Has it been sitting in the sun for years?
Minimal tools required for most Mansfield toilet repairs
Aside from the screw to adjust the water level in the tank, there aren’t any tools required to disassemble the rest of the innards of the tank. If the water level isn’t your problem then taking apart and putting together all the pieces can be done rather quickly.
Plastic parts
I was initially surprised with all of the plastic parts that Mansfield uses for their toilets. I suppose they are cheaper / easier to manufacture however I suspect that they might be a little more susceptible to damage during shipping versus non-plastic pieces. That being said, plastic is nice as you don’t need to worry about pieces rusting out or corroding over the years.
Water level matters when testing
While I was playing around trying to figure out where the problem was, I noticed that when the tank was only paritially full (say a third full) the flush valve float was not completely tight against the seal and water was in fact leaking. I found this out when I would stop the tank from filling in an effort to not waste water.
So … if you are trying to find the leak it may be worthwhile to actually let the tank fill each time to make sure that you are testing under regular use conditions.
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