Woke up Saturday morning with yet another cold. ACK! When will this end? Icing on the cake - the flush lever on the toilet breaks. Great!Well, it's my fault; I saw the signs coming and I didn't do anything. When I flushed the toilet, it seemed like I had to push the handle down reeeeal far. Saturday morning, when I flushed - nothing. Ahh...let me guess... Yep. The trip lever (hey, thank you interwebs) broke. It's made out of plastic and it looks like it's a common thing to break. I could manually flush it. Oh boy!
Ace Hardware was my first hardware store stop. I even had pictures of the broken handle and flush valve area. The guy said he really couldn't see the pictures (WTF?) but it would be a simple thing to replace. No biggie.
"Pick out any flush lever/handle kit and here's a chain. You can use your fingers to take off the nut on the side of the handle."
"Uh..wait. Mine does not use a chain - it's a plastic or rubber piece."
"Well, it might have a plastic piece, but it's got a place for a chain. Unless it's something I've never seen before, it uses a chain."
"hhmm....."
That guy needs to get out more.
Back at the ranch, sure enough there's not place for a chain. It's all rubber. Krap. Well, no problem - I've got those wire jewelry tools. I can use them to modify the chain and connect it to the plastic flapper valve thingie. It took me forever to get the lock nut from the inside behind the handle. I could not use my fingers as previously advertised. I had to get pliers and move it a tiny bit and then get a knife and screw driver to get it off. But...wap wap waaaaap. The handle I bought will not work; I need an angle mount handle. Ding! Off to Lowes.
I return home with my newly purchased universal flush handle kit ready to concur known Russia. I chop out the new flush lever from its fancy packaging. They make these handles specifically for side or even angle mount tanks. Did not know that. I read the instructions. Crazy. You have to put the unit into the tank *before* you do anything else and get the lever to match up. Mine's at an angle, so I can see needing to do that. But...and it's a big one...Then you remove the lever from the handle AND FLIP IT OVER. That's so that this standard lever will work angle mounted. Then you take the lock nut off and inset..blah ...blah ...blah. But...and here comes another one...I cannot find the hex screw tool anywhere. I know, or thought I saw a hex screw tool in my handle's package. I can't find it anywhere.
Meanwhile, during all of this, one of the DBAs from work (not to be confused with some other DBAs) has decided he wants to rebuild a database and needs a restore. It turns out he has a job in place that deletes files - with out making sure they are backed up. Really?
I look and look, and I can't find the hex tool. My bike hex tool won't work either. The smallest one is too small and the next size up is too big. Ratz. I'm done for the day. I'll start again tomorrow since I have to make yet another trip to Lowe's. I almost bought 2 handles in case something went wrong.
Moser Christmas Party @ Eddie Merlots. Wee!! That's always a fun time. The food is just Yumsville.
One more trip to Lowes by the Pyramids Sunday morning, and I'm finally good to go. The handle is actually a bit more posh looking than the previous one.
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