Daddy: Did you push and hold it down a couple of seconds?
Jessica: Yes. Nothing happens.
Daddy: OK, I'll check it out.
I had a sinking feeling about this. I went down, lifted up the toilet tank cover and verified it. The chain for the flush valve had broken.
I hate those ball chains. They don't last very long. And they're a pain to adjust to just the right length. This must be the 8th one that has broken since we've had this house. Since it was late at night, I couldn't go to Home Depot. I was reluctant to use another ball chain anyway. Then I recalled being at my parents-in-law's house once, and doing a small repair on one of their toilets. Somebody had replaced the chain with a couple of rubber bands! I laughed. It was hokie. But the thing lasted for years. So I thought about that. Rubber bands don't corrode. But I didn't want to use rubber bands. I wanted something stronger. So I tried to think of something that would not corrode, be impervious to water, and be fairly strong. Nylon! Nylon, incidentally, was invented by Wallace Carothers at DuPont, back in the 1930's. Interesting, if you are into inventions. Anyway, I had some of these on hand:
I decided to make my own chain out of ties. It took five ties, but works quite well.
It won't corrode, and hopefully will last a lot longer than the ball chains. We shall see. At the very least, we have a working toilet!
