This is the second hack I had to do in my 3 plus years of living in this particular apartment. The first hack was a leaky pipe under the sink.

As I mentioned before, the rear of my toilet started to leak. This was a result of the flotation device (that little black ball thing in the rear tank of your toilet under that heavy porcelain cover that feels like it belongs to some Egyptian sarcophagus every time you lift it up) NOT floating. It was completely submerged, which meant that the pump continued to deliver water into the tank as it waited for that black flotation device to signal it to stop by floating to the top of the tank.

Black flotation device failing at it's job

After spending ten minutes bending, pulling, and twisting the black flotation device to get it to float again, I gave up and decided to go with a homegrown solution. Also, it was 3AM so a call to the super would have just been a waste of time.

I grabbed a small, empty plastic bottle with a cap on it and some wiring. I placed the bottle under the metal overhang that connects to the black flotation device and tied the bottle to it with some flexible wire.

Small plastic bottle (Tropicana OJ) and wire

After putting everything together, a few pushes on the lever, no overflow. The plastic bottle unsurprisingly fulfills the floating task that the black ball fails to accomplish. So, if you ever run into this problem, this is one of many solutions to fixing it (albeit not the best). 

Make sure to check that it works

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Copyright (C) 2007 Alain Georgette / Copyright (C) 2006 Frantisek Hliva. All rights reserved.