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toilet tank suddenly cracks

updated thu 28 feb 08

 

karen gringhuis on sun 24 feb 08


Exact same thing happened to us many years ago w/ tank
of indeterminate age for no apparent reason.
Apparently it just happens. We retd. home from
vacation, flushed it and voila, water all over.

On another vacation, we were also burglarized.
Strange similarity. Takes a while to recover
emotionally so stay steady.

Unless you think your breakin is totally unlikely to
recur, I strongly suggest installing a security
system. We did not do this and were hit a second time
- after which we finally saw the light and installed
system. If you do have one installed, it's poss. to
have your smoke alarm hard wired into it - a feature I
loved.

Good luck.



Karen Gringhuis
KG Pottery
Box 607 Alfred NY 14802

Clayart SCtag on sun 24 feb 08


Hoefully no one else will have the weird happening that occurred to us
tonight.
I was downstairs and all of a sudden I hear heavy running of water and
dashed upstairs and saw the entire bathroom floor covered with over an inch of
water and more running out the back of the toilet tank.I turned off the water
from underneath and had expected an attached section or pipe to have come
loose but ,amazingly, the designer tank of 38 yea r vintage Crain brand
commode had suddenly, without anyone having used it for a couple hours,developed a
terminal crack from the back corner top edge down the bend in the bottom
over to the place where the attached mechanisms came thru into the water tank
itself.No damage had ever come to the unit before or then and it had not had
any leaks or other troubles when this suddenly happened. If I had not been
in a room below it and rushed up to limit the damage there would have been
a disaster of huge proportions.
I have no reason to imagine it was defective since it worked fine all those
years and have never heard of a porcelain tank doing something spontaneously
like that.Well, I see what we are doing tomorrow,sigh.

We are trying to recover from a burglary so when I told my daughter of
this event she warns me ''things come in 3's",THAT WILL HELP ME SLEEP TONIGHT!!!.

Margaret in South Carolina



**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-duffy/
2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)

Ann Brink on sun 24 feb 08


We had the same thing happen last year, to a tank of about the same age.

We couldn't figure out why, after all this time, either.

Ann Brink in Lompoc CA, ready to unload a bisque firing and get on with
glazing next week.
(mostly about pottery)


---- Original Message -----
From: "Clayart SCtag"
To:
Sent: Saturday, February 23, 2008 9:19 PM
Subject: toilet tank suddenly cracks


> Hoefully no one else will have the weird happening that occurred to us
> tonight.
> I was downstairs and all of a sudden I hear heavy running of water and
> dashed upstairs and saw the entire bathroom floor covered with over an
> inch of
> water and more running out the back of the toilet tank.I turned off the
> water
> from underneath and had expected an attached section or pipe to have come
> loose but ,amazingly, the designer tank of 38 yea r vintage Crain brand
> commode had suddenly, without anyone having used it for a couple
> hours,developed a
> terminal crack from the back corner top edge down the bend in the bottom
> over to the place where the attached mechanisms came thru into the water
> tank
> itself.No damage had ever come to the unit before or then and it had not
> had
> any leaks or other troubles when this suddenly happened. If I had not
> been
> in a room below it and rushed up to limit the damage there would have
> been
> a disaster of huge proportions.
> I have no reason to imagine it was defective since it worked fine all
> those
> years and have never heard of a porcelain tank doing something
> spontaneously
> like that.Well, I see what we are doing tomorrow,sigh.
>
>

pdp1@EARTHLINK.NET on mon 25 feb 08


Hi Doric, all...




The Tanks mount in Rubber Washers, with usually Brass Through-Bolts, to the
Toilet Bowl back portion.

If the House 'settles' it will make no difference to the Tank, since it is
not attached to anything which would stress it by differential movement.
Tanks do not attach to the walls AND to the Toilet Bowl proper, unless very
old designs, where, a pipe merely connected the two.


However, if one leans hard against the Tank of a more or less 'modern'
Toilet/Commode while sitting, it maybesorta could stress the two connection
points, causing the Tank to crack on the bottom where the mounting Bolts
pass through it. And or if a thin or cheap or thirdworld import Tank-Toilet,
likely this is possible.


Otherwise, I can think of nothing else to account for it...other than
accidental shock or concussion from dropping something on to it or hitting
it from the side with something.


Unless one sees clearly non-aligning sides to a crack in something like
this, where it let go, then mysterious internal 'stresses' or accumulated
distressing influences postulated from 'time', can be ruled out easily.



Best wishes...


Love,

Phil
l v


----- Original Message -----
From: "Doric T. Jemison-Ball ll"

> Dear CLAYART GANG:
>
> I've been fascinated by the discussion of the mysterious toilet tank
> cracking. Using the assumption that the simplest explaination is probably
> the best [assuming you've ruled out aliens from space] has anybody
> considered that in 30 some years the toilet tank has probably been banged
> around a lot by folks who didn't always sit gently on the seat, that the
> house has settled, that there have maybe been an earthquake or two in the
> last thirtysome years and that it just cracked for what [if it were a
> human
> that had died] would best be described as "natural causes"?
>
> After 30 some odd years, nothing is sudden. Its hard to imagine porcelain
> wearing out, but then, you don't sit on your porcelain vases several times
> every day, often not very gracefully.
>
> Doric T.Jemison-Ball II
> buffalo@bbs-la.com

Terrance Lazaroff on mon 25 feb 08


I am not an expert on toilet tanks but I do know that, when a piece of
ceramic is glazed only on the outside, the piece is under a great deal of
tension. The toilet tank being square also add to this tension. It could
just be that the tank had a minor weakness in the corner and with all the
extra tension, over the years, it gave way.

Terrance Frank Lazaroff
visit Terry's website at http://www.clayart.ca

Doric T. Jemison-Ball ll on mon 25 feb 08


Dear CLAYART GANG:

I've been fascinated by the discussion of the mysterious toilet tank
cracking. Using the assumption that the simplest explaination is probably
the best [assuming you've ruled out aliens from space] has anybody
considered that in 30 some years the toilet tank has probably been banged
around a lot by folks who didn't always sit gently on the seat, that the
house has settled, that there have maybe been an earthquake or two in the
last thirtysome years and that it just cracked for what [if it were a human
that had died] would best be described as "natural causes"?

After 30 some odd years, nothing is sudden. Its hard to imagine porcelain
wearing out, but then, you don't sit on your porcelain vases several times
every day, often not very gracefully.

Doric T.Jemison-Ball II
buffalo@bbs-la.com

Ron Roy on wed 27 feb 08


Every factory that makes ceramic objects has a dilatometer - to avoid such
occurrences - the way it is - the way it has to be.

Even so there can be delayed reactions - the glaze has to be under
compression to avoid crazing - that means the inside glaze is trying to
push the container apart - sometimes just the right amount to stop crazing
- sometimes a little too much.

The materials we use are dug up mostly - they vary - it takes skill to make
sure everything is right for the purpose. The more we understand the better
we will be able to cope.

We potters don't have usually have dilatometers ($30,000 new) but we do
have calculation and it can warn us of potential problems.

RR

>Hoefully no one else will have the weird happening that occurred to us
>tonight.
>I was downstairs and all of a sudden I hear heavy running of water and
>dashed upstairs and saw the entire bathroom floor covered with over an inch of
>water and more running out the back of the toilet tank.I turned off the
>water
>from underneath and had expected an attached section or pipe to have come
>loose but ,amazingly, the designer tank of 38 yea r vintage Crain brand
>commode had suddenly, without anyone having used it for a couple
>hours,developed a
>terminal crack from the back corner top edge down the bend in the bottom
>over to the place where the attached mechanisms came thru into the water tank
>itself.No damage had ever come to the unit before or then and it had not had
>any leaks or other troubles when this suddenly happened. If I had not been
>in a room below it and rushed up to limit the damage there would have been
>a disaster of huge proportions.
>I have no reason to imagine it was defective since it worked fine all those
>years and have never heard of a porcelain tank doing something spontaneously
>like that.Well, I see what we are doing tomorrow,sigh.
>
>We are trying to recover from a burglary so when I told my daughter of
>this event she warns me ''things come in 3's",THAT WILL HELP ME SLEEP
>TONIGHT!!!.
>
>Margaret in South Carolina
>
>
>
>**************Ideas to please picky eaters. Watch video on AOL Living.
>(http://living.aol.com/video/how-to-please-your-picky-eater/rachel-campos-d
>uffy/
>2050827?NCID=aolcmp00300000002598)
>
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Ron Roy
RR#4
15084 Little Lake Road
Brighton, Ontario
Canada
K0K 1H0