Step-By-Step Guide For Replacing A Toilet Handle

Open The Tank

First up, you must remove your toilet tank’s lid so that you can access the working parts inside of it. Make sure to place it well away from the toilet itself. This will eliminate the risk of you accidentally stepping back and onto the tank lid.

Turn Off The Water Supply

For obvious reasons, turning off your toilet’s water supply is the next essential step. To shut off the water supply to your toilet, find the water-supply valve that will be fixed to the wall.

Lift The Flapper

Toilet flappers are the part that allows water to drain from the toilet tank. Once you have located the toilet flapper, try to find the chain that links the flapper to the handle.

Release The Chain Clip

Once the toilet tank is empty, it is time to release the clip of the same chain that you just used to internally flush your toilet. The chain clip is the part that attaches the flapper to the toilet handle.

Remove Mounting Nut

The next step is to remove the mounting nut. The mounting nut is the part that fixes the toilet handle to the inside of the toilet. A pair of locking pliers will offer you the best leverage, but a pair of regular pliers should do the job as well.

Remove Old Handle

Once you have removed the toilet handle’s mounting nut, it should be an easy task to remove the toilet handle itself. The toilet handle should be entirely detached from the toilet chain and free from the side of the toilet.

Purchase The New Handle

Of course, you may have preempted this step, purchasing your new handle prior to starting the job at hand. 

Remove Mounting Nut And O-Ring From Handle

Once you have acquired your pride-inducing new toilet handle, it is time to remove the mounting nut and O-ring from it. Remember, in the process, you also must unscrew the mounting nut clockwise.

Slide Lever Into Tank

Once the mounting nut and O-ring have been removed from the toilet handle, you will need to slide the lever into the toilet tank.

Put Mounting Nut And O-Ring On Handle

Well, it is officially time to put them back where they belong – back on the handle. To do this you will need to go against the grain and screw them on in a counterclockwise motion.

Reattach Chain To Lever

The trick with reattaching the chain to the lever is to make sure that there is one inch of slack, nothing more, and nothing less. The lever end should have at least two hole options and sometimes up to four which will make this task an easy one.

Turn Toilet Water Back On

Once you have reattached the chain back onto the toilet handle lever, you have (almost) finished. The second final step is to give your toilet back its water.

Test The New Handle

The final step is the most exciting one by a country mile. Not that it even needs to be said, but to test your toilet handle all you need to do is do what you always do and flush your toilet.