How To Remove Plastic Nuts From The Toilet Tank

There are times and situations when you may need to remove plastic nuts from the toilet tank. Even though it may seem to be an easy job, it doesn’t always work in an expected way, and most importantly, just a single wrong step can damage the entire thing. This post will walk you through a few methods of removing plastic nuts from the toilet tank.

Before you can start removing the plastic nuts, you will first need to drain the water from your toilet tank. Then, you could remove the plastic nuts using pliers or an adjustable wrench.

However, there can be various situations, and the extent of difficulty in removing the plastic nuts may also vary with different situations. Reading this step-by-step guide till the end will help you understand how you can go about the different situations of removing plastic nuts from the toilet tank.

Importance of learning the right way to remove plastic nuts

There are situations like toilet leakage at the lock nut when you have to remove the nut and replace it with a new one to ensure there is no mess or stains on the floor. Besides, it is always wise to replace the rusted or damaged nuts with new ones. However, it is also important to follow the best techniques to ensure that you don’t damage your toilet.

The right way to remove plastic nuts from the toilet tank

Step 1: Shutting off the water supply

First things first, you must shut off the water supply for the toilet and to do that, you have to find the supply valve, which you can do by following the water supply hose. After you reach the point where the hose meets the valve that supplies water, you will see the valve on the wall. You have to turn the handle to the right, and this should cut the water supply.

Step 2: Draining out the water from the toilet tank

Next, you have to drain the water from the toilet tank and to do this, you need to first take off the toilet tank lid and put it aside. After that, you can start draining the tank by pressing down the handle and continue until all the water is drained. For any remaining water, you can use a towel or a sponge to soak it up.

Step 3: Removal process

After you are done this far, you are good to go with the removal process. First, you can place a towel on the floor under the tank and start unscrewing the plastic piece that connects the water supply hose to the toilet tank’s underpart.

Next, you have to locate the lock nut, and you could look for the large plastic nut, which should be above the place where the coupling was connected to. Once you find it, you can remove it by turning it counterclockwise using a pair of pliers or an adjustable wrench.

What if the lock nut is stuck

Usually, removing the plastic nuts should not be really difficult if you follow the right method. However, there are times when a lock nut may get stuck, and regular technique may not help work. There are two ways you can go about it.

1. Try lubricating the nut to loosen it using a hot wet towel, and then try removing it using a strap wrench or a basin wrench.
2. Another way to remove it is by using regular pliers. The way to use it is by using the pliers on the wide setting and opening them slightly wider than the nut. You must hold the pliers against the nut from the top or bottom and rotate them.

Removing rusted screws and wingnuts from the Toilet Tank

If you notice that the attached screws are rusted while removing the wingnuts from your toilet, it’s pretty normal to feel that it might break something, but there are ways to handle it. First off, you need to use a lubricating oil such as WD-40 and wait a while for the nut to loosen up. After that, you can remove it using a wrench or pliers.

Removing a plastic lock nut stuck under the toilet

In case a lock nut is stuck under the toilet, you may think cutting it with a saw is the only solution, but that’s not the only solution, and the best way to go about it is by using heat on the plastic nut and melting it down.

As far as the heating source goes, you can use a heating torch and apply it under the lock nut. However, at the same time, you must ensure that you don’t damage the other plastic parts. One good alternative to a heating torch is hot water, just if you don’t have a heating torch around.

Wrapping Up

We are sure you have found this post useful and have understood the right way to remove plastic nuts from the toilet tank. Apart from explaining the regular way to go about it, we have also addressed some situations you may encounter while removing plastic nuts from the toilet tank.

Some of these situations are removing a stuck lock nut, removing rusted screws, and removing a lock nut stuck under the toilet. As long as you follow these simple instructions and steps, you will be able to remove plastic nuts from the toilet tanks without damaging anything.