My buddy swore that putting bleach in the toilet tank ruins the rubber seals, but I did it anyway and now my toilet won't stop running.

After 6 months of doing that little blue tablet every week, the flapper turned into mush and I had to spend $15 on a new kit, so was he actually right or is it just bad luck with my old toilet?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_singh813d agoTop Commenter

My dad always told me the blue tablets were fine, and I used them for years without problems. Then I moved into a house with a 20 year old toilet and within 3 months the flapper was completely shredded. I had to replace the whole fill valve too since the rubber was all warped. The bleach eats away at the seals over time, especially on older toilets where the rubber is already starting to get brittle. It might not cause issues in a newer toilet right away but it's basically a ticking time bomb for the parts.

jason_kelly83d ago

Yeah but I mean I don't think the age of the toilet is really the main thing here, it's more about the specific rubber they use in those flappers. Some of the cheap ones from the hardware store just melt way faster than the name brand ones for sure. My buddy runs a little handyman side gig and he swears the Fluidmaster stuff holds up better with bleach tablets for whatever reason, but idk if that's actually true or just luck. I've had a new toilet eat two flappers in a year with those blue tabs and then I switched to a different brand and it's been fine for like 8 months now. So maybe it's not just bleach being the problem but also what quality parts you're stuck with.