Toilet tank cracks open

speedball1 · Aug 1, 2010, 07:15 AM

Quote:

Has anyone heard of a tank cracking and bursting open?

In over 50 years out in the field you're the first!
Toilet tanks simply don't burst open by themselves.
How many people in your house?
Any children? How old was the toilet?

Quote:

large pieces on the floor

Tell me more , Where where the pieces from? The side or was it from around where the tank bolts to the bowl?
Please give me all the details you can. There's just got to be a reason. Let's find it together.
Cheers, Tom

meatballlou · Aug 1, 2010, 07:30 AM

Tom,
No one was home and had not been for 2 days. There was one large piece on the floor -- from the side, and several smaller from the bottom, adjacent to the bolt. Doing some research I'm seeing notes on Crane toilets from the 80's "exploding" and also something about toilets that are not gravity toilets but pressure something or other. I am not home now, but when I get there in a hour or two I'mgoing to check the manufacturer. Everyone tells me it's weird -- never heard of it, but unless someone came into my house and did it, this thing burst on it's own.

speedball1 · Aug 1, 2010, 09:31 AM

The toilets you're reading about aren't tank failures but bowl failures. I know of no complaints where the tank simply burst without human helkp. When everything was together did the tank "give" a bit when you leaned back or was the tank ridged and imoveable?
The only part of the tank that could possibility have any strain on it would be at the tank bolts.
Is the floor or the tank intact? Let me know, Tom

meatballlou · Aug 1, 2010, 01:23 PM

The missing pieces did come from the bolt area. The bottom, side and a big chunk of the back of the tank on that side were on the floor. So I'd say half of the ceramic tank around the bolt is gone, with only half of the bolt still attached to the tank. There is even a crack that stems from that same bolt that remains in the part of the tank that is still intact. I do have a handicapped person that uses that toilet and I think she is rough on it -- using it often to pull herself up. SHe also had a portabel pot over it that had a bar in the back that probably hit against the tank, but that was months ago! I constantly have to tighten the seat on that particular toilet as Ithink she throws herself on and off. But the last time she used that toilet was a long time ago. Do you think she could have cracked/stressed it, and water in the crack caused it to split? My family keep telling me to call the cops as someone had to come in and vandalized it. But if they were going to do that , they sure could have made trouble easier and it was the basement bath, not an upstairs bath. Really puzzling! THANKS!

KISS · Aug 1, 2010, 04:17 PM

I think that is a plausible explanation, however I would have expected the tank bolts to be loose. Someone when siting against the tank should have felt it move a little bit.

So, a combination of loose tank bolts and the knocking by the handicapped user has a higher probability than just the handicapped user.

For 20/20 hindsight Fluidmaster makes a flush valve that MIGHT have protected against this failure. It is designed to protect against toilets that run. It would have depended on EXACTLY the probagation of the pieces.

speedball1 · Aug 2, 2010, 05:26 AM

Quote:

I do have a handicapped person that uses that toilet and I think she is rough on it -- using it often to pull herself up.

That's a good enough explanation for me.
WEE NEVER tighten the tank bolts so that there's no "give" to the tank if someone leans back. It puts too much strain on the tank bolts. We leave about 1/4" of play between the tank and bowl. Thanks for a interesting problem for us to explore. Regards, Tom

LHalkape · Sep 14, 2010, 05:48 PM

That just happened to my mom last night, I was checking online to see how this is possible.
Stepdad in nursing home for over 2 months. Nobody has used that toilet except him. Very old toilet, over 20 years. Mom heard water and discovered that upstairs toilet was gushing out water. She called the fire dept who turned off water. Tank is cracked at side but she never noticed a crack when she cleaned it several months ago.

speedball1 · Sep 16, 2010, 06:48 AM

Tanks, even old toilet tanks,don't explode, blow up or fall apart by themselves. They have to have human help. As a rule it's because the tank was cranked down tight against the bowl with no give.
If someone leans back against the tank and it doesn't give it will put the tank bolts under a strain and them and the tank will break apart at that point, WE NEVER tighten the tank bolts so that there's no "give" to the tank if someone leans back. It puts too much strain on the tank bolts. We leave about 1/4" of play between the tank and bowl. Cheers, Tom

John George · Aug 5, 2012, 02:55 PM

We've just come back from Spain and the toilet cistern porcelain cracked by itself and water begun to leak out. We were in the kitchen and there was a loud bang - like a baking tray deforming with heat in an oven - and only found out later what had happened. The toilet was fitted about 6 years before and had no fixings to the wall. There were no extremes of temperature that day. So your answer is written from total ignorance I'm afraid.

Toilet tank cracks open

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