I came home to a horrible noise in the bathroom and found water water gushing out the side of the tank that had burst open -- large pieces on the floor -- tank cover still on. Many thousand dollars damage to room. Has anyone heard of a tank cracking and bursting open?

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Has anyone heard of a tank cracking and bursting open?

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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?

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large pieces on the floor

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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

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.

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

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!

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.

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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.

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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

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.

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

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.

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So your answer is written from total ignorance I'm afraid.

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That not a nice thing to say and certainly not true. If you weren't new to this site you would know that Tom has a life time of experience and knowledge about plumbing. Rather ignorant of you.

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Originally Posted by John George

So your answer is written from total ignorance I'm afraid.

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I agree with Hkstroud, Tom is the most knowledgeable person on this website we don’t appreciate your comment, and you have responded to 2 years old thread, please learn how to respond a thread then stay with us.
John

It has been said that toilet tanks do not fail without help, but listen to my story. I returned home today to find my house flooded because the toilet tank cracked in 3 different locations. None of the 3 cracks is connected to the others. None of the cracks passes through an area where external stress occurs, meaning not through mounting lot holes nor fill connection, note even flush handle. The cracks go all the way through the porcelain, and are as much as 1/8' gap at widest points. The tank is no longer concentric where the cracks are, or to put it another way, the portion of the tank on one side of the crack does no line up any more with the portion of the tank on the other side of the crack. None of the cracks resulted in pieces falling off the tank, meaning all of the original porcelain that made up the tank is still attached, it just has cracks that have opened up through it. Last night before I left my house I did hear aloud bang coming from what sounded like that bathroom, but I did not notice anything wrong with it at the time. The tank lid was still in place to top of the tank. This tank was manufactured in 1968 he year the house was built and for at least the last 15 years that I have owned the house it has had nothing happen to it that would chip or cause any sort of damage to the tank, I'm baffled myself...

I agree that strange things can happen in a home but as an rule toilet tanks don't . Explode, blow up. Or develop cracks by themselves. They have help from humans. That being said, I can't explain some of the earlier posts. Some things simply can't be explained. Any ideas out there? NTom

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Originally Posted by speedball1

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?
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

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Hi Tom,
I'm the second! I woke this morning to a tank that cracked on the front, starting 6 inches from the right side then wrapping to the right around the tank and stopping two inches from the tank bottom about an inch from the front.

Just me and the wife, no kids, pets, or visitors. No recent earthquakes.
Just Spontaneous Ceramic Un-Cohesiveness.
Weird is the word.
Aloha, Ken

Fully,
I have seen toilet tanks fracture from water hammer, usually caused by a combination of excessive water pressure, and a fast closing ballcock. Private well water systems, with poorly maintained storage tanks, can provide the right conditions for water hammer.

You are tagging onto a post from 2010. Start your new thread

Thank you

Milo

Thanks Mike, The chances that 'speedball 1' was still around from 2010 were slim (Hi there Milo) I know.I was reading anecdotal replies to my similar situation from multiple web pages. All old, all interresting. It's a function of these old threads. I thought of water hammer, dismissed it. Our plumbing has a great venting system preventing that. (even from the Washing machine shut-off valves, which can be horrible for that.)We had a Thunderstorm at the time that morning. Maybe I got some "lightnin" down the vent spout. Mahalo and aloha. (PS I'm replacing the toilet with an elongated bowl model, now I have an excuse/reason to do it.)

Speedball is still around, although, not as active this past year. His experience, passion, and, insightful answers have helped many...

Just to let people know. We just had the tank split at our vacation home. The tank was split right down the centre. There was no one there when it occurred. We were there a day before with no issue. No one was there to see it break. But there was also no one there to break it. It was in the spring with moderate temperatures. The furnace and baseboard heaters were both working if needed but they weren't needed.

So it does happen, yes it was a crane, it was the tank not the bowl. The crack ran vertical from the top of the tank to the bottom right in the centre above the bowl.

Hopes this adds to the conversation.