How to Make a Water Float Valve
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How to Make a Water Float Valve Water float valves are usually found in water storage tanks and toilet cisterns. Water floats rise and turn off a water supply, to prevent overflowing. They are also known as ball cocks and sometimes crack over years of use. Check yours has not simply seized up with lime scale before replacing it. A new one can be made with a few household items. Remove your ball cock with pliers before fitting your homemade one. Instructions: 1 Screw the lid on to the top of a 1/2-liter plastic bottle. Ensure the lid is screwed air tight against the rim of the bottle. Place waterproof tape around the outside of the lid and wrap it around three times working down the bottle neck. 2 Place the bottle sideways on a work surface and position a cork next to the lid, extending away from the bottle. Add more waterproof tape, this time wrapping it around the lid and working up. Continue to wrap the tape so that cork becomes fixed to the bottle lid. 3 Secure the cork in place by running a loop of tape up the side of the bottle, over the lid and cork and back down the other side. Turn the bottle so that you can repeat the process with a second loop of tape at 90 degrees to the last. The two loops should form a cross at the top of the cork. 4 Remove the lid from your water tank and empty it. Tie the lifting arm up with some string so the tank does not refill while you work on it. Hold your water float valve by the cork and carefully screw it onto the lift arm of your toilets flush mechanism. The lift arm should have a screw thread on the end. Work this through the tape at the top of the cork and into the cork, but stop before you penetrate the bottle lid. 5 Refill your water tank. The bottle should float on the surface of the water. As the water level increases the water float will raise the lift arm. When the lift arm is high enough it should stop the water supply. If the water is not stopped soon enough, position the bottle so it is slightly lower. |