Yesterday on Twitter I postulated that my refrigerator would be the next thing to go in my apartment.  It’s one thing after another in this crappy place, and it seems like, as soon as I get something fixed or fix it myself, something else breaks.  So, yesterday, the fridge wouldn’t stop running.  I thought it must be on its last legs until I realized that the freezer door was open just a crack.  Oops.  Well, that crisis averted, at least until this morning when my toilet decided to not stop running.

I tried tinkering with it today, since I figured the apartment manager wouldn’t want to call a plumber on a holiday anyway.  I checked the float ball to make sure it wasn’t waterlogged.  I  tried tightening and loosening the screws holding the float arm in place to see if that would help.  I turned off the water supply to make sure the flush valve wasn’t to blame.  Nada.  Finally I wound up flushing the toilet with the tank lid removed, and I noticed a stream of water shooting out the side of the intake valve.  What the hell?  I have never before seen anyone mention that as a potential problem in a toilet.  Never.  Just goes to show how old my apartment is.  I bet that intake valve hasn’t been replaced since the building was constructed 42 years ago.