I have been looking online and have been getting mixed information and I am hoping that someone with some experience can help clarify what I have been seeing.
The problem: A toilet is no longer filling. I have the replacement fill valve which also came with a new flapper. While the replacement is straight forward, it is complicated by a messed up shut off valve. The shut off valve is dripping to make things more annoying. The shut off valve no longer shuts off the water, instead it freely spins in both directions.
My main issue is having zero experience with plumbing as I am unsure how to go about shutting off the water. I know where to shut it off outside, but I am unsure about what I need to do regarding the water heater as some vids and articles have suggested that one switch it to pilot, where others suggest having to unplug it 30 ways till sunday and draining the water or preventing it from draining while the water is shut off. I believe that I should be able to replace the fill valve inside the toilet without to much trouble if I can shut off the water to the house and addressing the water heater properly. The shut off valve behind the toilet is another issue that has
The shut off valve behind the toilet is, according to the vids i have watched, the older type that you must turn several times. I believe the newer type is called a ball valve and requires just one twist. The current valve is no longer working properly. At one point I had to turn it off and twisted it to one point where the valve popped out about a quarter of an inch and now spins freely with no effect to the flow of water. At that point in time it started to drip, but a few weeks later it stopped and was ignored.
This leaves me with the problem of having to replace the shut off valve as I have no idea how compromised it is and having to dump out a bowl of water a few times a day is a waste. The valve is likely from when the house was built, which was in the 70s. I have no idea how hard it will be to remove. Seeing a video that suggested that one might need to use a saw to cut through it did not boost my confidence.
I am finding this rather frustrating as it is just one more thing in a series of issues that have been popping up. Whatever problems I can fix on my own would go a long way towards saving money that could be used to help resolve other issues.
Thanks
I had a similar issue a couple years ago
I am going to start with the simple answers and then work my way to the more complicated issues/solutions.
option 1 look at the pipe that comes out of the wall into the cutoff valve. in the best case it is threaded into the cutoff valve.
if this is the case this is an ~20 minute fix
1 shut off the water (likely at the meter cutoff) this will stop all water flow to the house
2 if possible find a faucet or other water spigot at a lower elevation to the toilet in question or even the sink or shower/tub in the bath room and open it to bleed off the cold water pressure (hot pressure would be good as well to prevent back flow.)
3 take 2 wrenches pipe wrenches if necessary put one on the pipe to hold it still, put the second on the failed (gate valve) and turn it (typically counter clock wise) to take the supply cut off valve out. put your teflon plumbers tape onto the pipes threads ~1-2 wraps NO more wrapped so that when you start putting the new cutoff valve (preferably ball style) on it will not unwrap and burr up the tape, and tighten down the new valve so that it is reasonably tight but not super tight or it will crack/leak (yes fittings will leak if under or over tightened) make sure the valve is off and turn the water on at the outside cut off valve, and check for leaks.
if no leaks around the cut off supply valve, then just reconnect the toilet and test.
next option the valve is "soldered/sweated on.
in this case you will need to cut the pipe off. in this case it will likely be copper tubing. my recommendation is to get a copper/brass tubing to thread fitting and solder/sweat it onto the end of the pipe coming out of the wall, so you don't have to do this again. after that threaded connector is on the pipe, you just follow the previous install instructions.
my reasoning for turning the water at the supply valve on before connecting the toilet is so you don't have to take the toilet supply line off repeatedly if there is an issue.
note the supply valve on the pipe side sand the pipe/threaded fitting should be pipe thread as that is the standard.