I am from the US, and was wondering if any kit works on every home toilet.
No, but most replacement parts are semi universal parts that can be adjusted to fit the vast majority. However you need to know what toilet you have as each almost universal part doesn’t fit something another one will. Odds are you have a common toilet that any universal part fits - but there are toilets that are not compatible ith anything.
before doing anything though should you replace the whole thing is a question worth asking. do you prefer a round or engladed bowl; what about the height; maybe you want one without stains; or a low water use version that works? It wouldn’t cost much more to replace the whole thing with one that fits you better.
Mostly, but as others have said variations exist. Another caveat is that newer/shorter tanks may need to removed to access the nut to change the filler valve.
@MajorHavoc has it covered. It’s the flush valve that varies most. Most common is the flapper design, but some brands use plastic towers.
Fill valves are almost universally interchangable. Your variables there will be age and interference. You’d have to go back to basically antiques before things become incompatible. As for interference, units with the big float on the end of a rod may not fit in a tank that uses a tall flush valve. They make more compact styles for those situations.
All that bring said… What are you trying to fix? The flush and fill valves are by far the most common maintenance items, but if neither of those things are the issue then you’re going to run into proprietary parts fast.
They are not all the same.
Measure the diameter of the hole at the bottom of the water holding tank. It’s the main difference between older and newer toilets in the US.
Any US toilet repair kit should list what diameter(s) it supports.
Depth of the holding tank will vary as well, but most repair kits account for this. Some kits may require using a hand saw to cut some plastic tubes to fit smaller tanks. Other kits have an extendable or collapsible tube.
They make universal flappers now that are actually universal.
And most arms are extendable and can have angle adjusted multiple ways, so basically universal.
If you replace anything else, you might as well change all the internals at once with a set
No. A lot of them work with each other, but not all toilets are the same.
Nope, I’ve seen at least 3 completely different designs, none of those compatible.
Not exactly universal but there is wide compatibility. If it looks the same then you are probably ok, but you need the right type.
Nothing new to add, but since crowd sourcing answers is more reliable when you have more of them, I figure it’s worth it.
As everyone before this said, it isn’t a perfect compatibility, so you can’t just grab any random kit and be certain it’ll be 100% right. But, there’s a decent chance it will be, or that you can improvise things enough to get it to work long enough to get the exact right bits.
Biggest problem I’ve run into over the years is flappers not making a good seal, and the pipe not fitting well. The flapper is harder to deal with, but the pipe can usually be made to work with a gasket cut to size, long enough to get a better one at convenience rather than having to run right back out.
While the kits may use standardized plumbing connector, they are not all guaranteed to use the same standard sizes.
