What is a Lift Rod?

I was washing dishes one day when the lift rod on my sink stopped working. I was trying to drain the soapy water out of the sink, but I couldn’t get the drain to open.

The dishwater looked pretty disgusting. I had made brownies and washed the bowl in it, so the water was a rich brown with little chunks floating in it. I had company coming, so I draped a towel over the sink to hide the mess.

I called my husband, and he knew what was wrong without even looking at it. He picked up a new lift rod on the way home, and he had the drain working within a couple of minutes.

When I lived with my parents, the lift rod on one of our toilets broke. I believe it had lasted for over twenty-five years, which is pretty amazing. My dad had to special order a new lift rod, because this kind was hard to find.

The broken toilet was in the bathroom that I went to in the middle of the night. It was hard to remember not to use it when I woke up all groggy. I ended up shutting the lid and taping a piece of paper across it, on which I wrote “out of order.”

It’s crazy how much a little thing like a lift rod can inconvenience you when it stops working. I was so glad when that part finally arrived.

I think a lot of older toilets have issues with their lift rods. I have known of several flush levers that became quirky when the attachment to their lift rods got off by just a little bit.

I used to work in an old building with a toilet that had not been replaced in decades. If I didn’t hold down the flush lever until all the water had disappeared from the bowl, then the lift rod would get stuck, and the toilet would make gurgling noises until someone came in and jiggled the lever.

Often, people would forget about this quirk, and the toilet would make noise for a long time. Since my cubicle was within earshot, I would always be the one to go in there and jiggle the lever. The noise got on my nerves after awhile, and I seemed to be the only one near enough to hear it and fix it.

@SarahSon - I had the same issue with the toilet lift rod. I could not figure out why on earth the flush lever was not making the toilet flush. It was way too easy to push downward, as though nothing were holding it up.

My dad was there at the time, so he lifted the tank lid and showed me the problem. He pulled the rod up with his finger, and it snapped back into place. Suddenly, the flush lever was working again.

It seemed like something that should have been so easy to figure out. However, I’m just not mechanically minded. I’m glad my dad was there, or I would have had to pay a plumber for something really simple!

I usually rely on my husband to take care of things around the house that need to be fixed or repaired.

Sometimes he isn't always around and I have to figure out how to do it myself. This was the case with one of our toilets and a broken lift rod.

Once I took the tank lid off, it was easy to see what the problem was. The employees at the local hardware store were also very helpful, and I was able to get it fixed and running again in a short time.

Before this I would not have even known what a lift rod was without having someone explain it to me.

I am just glad that was an easy fix and there were other toilets to use in the mean time. A lift rod is one of those things that you don't give any thought to - until it stops working properly.