For the past few days, I’ve noticed that my toilet’s been making a quiet whistle-y leak sound. After running it with the lid off the tank for a few days, it’s clear that there’s a slow leak. Even if you don’t hear it, you can see the water build up to the emergency drain.

I’ve never fixed a toilet before, but I have made a few adjustments here and there. How complicated can it be? I probably just need a new thingamajig, which after some Googling appears to be called a ballcock.

Since I would normally visit a Home Depot store for a new thing of this sort, I try their website. They have one big Toilet Repair and Maintenance section that appears to have 50 levers, two flush valves, and zero ballcocks.

I think about trying Lowes.com, which may or may not exist, but then decide to check Amazon.com.

In the first page of search results for “toilet repair” I see a picture of the exact thingamajig that’s in my toilet. Seven bucks, not bad. And then I read the first “review”, which explains how to remove it, disassemble it, and clean out the gunk that is likely to cause your problem.

I remove it, clean out some gunk, put it back, same problem.

Then I re-read the directions, actually follow them completely, and discover I completely missed the point the first time around. I put it back and switch the water back on.

Quiet. Problem solved, costs nothing, makes me feel like a hero. Amazon, you are now my default store for everything.