Page 1 of Toilet issues...

It seems I have inadvertently broken my cistern or at least made it worse.

The overflow has been dripping for a few weeks and is increasing all the time...
Got a few minutes today to take a look and found that the ballcock was too high thus sending water over into the overflow pipe.
Having never done this before I was trying to follow common sense and worked out if i tightened the screw behind it it should lower...
So did this.
But it still dripped. Fiddled with it a little more - and it seemed to have worked.

Flushed a couple of times - but now it makes an almighty racket!! like a whale call!
And also something is still dripping so in a few hours it will be probably back to overflowing again.

Back to square one and now noisy flush and p***ed off wife.

Any advice? or should I just call a plumber?

Ta

Gav


I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad
The dreams in which i`m dying are the best i`ve ever had.

Call a plumber.

My dad and I once spent an afternoon trying to fix our toilet, i described the noise more like an elephant, but you could feel the pipes shaking. We couldn`t get the bits apart no matter what we did, plumber turned up, replaced a washer and a bit of plastic that had got worn so was rough rather than smooth (normal wear and tear from hard water) in minutes rather than hours. he new which bits to turn, and in what directions. Would have saved us a lot of time and bother if we had just phoned him up to begin with!

Another example, of why there`s no shame in calling a plumber, I couldn`t stop a tap dripping underneath the sink, was having a really hard time undoing it to fix, tried all sorts still dripped. plumber comes out, as it turns out the previous owners had used the wrong type of connections, had forced it in place, but washer had worn now so was dripping. he put right bit of pipe and connections in place, good as gold :)

Call a plumber before you make it worse. Well, wait until tomorrow morning anyway!

Might be best to turn the water off at the mains before you go to bed.

:B Most likely the valve washer is failing, allowing water to trickle past, doesnt matter how much you adjust it, it will get worse.... it`s relatively simple to replace as a DIY job if you feel capable and have a couple of adjustable spanners and know how to turn off the correct water supply to the cistern - you can just by a new washer if you can get the old one apart, generally if its over about 5 years old i tend to replace the whole ball valve, you just have to isolate the water, flush the cistern to empty it and your away and if its a "side" entry its even easier, you dont have to drain the cistern completely.

Bottom entry can be a bit more fiddly (ooer mrs.... in case anyone feels the need for some postcard humour!) then you will need to get as much of the water out of the cistern as you can manually after you have flushed it, or when you take the valve out you will have a pint or more of water cascading down your arm.... :D

If you go the replacement route you can probably install a Torbeck valve or similar, which is smaller, tends to fill faster will eliminate most of the water noise and hammer effect you get when it gets close to being filled..

And to be really certain, check the fibre washer on the 15mm connector, when you re assemble the water connection replace if it looks tatty... :B

Either of the above valves Torbeck or standard will cost you about 10quid from your local B&Q etc... :B

p.s or i could come round and fix it, reasonable rates :D

This item was edited on Sunday, 30th November 2008, 22:33

lol, yeh, what he said, that`s what my dad and I wasted an afternoon trying to do but a plumber did in mins :)

Move the ballcock as close as possible to the end of the arm it is connected to. This will cause the ballcock to close the valve supplying water via the valve quicker and earlier than usual.
That usually does the trick. Failing that a new feed assembly will cost less than a tenner and is relatively straight forward to do. Get a plumber, as we say up here in bonnie scotland "Aye so ah phuqen wid" :D :D
Renewing the syphon or the main valve assembly is , pardon the pun, a piece of pish and will or should take you less than an hour to replace the lot.

Choagy FFCUK The SPL :D

Always a pain when the inlet valve wears out and you suddenly find your cistern doing impressions of dinosaur mating calls. Our outside bog was particularly bad for that one time.

We`re inveterate DIYers in our house, but lavatory maintenance is always a nightmare (possibility of leaks other than one`s own). Better left to the pros providing you can afford `em.

J Mark Oates