Has anyone had any experience of this? We have a slimline toilet cistern that has developed a leak (it drips continually into the toilet bowl). It's my understanding that the common cause for this is simply limescale build-up on the vacuum pump however I am not 100% comfortable with taking the thing to bits and trying to fix it as the only access point is via the hatch around the flush button. I am thinking 'what would happen if I get the vacuum out, clean it up then cannot refix' as it would then require a big job involving removing tiles.
I was wondering if I could simply pour some limescale removing solution into the cistern and leave it? Or has anyone got any tips/done anything similar themselves?
Thank you
I replaced the flush-thing in mine through the hatch around the flush buttons with similar trepidation - but it turned out to be very easy to do. Was a few years ago in a previous house so I've forgotten any details I'm afraid.
I did buy a new flush-thing rather than trying to clean the existing.
Mine does this periodically.
Give it a good thump nearish the flush button (seriously).
Works every time for me...
I actually did this yesterday. Fortunately our cistern was accessible as the panel behind the toilet was easily removed; the worktop above is tiled in so no access from above. The steps were:
- Remove access panel
- Unclip hose from flush button
- Isolate the cistern by closing the valve on the water pipe
- Drain cistern (i.e. flush it a few times)
- Disconnect the inlet and outlet pipes to the cistern
- Remove cistern from mounting (this one hung on a bracket)
- Fix the leaky bit (ours was just some build up on the seal of the outlet, a quick clean sorted it)
- Reassemble
In true DIY fashion doing this caused another leak - the isolator valve on the water pipe had clearly leaked before but was sealed with limescale. Closing it broke the seal and it had a fair leak so I had to replace that this morning!
I had something similar on mine which turned out to be a failure of the inlet tail. Access as above was through the button panel and a simple fix.
I had something similar on mine which turned out to be a failure of the inlet tail.
Cheers bit I'm not sure that is the case with mine as it is an intermittent issue (after some flushes it doesn't leak at all) so I am leaning toward it being the vacuum pump not reseating properly after opening for every flush (because of limescale build-up).
Had this, but not due to limescale thanks to lovely Scottish water. My solution was to flip the vacuum seal over. Over time it becomes slightly distorted and doesn’t seat properly. Flipping the seal puts pressure back in the right direction.
The vacuum mechanism is usually held in by two tabs that just need pressed in to remove. I had no need to unscrew from the cistern. Once out you can clean and flip seal.
Thanks for all the responses - some very useful tips and I think I have my weekend sorted...
