Toilet barely flushes and slow to fill-Help

paddy147

The toilet in my nieces house is a push button toilet and it doesnt really flush much these days.It barely flushes down a few sheets of loo roll at the moment.:(

Its also quite slow to fill up,and you can barely hear a trickle of water going back into it.

So is there a quick and easy fix to this?
Does a part need to be taken out and cleaned or replaced??

Thanks.:)

jagblad

I've had similar symptoms, though with a different looking flush mechanism, the guy in the plumbing store told me it's normally a perished washer.

This is the washer the floating arm presses against to stop the water flow when the arm is up, when the arm is down the pressure is off the washer and it lets the water through.

When the washer is perished it doesn't bounce out to allow the water to flow freely, even when the arm is fully down.

He sold me one for maybe 50c, and very easy to replace. Unscrewed a little plastic cover and popped out the old one and put the new one in.

Joey the lips

This is the exact same cistern fittings as mine. You have 2 problems by the sounds of it.(But i could be wrong)

1. If you put about 2-3 euro in coils on the black part of the inlet valve it helps it fill up quicker. These are high pressure cistern fittings and they are a fecker for this.

2. On the flushing. The threaded bar on the button might be too short which means its not pushing the button down enough. Outside that there honestly is not much can go wrong with these.

With due respect to the poster above. Your water level is reaching the high level mark so it cannot be the washer. I am just using a process of elimination to figure it can only be the threaded pce on the button.

paddy147

Joey the lips wrote: »

This is the exact same cistern fittings as mine. You have 2 problems by the sounds of it.(But i could be wrong)

1. If you put about 2-3 euro in coils on the black part of the inlet valve it helps it fill up quicker. These are high pressure cistern fittings and they are a fecker for this.

2. On the flushing. The threaded bar on the button might be too short which means its not pushing the button down enough. Outside that there honestly is not much can go wrong with these.

With due respect to the poster above. Your water level is reaching the high level mark so it cannot be the washer. I am just using a process of elimination to figure it can only be the threaded pce on the button.

Ok so,I adjusted the 2 plastic bars to suit and that has cured the problem with the flushing of the toilet.

I also tried placing a large stainless nut on the black plastic part,but theres stil only a very small trickle of water entering back into the toilet.

I took off that small plastic water pipe and made sure that it wasnt blocked up.

Could there be a blockage inside that black plastic part?

Any ideas?

Joey the lips

paddy147 wrote: »

Ok so,I adjusted the 2 plastic bars to suit and that has cured the problem with the flushing of the toilet.

I also tried placing a large stainless nut on the black plastic part,but theres stil only a very small trickle of water entering back into the toilet.

I took off that small plastic water pipe and made sure that it wasnt blocked up.

Could there be a blockage inside that black plastic part?

Any ideas?

I dont know if there is a blockage but like me you seem good for tinkering so have a look but tbh If you weighted the float down and its still not working i would be inclined to change it. These dont respond very well to adjustment and a new one @ low pressure costs 20 euro in woodies.

paddy147

Joey the lips wrote: »

I dont know if there is a blockage but like me you seem good for tinkering so have a look but tbh If you weighted the float down and its still not working i would be inclined to change it. These dont respond very well to adjustment and a new one @ low pressure costs 20 euro in woodies.

Thanks Joey,the toilet is taking around 8-9 minutes to fill back up to a reasonable level and there is a bare trickle of water entering back into the toilet once its flushed.

As for Woodies..........I will probably get it cheaper in Chadwicks or the likes of CDV.:)

Joey the lips

paddy147 wrote: »

Thanks Joey,the toilet is taking around 8-9 minutes to fill back up to a reasonable level and there is a bare trickle of water entering back into the toilet once its flushed.

As for Woodies..........I will probably get it cheaper in Chadwicks or the likes of CDV.:)

You will get it cheaper in the mentioned places. I just use a common place for most checking in.

If it takes 8-9 minutes then yes i would change the inlet. However the weights worked on mine and i have 3 off them

paddy147

Joey the lips wrote: »

You will get it cheaper in the mentioned places. I just use a common place for most checking in.

If it takes 8-9 minutes then yes i would change the inlet. However the weights worked on mine and i have 3 off them

Tried the weights (2 large stainless steel nuts),even tried holding it down a bit with my finger,just to see if it made any difference,and still the same poorly trickle of water comming out of it.:(

paddy147

But hey,the flushing problem is solved (more like Niagra Falls now),so thanks for the advice.

1 out of 2 problems solved isnt too bad for a Monday.:D

blueshed

hi i hope the OP wont mind me jumping in on his thread.

got a problem now with the 3 toilets in the house.they are taking from 15mins to over 1hr for them to fill back up after being flushed.

1st problem was in bathroom toilet then a week later the downstairs and now the ensuite toilet which took well over an hour to refill today.

the house is over 12 yeares old and your normal toilets.

any ideas or advice please.

MerryLegs

paddy147 wrote: »

The toilet in my nieces house is a push button toilet and it doesnt really flush much these days.It barely flushes down a few sheets of loo roll at the moment.:(

Its also quite slow to fill up,and you can barely hear a trickle of water going back into it.

So is there a quick and easy fix to this?
Does a part need to be taken out and cleaned or replaced??

Thanks.:)

Happened our loo last wee, the fella fixed it so i mite not be much help, open the cistern lid and there was a screw loose where the flusher handle is, it was stopping it from filling properly and flushing. Duno if i helped but i tried

zuluman

Does a part need to be taken out and cleaned or replaced

Nearly has to be the little diaphragm on the water inlet. Maybe stuck or perished as another poster said. maybe dirt in the inlet restricting the water or maybe the filter if one fitted blocked.

Alternative:
Was the toilet always slow to fill or has this just happened lately? Is the toilet filled from the tank or mains (latter not so common). Not too sure on this type of flush assembly but on 'normal' ball valves, sometimes a high pressure valve is fitted when it should be a low pressure one (the high pressure ones are white, low are red). These are shaped a little bit like a hat.

Alternative:
Is there a flow restrictor fitted somewhere on the inlet or is there a valve with a screwdriver slot fitted to the pipe leading to the inlet (external to the cistern? Make sure it is open.

let us know how you get on.

zuluman

blueshed wrote: »

hi i hope the OP wont mind me jumping in on his thread.

got a problem now with the 3 toilets in the house.they are taking from 15mins to over 1hr for them to fill back up after being flushed.

1st problem was in bathroom toilet then a week later the downstairs and now the ensuite toilet which took well over an hour to refill today.

the house is over 12 yeares old and your normal toilets.

any ideas or advice please.

I take it that you did not always have this problem.

as all three have ceased within a short time this is probably not the problem but see if the ball valves are stuck in the toilet cisterns (push down and up GENTLY)

Are the toilets fed from the tank in the loft or the mains? Latter not so common.

If fed from tank - Is the pressure at a tap (try the cold one) on a handbasin at the same level as one of the slow filling toilets also poor? (Assuming the are fed from tank too)

has a valve between the tank and toilets been partially shut?

Did you check the big tank in the loft to see if the water has gone low in it?
The ball valve may be stuck and the water gone low.

Locate the mains water shut off point and ensure that it is working before the next step.

Check that the ball valve is not stuck by GENTLY pushing it up and down a couple of times and checking if water is coming in. If it should break at least you know how to shut off the mains water because you checked this beforehand...:eek:

If it DID go low, maybe dirt or lime has got into the tank outlets.

If dirt/lime DID get into the piping (assuming toilets fed from tank) dirt may be blocking the little valve in the toilet inlet. If you are confident enough - shut off low pressure water from tank. Cover outlets with clean cloth - big enough that it does not go down the pipe. Drain at a low point e.g downstairs basin. dissassemble inlet valve assembly in toilet cistern. Clean out dirt in valve.

You can clean the tank in the loft too.

The valve is white or red in colour and shaped a little bit like a hat. If tank fed, these should be red low pressure valves (bigger hole).

Otherwise, get someone to look at it who knows what they are doing.

Let us know how you get on.

blueshed

thank you zuluman that is some good advice and info.

the toilets are fed from a tank in the attic.a few weeks ago a hot tap in the down stairs toilet was left on by mistake,must have being running for over an hour.
the tank in the attic was empty and i think the problems followed from this.
the area we live in has a high lime content in the water.it sounds like we have dirt/lime in the valves.
will try and sort it myself tomorrow evening and if that fails will call in a plumber.

once again thanks for your help.