Weird coincidence....2 toilets start running.

sonny liston

Hey folks,
7 year old home.
BOTH toilets started running on the same day within a few hours of each other.
Is that a huge coincidence or could there more likely be a common cause?

The inlet valve is a bottom fill Siamp.
I took apart and cleaned out the ruber seal which connects to the float lever as shown in online video.

Both seals seem fine. But, I found the exact same bit of small black plastic type depris behind each seal for each toilet. Like from when the seal was originally pierced or something?
What is this? Is it important?

Both toilets seem ok now? Although suspect they may be filling very slowly. Will monitor.

Another thing I notice is that when the toilets are filling now that a small bit of water runs from the lever/seal connection, but then stops when full. I didn't notice this happening previously.
Does this mean the inlet seal is not working properly?

Cheers.

Dtp1979

sonny liston wrote: »

Hey folks,
7 year old home.
BOTH toilets started running on the same day within a few hours of each other.
Is that a huge coincidence or could there more likely be a common cause?

The inlet valve is a bottom fill Siamp.
I took apart and cleaned out the ruber seal which connects to the float lever as shown in online video.

Both seals seem fine. But, I found the exact same bit of small black plastic type depris behind each seal for each toilet. Like from when the seal was originally pierced or something?
What is this? Is it important?

Both toilets seem ok now? Although suspect they may be filling very slowly. Will monitor.

Another thing I notice is that when the toilets are filling now that a small bit of water runs from the lever/seal connection, but then stops when full. I didn't notice this happening previously.
Does this mean the inlet seal is not working properly?

Cheers.

Did you have any work carried out in your attic recently, or did the tanks run dry?

sonny liston

No, no works carried out in the attic. The attic tank was never emptied.

I did close off the water from the tank when fixing the 1st toilet. Then turned back on the water from tank when finished.
After 1st flush since turning off/on the water the 2nd toilet started running.

Dtp1979

sonny liston wrote: »

No, no works carried out in the attic. The attic tank was never emptied.

I did close off the water from the tank when fixing the 1st toilet. Then turned back on the water from tank when finished.
After 1st flush since turning off/on the water the 2nd toilet started running.

The loose black stuff sounds like it's the shavings from the tank when the hole were originally drilled in the tanks. I've seen these shavings cause problems for years but it is unusual that yours are only showing up now

sonny liston

YES, now that you mention it, I'm pretty sure the depris is the same material as the attic water tank. And the shavings are sort of circular.

One other thing......
I put a new pcb board in my ST55 water pump last weekend. It had been out if action for a month. It now runs for 1 or 2 seconds after turning off the water, whereas before it would stop running as soon as the water was shut off.
I was thinking this new behaviour might have damaged the toilet inlet valves, but the spec says they can take up to 20 bar.
I only use the pump for showering, so it is off most if the time.
Could reenabling the pump have flushed these shavings into the toilets?

sonny liston

To close on this.....
Every now and then(once a year) the black shavings from the tank in the attic still find their way into the inlet-valves in the toilet, which causes the toilets to run.
Cleaning out the black shavings resolves the problem.
Thanks.