Slow filling toilet cistern

obi604

Hello

I have a slow filling toilet cistern. Does my head in. Takes over 5 minutes to fill. The water flow in the house is decent. Other toilets in the house fill in half the time.

Is there any gauge I can twist to increase flow or any relatively easy fix for this?

I had a look at the cistern and could not see Anything obvious.
All the YouTube videos I found are mainly with American Plumbing.

PhilOssophy

Did you try disconnecting the inlet pipe to see if the pressure drop is in the pipe before the toilet or due to the ball cock mechanism?
I am not a plumber but that's the 1st thing I would try. If the pressure in the pipe is good, you probably just need a new ball cock thingamejig.

Curious_Case

obi604 wrote: »

Hello

I have a slow filling toilet cistern. Does my head in. Takes over 5 minutes to fill. The water flow in the house is decent. Other toilets in the house fill in half the time.

Is there any gauge I can twist to increase flow or any relatively easy fix for this?

I had a look at the cistern and could not see Anything obvious.
All the YouTube videos I found are mainly with American Plumbing.

The slow filling might be caused by having a narrow bore valve (for high pressure mains) on a cistern that's fed from a tank (low pressure).
If cistern is fed from a tank, it should have a wide bore valve.

obi604

PhilOssophy wrote: »

Did you try disconnecting the inlet pipe to see if the pressure drop is in the pipe before the toilet or due to the ball cock mechanism?
I am not a plumber but that's the 1st thing I would try. If the pressure in the pipe is good, you probably just need a new ball cock thingamejig.

I have no idea about plumbing.

Does disconnecting this mean I have to turn off the water to the entire house?

FreshCoffee

Is this by any chance in an en-suite?

It was common to have a single cold water pipe feed to an en-suite feeding both the toilet and shower. If the toilet is flushed while someone is using the shower then the toilet cistern suddenly takes a large flow of water to refill it thus suddenly reducing the cold flow to the shower mixer and potentially burning the person in the shower. To protect against this a flow restrictor was fitted to the toilet cistern inlet pipe so it refills very slowly and only slightly reduces the cold water available to the shower mixer.

rightjob!

obi604 wrote: »

Hello

I have a slow filling toilet cistern. Does my head in. Takes over 5 minutes to fill. The water flow in the house is decent. Other toilets in the house fill in half the time.

Is there any gauge I can twist to increase flow or any relatively easy fix for this?

I had a look at the cistern and could not see Anything obvious.
All the YouTube videos I found are mainly with American Plumbing.

Its more than likely a problem with the cistern feed,either a replacement diaphragm or new feed required.

Might be best to call a plumber.

obi604

FreshCoffee wrote: »

Is this by any chance in an en-suite?

It was common to have a single cold water pipe feed to an en-suite feeding both the toilet and shower. If the toilet is flushed while someone is using the shower then the toilet cistern suddenly takes a large flow of water to refill it thus suddenly reducing the cold flow to the shower mixer and potentially burning the person in the shower. To protect against this a flow restrictor was fitted to the toilet cistern inlet pipe so it refills very slowly and only slightly reduces the cold water available to the shower mixer.

It probably is some form of an en-suite. It’s beside a room that was supposed to be a bedroom I think.

obi604

Here is a link to some pics, the cistern and single pipe leading to the cistern.


https://imgur.com/a/vVAhC5Z

FreshCoffee

I don't see a valve to turn off the water under the cistern so you need to find the valve that controls it (possibly in the hotpress). (The toilet should be fed from the attic water tank).

Turn off the water and remove the valve by unscrewing the green nut on the right. You may find a flow restrictor fitted inside the nut. It will be loose and could be removed.

Remove the left hand green nut where you may find a water filter and check for any blockages.

Have someone turn back on the water while you monitor the open pipe and see if the water flow is good at that point and fills the tank quickly. (cover the top of the open pipe with eg your hand while doing that to avoid water splashing everywhere).

If you think you need a new valve they are fairly easy to fit. Here's a UK video:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5Ofdae8BYw
-or-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P45E2V9k5j4

PhilOssophy

obi604 wrote: »

I have no idea about plumbing.

Does disconnecting this mean I have to turn off the water to the entire house?

Not being smart but if you have no idea, just call a plumber. FreshCoffee has given a good synopsis there. For what its worth, I am an amateur DIY person but anything which has potential to bite me in the ass - e.g. something going wrong with a ball cock flooding the house - I think is worth €75-100 for peace of mind alone!

Marhay70

PhilOssophy wrote: »

Not being smart but if you have no idea, just call a plumber. FreshCoffee has given a good synopsis there. For what its worth, I am an amateur DIY person but anything which has potential to bite me in the ass - e.g. something going wrong with a ball cock flooding the house - I think is worth €75-100 for peace of mind alone!

I agree, I would have tackled most DIY jobs in my life but plumbing is one thing I've left alone. Water has this sneaky habit of dripping and seeping and then 6 months after you thought you had solved the problem, the ceiling lands in your lap.

obi604

noted re comments, thanks for the feedback. messing with water when not 100% sure is not the best idea

hargo

If its the noise of the fill rather than the time it takes that's doing your head a simple fix is cut the end of a plastic bag and wrap it around the valve so that the filling water is going through the bag. It should be long enough to just reach the bottom of the cistern and loose enough that you are not blocking or hindering the valve.. This solution allows the fill water to run down the side of the bag and into the the existing water thereby stopping the nazi noise of slow water bouncing on water in a drum.. Worked for me. :D

blackbox

Curious_Case wrote: »

The slow filling might be caused by having a narrow bore valve (for high pressure mains) on a cistern that's fed from a tank (low pressure).
If cistern is fed from a tank, it should have a wide bore valve.

If it's not this, it could simply be something obstructing the valve, such as a stray piece of plumber's tape.

obi604

hargo wrote: »

If its the noise of the fill rather than the time it takes that's doing your head a simple fix is cut the end of a plastic bag and wrap it around the valve so that the filling water is going through the bag. It should be long enough to just reach the bottom of the cistern and loose enough that you are not blocking or hindering the valve.. This solution allows the fill water to run down the side of the bag and into the the existing water thereby stopping the nazi noise of slow water bouncing on water in a drum.. Worked for me. :D

noise is grand, does not bother me. just the bl00dy time