Novice DIYer - replace toilet flush - advice please

spurious

The toilet flush had been acting the goat and has eventually given up the ghost.

Flushed with confidence from YouTube, I think I will give it a go myself. It is not a close coupled system, so I think that is in my favour, in terms of difficulty etc..

From the photos, you can see the top of the downpipe connects to a black threaded section coming from the cistern. I am hoping that is the bottom of the actual flush mechanism(?) and once I put in the new one, it will just be a matter of tightening things up and checking for leaks (she says confidently...).

Would appreciate it if someone more experienced can spot any obvious problems I might have.

Also, apart from price, is there any great difference between these systems, or would they all be suitable for my setup?

https://www.screwfix.ie/p/thomas-dudley-ltd-s7-cascade-siphon-229mm/8121f

https://www.woodies.ie/flushing-valves-siphons-3-part-internal-overflow-siphon-1038710

https://www.woodies.ie/flushing-valves-siphons-7-internal-overflow-siphon-336063

connection _to_pan.jpg

connection_underneath.jpg

inside cistern.jpg

toilet.jpg

Rows Grower

Before you splurge on a new flushing system check if the yokeabob underneath the white plastic thingy attached to the handle has a piece of plastic at the bottom and if it does and that plastic sheet is damaged your job will be a lot easier and cheaper. Cut an exact copy of the plastic from a plastic envelope, fit that instead of the easily worn one and the job is oxo.

If that's not the solution drive on with your YouTube gained research and be confident.

NickNickleby

AS a fairly confident DIYer (might be misplaced confidence, though🤣), my first and most important consideration would be the ease with which the water supply can be turned off. After that, I'd be checking the height of the syphon, but they're probably all designed to fit any modern cistern.

Had to work on my mother's recently and it was a skinny cistern like yours. I was trying to adjust the amount of water delivered during the flush (a bit like the Screwfix one in your post), the problem was it was a really tight squeeze to get my hand down between the syphon and the front wall of the cistern - which is probably why the original plumber left it at the default or " barely empties any water at all into the bowl thereby not clearing out all the contents" setting. In other words, select the setting you want before fitting that particular syphon. Also, NOT like our plumber, remember to actually fit the control component, instead of throwing it away with the packaging.

Once you can turn off the water quickly in the event of a problem, I'd say you'll be fine. Lastly, make sure to clear away any debris especially limescale build up, round the exit hole at the bottom of the cistern, I've found that to be the usual cause of minor leaks in a situation like this. Restore the ceramic to its original gleaming finish before fitting the washers.

There's one final consideration - now that I think of it... I wonder if there could be a compatibility issue with the size of the threads on the coupling under the cistern and the new outlet. Probably not, but perhaps someone else will know how to check that over the internet. But even then, I'm sure there are ways to deal with it - if it was me I'd just go for it. The toilet would probably have to be really ancient for this type of issue to arise.

spurious

Thanks both.

I have found some videos to check the yokeabob and replace the plastic if necessary as suggested by Rows Grower. The videos I have found show the flush behaving exactly as mine was. I will drain it and have a look at that first and if that is not the obvious problem, I will try get it done tomorrow. Thanks again.

Rows Grower

Was just about to post this in case you had difficulty with my tech speak...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rye_XdFQHCA

If it is the issue you'll be walking around feeling like McGyver for a few days.

spurious

Would the sort of plastic in a big milk container be the right sort of thickness?

mickdw

Bit too solid imo.

I use builders dpc or something like a farm fertiliser bag would work.

Rows Grower

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/120043785#Comment_120043785

Too thick I'd say.

spurious

Ok. I have some thickish poly pockets might do. I will check the remains and see.

niallb

The milk jug would be a bit thick.

I've used the plastic off a 15kg pack of dogfood successfully in the past.

I think the membrane is called a "flapper valve"

spurious

Bah. Ran into an issue where the water would not completely stop. It's a very old house (1881) and the stop cock I thought was the one I needed to close certainly slowed the water but didn't stop it fully.

Feck it.

The Continental Op

The other method is the put a piece of wood across the top of the cistern and tie the ballcock to it. Something I've done a few times but it can leave you a bit short of space to work it. The other thing that is possible is to get a pipe freezing kit and freeze the water in the pipe. I'd only do that to put in a new stop valve so I wouldn't need to freeze it again. All adds to the cost though

spurious

Just as an update on this, I got a neighbour to help me and he tied up the ballcock, so we managed to get the water out etc.

The 'bit of plastic' was beyond help and the whole siphon was a bit rickety so we replaced it. Then we ran into an issue where the old pipe to the pan was too long for the new siphon, but a hacksaw and many k words in Polish we got there.

Flushing marvellously now - so marvellously that I now realise it had not actually been working properly for years.

Thanks all for the help and suggestions.