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The other day I tried flushing one of the toilets in our house, but the handle went straight down and I heard the sound of plastic breaking. Part of the 3 piece cistern had somehow become detached from a groove lock holding it in place.
The action of turning the flush handle sharply managed to wrench one of the pieces out of its fittings, breaking 2 of the 3 teeth from a blue plastic ring that held 2 of the pieces connected.
Prior to this, the water inlet pipe had an issue of dripping, but after removing the cistern to try to repair it, it appears to have gotten worse.
The repair job on the plastic ring I tried didn't work, so now if I want the toilet to flush I have to take the lid off and hold the cistern in place to make a decent enough seal so it can flush.
Also it suddenly occurred to me that there was no overflow pipe or anything connected to the back of the toilet to prevent the cistern overflowing if the leak from the inlet pipe worsened, or if it was left for a long enough period to fill up.
The bottom part of the cistern, essentially a long vertical tube, appears to be sealed to the bottom of the tank and I'm not sure how to remove it. I assume I have to remove the entire tank to get access to a screw or something.
There's also the fact that the screws holding the tank to the bowl have become so corroded that I'm not sure how I can remove them.
So I guess the best course of action is to buy a new cistern, some new tank-to-bowl screws and a new valve for the inlet pipe assuming that should stop the leaking.
But I'm just wondering if I should worry about the lack of an overflow pipe, as there doesn't appear to be any internal overflow mechanism on the cistern.
Is that even a thing that I can look for in a cistern?
Thanks.
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Derwent Macdee metro 3-part syphon range (the blue ring is the bit that broke originally):
Tank:
No overflow pipe fitting, just a hole:
The action of turning the flush handle sharply managed to wrench one of the pieces out of its fittings, breaking 2 of the 3 teeth from a blue plastic ring that held 2 of the pieces connected.
Prior to this, the water inlet pipe had an issue of dripping, but after removing the cistern to try to repair it, it appears to have gotten worse.
The repair job on the plastic ring I tried didn't work, so now if I want the toilet to flush I have to take the lid off and hold the cistern in place to make a decent enough seal so it can flush.
Also it suddenly occurred to me that there was no overflow pipe or anything connected to the back of the toilet to prevent the cistern overflowing if the leak from the inlet pipe worsened, or if it was left for a long enough period to fill up.
The bottom part of the cistern, essentially a long vertical tube, appears to be sealed to the bottom of the tank and I'm not sure how to remove it. I assume I have to remove the entire tank to get access to a screw or something.
There's also the fact that the screws holding the tank to the bowl have become so corroded that I'm not sure how I can remove them.
So I guess the best course of action is to buy a new cistern, some new tank-to-bowl screws and a new valve for the inlet pipe assuming that should stop the leaking.
But I'm just wondering if I should worry about the lack of an overflow pipe, as there doesn't appear to be any internal overflow mechanism on the cistern.
Is that even a thing that I can look for in a cistern?
Thanks.
--------------------------------------
Derwent Macdee metro 3-part syphon range (the blue ring is the bit that broke originally):
Tank:
No overflow pipe fitting, just a hole:
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