Leaky toilet

[crouzilles]

Hello, please first allow me to introduce myself. I am Crouz, I live in Ealing with my wife and little boy, and this is my first time of this forum, hello to all.

I noticed 3 days ago that around the pipe bringing water to the toilet tank, there was a small drip of water when the tank is being filled after flushing. I would say a drop every 5 seconds approximately. It is a very hard area to reach, but I managed to take a short video of the leaky area which I'll share in a minute.

After viewing the video I can see that the leak has probably been there for quite some time. I don't think the problem is the pipe itself or the nut, but probably the seal to the toilet tank, anyway I'll let you experts decide.

If you could advise me as to how I could either sort it out or what I could do to find out what exactly is the problem, that would be great.

Regards
Crouz

[video=youtube;uMzoYdyjZCI]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uMzoYdyjZCI&feature=youtu.be[/video]

 

[ShaunCorbs]

yes its the seal between the two (tank and pan) is there much access ?

 

[crouzilles]

I'm afraid not really, although there are pieces of wood around the toilet itself which if not present would make access much easier. See video for what I mean (I lack the technical words sorry).

How easy is it to repair or change this seal for a not so handy man like myself?
Regards
Crouz

[video=youtube;lHgWvkec4Zk]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lHgWvkec4Zk[/video]

 

[rpm]

You see the 2 Butterfly nuts underneath the cistern (nuts with ears on), If your really lucky you could try and see if you can tighten them both.

 

[ShaunCorbs]

you can decide as your taking the cistern off and putting a new donut on i would recomend changing the syphon and maybe the ball valve as well (depends if you can get at the ball valve while the cistern is on the wall fixed if you can you dont need to change it)

this vid will help you

[video=youtube;cHf0sb07bnM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cHf0sb07bnM[/video]

[video=youtube_share;y4AdckesOlg]https://youtu.be/y4AdckesOlg[/video]

 

[crouzilles]

Thank you guys for the information. I feel confident doing this job myself as long as I can get the cistern off, I just need to get the right size Close Coupe Fixing Kit (1 1/2'' or 2''), but I guess I will have to remove the cistern first to check the size before I buy one.

I will try to tighten the butterfly nuts first and if successful, observe for a few days, fingers crossed.

Regards
Crouz

 

[ShaunCorbs]

Thank you guys for the information. I feel confident doing this job myself as long as I can get the cistern off, I just need to get the right size Close Coupe Fixing Kit (1 1/2'' or 2''), but I guess I will have to remove the cistern first to check the size before I buy one.

I will try to tighten the butterfly nuts first and if successful, observe for a few days, fingers crossed.

Regards
Crouz

the bolts might go all the way through into the cistern

 

[PlumbBobBob]

if the bolts go right through in to the cistern, the seal may have failed or just need tightening up on the bottom of the cistern. not the bottom of the pan bit which is shown in your first video.

 

[crouzilles]

I haven't had a chance to look into this yet, hopefully this weekend, but I have new information.

The leaking only happens when the cistern is filling up and about up to 5 minutes after filling up, then it stops. This leads me to believe that it might not be the seal between the cistern and the toilet, but maybe a seal somewhere else, any ideas?

Regards
Crouz

 

[crouzilles]

Is the ball valve the entire mechanism inside the toilet which allow the flushing to happen?

Is the syphon the big pipe taking the dirty water to the sewers?

 

[PlumbBobBob]

Is the ball valve the entire mechanism inside the toilet which allow the flushing to happen?

Is the syphon the big pipe taking the dirty water to the sewers?

no got them round the wrong way, ball valve is fill valve which lets water in, syphon is flush valve which lets water out by either push button or flush handle.

 

[JCplumb]

The leaking only happens when the cistern is filling up and about up to 5 minutes after filling up, then it stops.

My 2 guesses then.
1. Torbeck fill valve spraying because washer has gone and spray finding its way down back of cistern.
2. Opella/Delchem type fill valve and the back of the 'spout' has popped off, or spout is improperly positioned spraying water sideways aswell as down.

If you can take the lid off, do so and take a video of what happens in the cistern when you flush and the cistern is refilled.

 

[crouzilles]

Ok, plenty of words I don't understand, but here you go, a video [video=youtube;fGEz3-9aLVM]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fGEz3-9aLVM[/video] showing the filling up of the cistern.

The greenish stuff on the left is a toilet cleaner which has disintegrated into powder.
Regards
Crouz

 

[JCplumb]

Well that video poo-poos my theories.
Back to the close coupling ideas.
As mentioned by someone else earlier - did you try to tighten up the wing nuts that clamp the cistern to the pan?
The filling mechanism seems fine from what I saw, so my new guess (same as other posters) is that this will almost definitely be the donut seal between pan and cistern. If it's limited access then it will be a right pain to do.

 

[JCplumb]

you can decide as your taking the cistern off and putting a new donut on i would recomend changing the syphon and maybe the ball valve as well (depends if you can get at the ball valve while the cistern is on the wall fixed if you can you dont need to change it)

Shaun's spot on there, your latest video shows that cistern blocks (the green stuff) have been used at some time so it is likely to have shortened the life of those parts.
Once you have it sorted I would advise not to use those things anymore

 

[crouzilles]

Ok, thank you for the info. It is a tight fit, but I will take my time and there are reasons why I should not manage it.

Regards
Crouz

 

[crouzilles]

I only put that toilet cleaner thing in last week for the first time ever, that is when I realised there was a leak on the right hand side of the toilet. The greenish stuff is on the left hand side.
I don't believe it is that.

 

[crouzilles]

It's only been there a week an a bit, never used before. It's when I added it that I saw the leak at the opposite side.

 

[JCplumb]

No worries, just don't put any more in

 

[steadyon]

Some flush valves can send a "spout" of water up through the overflow hole when the lavatory is flushed. If the top does not seal properly this can then cause a drip immediately after the flush as the water drips off the inside of the lid. It then stops, and re-occurs at the next flush.

The flush valve is the bit in the middle, the inlet valve being the part on the right. Try filling the cistern, then flushing by operating the flush valve without putting the lid back on. See if there is a spurt of water going upwards, and, if there is, check that the lid is sealing properly when replaced.

If it were a drip from the bolts holding the cistern to the bowl, it would tend to drip all the time, not just after a flush.