Did I flood my own toilet?

[terryplumb]

you are just not getting it jonbey !! read my last post again ,carefully ,and try to follow it. that nut DOES NOT keep the cistern locked to the pan. look again at your WC from below ,there are two small nuts ,usually wing nuts , one each side of the WC. it's them that keep cistern onto pan. if you look inside the top of the cistern ,where you have taken part of the fill valve off ,you can't see the other end of what I have described as the bolts are captive below in a bracket .

 

[JP_]

Aaaaaahhh! I imagined that the fill valve hole was smaller than the wide of the plastic bolt. This is exciting. So glad I have more than one loo too!

 

[terryplumb]

hooray !!! now the fun can start !!! by the way , you see that big black washer ( called a donut washer ) you must remove it and fit a new one ,before re assembling .if you do not ,it will leak !!

 

[HERTS P&D]

Or use a tube of silicone on it.

Andy

 

[JP_]

Righto, will order a donut!

As for the fill valve, this should be with me tomorrow - https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B004O8601M/ref=pe_3187911_189395841_TE_dp_1

Looking at the bits left over from the one I just removed:

Do I need to replace the fitting that connects the valve to the water supply? Something was leaking, which started all this, so could that be the faulty part? Or maybe just the seal was leaking? Assuming I need to replace that bit too, and it does not come with the new one I ordered - what are they called - I'll order one with my donut.

 

[terryplumb]

i may be wrong ,but that looks like part of a service valve that should not have come apart . take pic of the pipework where you disconnected it from.

 

[JP_]

this was the bit that would not come off the bottom of the fill valve - obviously when I unscrewed the fill valve, rather than it coming off this, this all came out the inlet pipe.

 

[terryplumb]

oh dear , I think you have stripped that part out . its part of the service valve and is not supposed to come out , i think you have been turning the silver nut the wrong way ,and now have a minor plumbing job on your hands to put it right .

 

[JP_]

Oh arse, really? Can't it just be screwed back in?

 

[terryplumb]

you could try , wrap a few turns of PTFE tape around the thread ,put the nut on the right way up ,and try screwing back in.if you look inside that small silver bit ,it may have a hexagonal shape that an Allen key will fit into for tightening purposes ( Allen key is a hexagonal L shaped wrench ).

 

[aptsys]

Oh arse, really? Can't it just be screwed back in?

Yes it can - there's an o-ring for the seal so no PTFE needed, so just screw it in an nip it up with a spanner. You haven't really done anything wrong, but these isolator valves aren't very common.

 

[JP_]

Thanks. I will use that again. It came out pretty easy really - when I hand screwed the fill valve from the top by hand, it stayed on the fill valve. Not like I went at it with a spanner - I couldn't even reach it at the time. Ordering a donut now. I love Amazon Prime (although, never seem to have time to watch the movies now.....)

 

[JP_]

OK, I have all the parts. The donut looks trickier than I expected! Do I need to totally remove everything that is currently there, including sealant remnants stuck to the cistern? Or can I just replace the donut and keep the same metal bracket?

I have a feeling the water inlet might need replacing. Trying to decide whether I should get a plumber to do this for me .... I like the idea of having a go, but once that is off, I can't turn the water back on until fixed! Wondering if cutting the pipe shorter to allow a flexi hose to be attached would make life easier? Something like this:



How hard can it be? Hacksaw, compression fit valve, screw on?

Or, could something like this work? Flexi hose with isolator fitted on - does this include a compression fitting to go straight onto a pipe?

http://www.screwfix.com/p/flexible-...gclsrc=aw.ds&dclid=CLOKg4uMh9UCFYgh0wod2hgERQ

 

[terryplumb]

remove all traces of old donut washer ,the bracket can be re used as long as its not corroded badly if a metal one. if you want to cut copper pipe ,buy yourself a wheel cutter ,only a few quid and a doddle to use .the flexi con with isolator on has the compression nut and olive ,just below the isolator.

 

[JP_]

Well, at least tried!
Put it all back together, but access issues which made undoing the fill valve bolt meant that doing it up again. Obviously, it leaked. Still no right angle screwdrivers (come on Amazon!) but I had the foresight to tape up my makeshift tool so it couldnt fall apart under the pressure, and I got the water off again. I was expecting a leak, but not such a big one!

Maybe I'll get a plumber to quote for lowering the pipe and added a new valve, with a nice hose to the loo, or an all in one like the one above.