Fitting Toilet Battle!

[Schmill]

Ok, so I am already having plenty of problems with fitting this loo due to space constraints etc, and the waste pipe... however...

It is a close coupled toilet, of the sort where you fit screws and cone rubber washers IN the cistern, and then apply bolts on the outside. Similarly the flush is mounted with a lock nut on the outside. A large foam washer is then placed around the lock nut on the flush, and the whole thing sat on top of the pan; the bolts from the cistern then poking though the mounting holes in the pan, more washers and wing nuts, do them up and it compresses the black foam ring and provides a seal (I think).

So this is the 'flush' fitting components;

Toilet couple fittings

• Schmill
• 25 Mar 2011
• 1

and fitted to the cistern;

Cistern connected

• Schmill
• 25 Mar 2011
• 1

and with the ring fitted;

Cistern with sponge ring

• Schmill
• 25 Mar 2011
• 1

The problem is, there seems to be no indication as to how tight I should be fastening all of this lot.

Do the nuts on the outside of the cistern need to be pinched up tight with a spanner (so that they 'squash' the rubber washers), or should then just be finger tight?

Similarly the lock nut on the flush mechanism; is hand tight good enough for that, or should I be trying to get it really tight to ensure it is water tight?

I did try putting it all together tonight, but after attaching the cistern to the pan and tightening everything up the cistern seemed to lean back at an angle which meant that although the top of the cistern touched the wall, there was a gap at the bottom. the only way I could stop this was to loosen the wing nuts holding the cistern to the toilet, which then allowed the cistern to sit flush against the wall, but also meant that it could be wobbled on top of the pan

Can someone give some guidance as to how tight the various bits need to be? Just finger tight, or spanner tight, or really tight!

As well as this there doesn't seem to be space in the cistern for the fill mechanism to fit properly;

Untitled

• Schmill
• 25 Mar 2011
• 1

Untitled

• Schmill
• 25 Mar 2011
• 1

The blue float section seem to have to drag up against the back of the cistern. Any idea if this will be ok, or will it cause a problem?

Thanks

 

[ironman1]

Nut & bolt going through cistern should finger tight plus an additional 3 to four turns , should also be a rubber washer both sides........wing nuts securing cistern to pan should be 'nipped' up in a uniform way so as to keep the cistern level with pan , fit complete assembly back to wall & further tighten wing nuts , most cisterns will sit on pan with a slight gap between them...................syphon backnut should be finger tight plus one turn.....................have you tried loosening ballvalve & moving it around so float clears cistern?

How tight these fittings should be is mostly done by 'feel' , pretty hard to explain it so i take no responsibilty.

 

[Schmill]

Thanks for that.
Guessed it would be a "by feel" type thing, but needed some guidance which you have given nicely
I'll give it another shot tonight. Due to the constrcution fo the bowl it's quite tricky to get to the fixings once it is against the wall, but I 'should' be able to do it

I did try moving the fill pipe around a bit, but it will only go a little way before the white filling piece (pipe towards the bottom of the photo) hits the side of the cistern.

Untitled

• Schmill
• 25 Mar 2011
• 1

I'll have a go putting the rest of it together, and then I guess I'll just have to keep fiddling with the fill valve until it all moves smoothly

 

[Alz0r]

is that a Roca? looks like it!

I remember the instructions saying you do up most of the backnuts hand tight with a quarter turn on the spanner.

 

[John506]

I fit these in work all the time, and I remember when I tightened up the wing nuts with my adjustable and cracked the cistern...

Hand tight only!!!!

 

[Schmill]

Supposedly it is an 'Armitage Shanks' Seville bathroom set, which was purchased from B&Q. However as only the box (and the flush push button!) are branded as Armitage Shanks I have my doubts about the suite itself.
I'm also having some issues with the sink waste, but that's another story!

I took the toilet apart at the weekend, and re-assembled. Happier with it this time, apart from the toilet seat! The wing nuts that hold it on are cone shaped and so attempt to self center into the fixing holes. Unfortunately that puts the seat itself at a crazy angle, so I shall be looking at removing that and perhaps trying a different fixing this week!

Can definitly see that overtightening the wing nuts on the cistern would crack it, there is a fairly large gap between the cistern and the bowl were the bolts go

Definitly would not go with this design of toilet again. It is really awkward to get to the seat fixing bolts, and I would think impossible once it is fitted to the floor, so if the seat needs changing in future the whole loo is going to have to be pulled forward!

Ah, the benefit of hindsight!