Trying to finish off the bathroom retiling and just have the corner behind the cistern to do. Been meaning to get it done for ages and finally decided to get to it tonight, so water off, cut the supply pipe and fitted a push fit stop end, so far so good. At this point I decided that whilst the water was off I'd also tackle the leaking shower valve which has leaked from new a couple months back. I had a new valve body from the supplier who'd supplied it FOC when I originally rang about the problem, so simple job, remove the control lever, remove the chrome cover unscrew the brass inner housing, replace part, put it all back together, job done. Or so it should have been. The chrome outer cover should have been just hand tight (had it off before to find the problem) however, the leak had cause calcium build up on the threads. Okay, wrap it in electrical tap and apply the pipe grips (lightly). Snap; the brass inner part sheared off. So now I can't get the valve out and the whole body will need to be replaced.
Balls to it, sort it out tomorrow, I'd just have to get on with what I was intending to do in the first place. So I set about the cistern removal. At this point I should say that my house is victorian and a lot of the fixtures are, if not original, not much after that. Cistern is a big ornate Shanks cut corner thing. I worked out that it's just sat on two brackets below with a hooked retaining bracket above to hold it back to the wall. Uncover the top bracket screws (plastered in) and can't get them to unscrew, just turning. Manage to work the bracket loose and withdraw it along with the two wooden wedges into the bed joints, yes this has definitely been here a long time. So now it's just the brackets supporting it and the old lead overflow which is too tight against the wall to do anything with, I figured I could just waggle it enough to angle away from the wall and pull the cistern off the pipe. WRONG!!! Crack and a large section comes of the back of the damn thing.
Found one on one of those reclaimation sites, exactly the same as mine, apart from the big hole in the back, £350 +vat. I think not.
So all in all a great night's work I think you'll agree.
Anyone ever tried to repair one of these? I'm thinking along the lines of gluing it back together and then building a tank inside it by layering up fibre glass matting, that's how they make water tanks anyway isn't it, and it would be a pity since all the damage is at the back.
And to be honest, I really need to salvage my dignity somehow
Balls to it, sort it out tomorrow, I'd just have to get on with what I was intending to do in the first place. So I set about the cistern removal. At this point I should say that my house is victorian and a lot of the fixtures are, if not original, not much after that. Cistern is a big ornate Shanks cut corner thing. I worked out that it's just sat on two brackets below with a hooked retaining bracket above to hold it back to the wall. Uncover the top bracket screws (plastered in) and can't get them to unscrew, just turning. Manage to work the bracket loose and withdraw it along with the two wooden wedges into the bed joints, yes this has definitely been here a long time. So now it's just the brackets supporting it and the old lead overflow which is too tight against the wall to do anything with, I figured I could just waggle it enough to angle away from the wall and pull the cistern off the pipe. WRONG!!! Crack and a large section comes of the back of the damn thing.
Found one on one of those reclaimation sites, exactly the same as mine, apart from the big hole in the back, £350 +vat. I think not.
So all in all a great night's work I think you'll agree.
Anyone ever tried to repair one of these? I'm thinking along the lines of gluing it back together and then building a tank inside it by layering up fibre glass matting, that's how they make water tanks anyway isn't it, and it would be a pity since all the damage is at the back.
And to be honest, I really need to salvage my dignity somehow
