Constant Water Trickling Down Toilet Bowl (Inside)

Hi folks, I hope you can help.

I've been noticing a constant trickle of water running down the back of the toilet bowl for the last month or so, it comes down in four separate places along the back.

I've enclosed shots of the cistern and the "plunger" part attached to the lid via the blue tube and was wondering if you kind folks wouldn't mind taking a stab at what the problem might be and how to solve it. I've heard this could be something to do with the tube or a washer somewhere on the assembly, but I've no idea really

When I leave in the morning the cistern is at the max fill (6L) marker, however when I get home it's sat at the minimum marker (4.5L), what I find a bit odd is the fact that the plunger doesn't kick in to fill it back up as on the old "ball" cisterns the more the level dropped the more it would put back in....

Ordinarily I wouldn't bother about it as it's not doing any harm (leaking inside or overflowing outside etc) but I wonder how much this constant stream is costing us given that we're on a metered system!

 

In your first picture there is a big white bit and a big blue bit, you need to replace the big white bit, there is a seal at the bottom which has perished.

Not the best description i grant you, but i hope it makes sense.

 

That's the macdee arcadia DVA series flush valve.
Check the seal at the bottom of the valve sometimes cleaning them of scale can stop them passing water into the bowl.
turn the valve 1/4 of a turn will dismantle the top of the valve from the base so you can gain access to the seal at the base.

 

The reason it is not refilling is that, possibly, the inlet valve is one of the new generation of eco-friendly valves that is designed not to open until the water drops to a certain level.

The Torbeck Eco-fill is one such valve.

Is it a new set up? Everything looks new. Not even a hint of a waterline on the cistern wall.

 

OK folks, firstly let me explain that I have zero knowledge of this stuff so you may have to explain it to me like I'm 8

Maxsys - that's actually the kind of level I'm at actually! When you say the big white bit is that the top of the tube closest to me that the blue tube goes in to?

seco services - I was hoping it would be something like you've suggested. Unfortunately some moron has completely blocked in the back of the toilet (as it looks good, until something goes wrong...) so I can't get under the cistern to replace any of the "uprights" without breaking away all the tiles Would I have to turn off the water before I turned the "lid" and removed the valve?

Charnwood - that's interesting regarding the fill, helps explain thank you. It is quote new, we moved in around 8 months ago and I would say it's only been done in the last year or so.

 

Isolate the water supply.
flush toilet.
then hold the flush valve at the top near the cable and twist 1/4 of a turn,
that will dismantle the top part from the bottom.
then you beable to see the rubber seal.

 

Just for clarification that is the big white thingy

 

seco services - many thanks for that, it's very much appreciated!

maxsys - thank you for the clarification, as I said my plumbing skills are that of an 8 year old

I will let everyone know how I go on, may be a useful guide for anyone with a similar problem in the future.

 

Mystery solved I think, but it has now revealed a new problem!

When I came to take off the Macdee AFV40100 flush valve (which I thought separated at the top not the bottom, took me a while to figure that out!) I noticed some sealant had been applied near the bottom of the valve casing.

When I got the valve off I looked at the seal itself which seemed to be very clean and pliable but it was covered in bubbles which I thought was a bit odd. When I came to put the valve back on I sussed out why there was sealant, as with everything else in this house a bodge has taken place due to them breaking a lug off one side....

I can only guess this is where the water is coming from, I saw a whole replacement unit in B&Q for £15.99 which looked to have identical fittings, could I replace just the valve that I removed with another version (rather than the base as well, as if that needed replacing I wouldn't bother), are the bases on them a universal fit?

Any help much appreciated, I looked for an identical Macdee unit online but had no success.

 

Macdee (Derwent Macdee) was taken over by Polypipe and became Polypipe Bathrooms and Kitchens. Then it became CME Sanitary Systems, which has now been bought by Wirquin.

Many of the Macdee items have been discontinued.
The Arcadia (AFV40100) has been replaced by the Kayla. I'm not sure if the quick-release bases are interchangeable.

 

Thank you for your reply, that's a lot of company name changes in three years, the one I have is marked up 2008 when it was still Macdee!

I may drop one of the companies a line, like I said the one in B&Q did look to have a very similar quick replace mechanism, but swapping out the base would be a massive job and would involve making a real mess of the bathroom due to it all being boxed in

 

They are interchangable fluidmaster also do one.

 

They do 3, actually. The 550073, the PRO550 and the PRO550 with a longer cable.

Pedantry. Don't you just love it!

 

Most excellent thank you both

I'm not sure of the difference between them so I went for the cheapest! Managed to find the 550073 for only £10.80 with free shipping, hope it works....

 

Here is what to do:

Remove the whole MacDee unit with a quarter turn anti-clockwise as described earlier in the thread. You will notice 4 backets on the top of the big white sealed cyliner. You can carefully pop this open with the base of a tea spoon (being careful not to crack the unit).

Inside you will see its a very, very basic design with what is effectively a bicycle brake cable from the push button unit, pulling on a little pully device which lifts the plunger at the base. The trouble is that the pully /plunger assembly is on 2 guide rails on the inside of the unit and it gets stuck and gravity can't pull it closed after you press the button.

Here's what I did:

I cleaned the guide rails with some tissue and smoothed them down so any limscale residue and gunk was gone. I then sprayed a load of WD40 onto the guide rails and the pully mechanism and then pulled on the cable repeatidly to get the WD40 to move around and do its buisness.

(Maybe this bit was overkill but I also disconnected the cable on both ends and cleaned the visible parts - the was some gunk and, after taking the spray diffuser off the WD40 can I forced a whole load of WD40 down inside the cable sheath - again pulling the cable a couple of dozen times to move the WD40 around.)

It has been perfect ever since.

I fully expect it to go wrong again in a few months but 5 minutes of diy and a couple of squirts of WD40 later it will be sorted, and that's better than spending £15.99 on another piece of potentially defective plastic.

Good luck all with this! Please post any positive or negative results.

Des