Flushing problems: handle? water level? or flap valve?

[Cath H]

Hello,
Over the past few weeks our loo has become a bit temperamental: sometimes it takes two or three attempts before it flushes. (It's a close coupled loo, put in when the house was built 7 years ago.) On one occasion about 3 weeks ago it just wouldn't flush at all. I eventually raised the float arm a bit so the water level was about 1 cm higher, which seemed to fix the problem, (although I don't think the level had been particularly low). But it's happened again a couple of times this week.

Having read a few websites about it, I don't know whether it's the water level, the handle or the flap(per) valve that is causing the problem. The last one is the most worrying as I wouldn't feel able to take the cistern off the wall and take the siphon out.

The handle feels a bit loose and "floppy", but it isn't broken. The screw on the lever arm is badly rusted up, so I haven't been able to adjust/tighten it, but I'm not sure if this would make any difference anyway? Is it worth getting a new handle to try and get more tension in the chain, or am I just kidding myself that it might be something straightforward like this because I don't want to face the prospect of having to take the siphon out?

Finally, the fact that the water level seems to gradually drop over time: Is this a cause or just a symptom of the problem?

Does anyone know how likely it is to be the flap valve bearing in mind the age of the WC and the above symptoms?

Sorry this is all a bit garbled. Many thanks in advance if anyone can help.

 

[charliechaplinspants]

New syphon.

 

[robertito]

Don't understand this,you have either a flap valve or a siphon, but not both. And whichever it is, you don't have to take the cistern off the wall.

 

[seco services]

And whichever it is, you don't have to take the cistern off the wall.

so how you going to undo the nut on the bottom of the syphon if you don't remove the cistern ?

 

[izzy eckerslike]

I've just fitted a flapper type after endless problems with trying to replace the syphon after it failed to work properly, I'm well impressed with such a light touch on the handle to give a half flush or hold the handle for full flush.

If you do have the flapper type & it's not really clear in your post then if it's like mine you can rotate the disk part to adjust the flush & also the chain has to be set just right so that it allows the flap to close with very little slack in the chain.
If it's too slack then the the flap won't lift high enough to stay open while the water gushes thru

 

[dextrous]

A picture would help resolve this one quickly.