New Style Toilet Keeps Running

[Magtan]

Hi, my toilet keeps running and when I lift up the cistern cover, the inside doesn’t look like any DIY video I have seen.

The middle grey and white pipe is the flush. The top white pipe is where the water continuously over flow causing the toilet to keep running.

I believe it’s the bottom pipe which I have circled in blue that needs changing out.

Does anyone have a similar looking cistern or can point me to a video on how to remove that part?

I had a plumber who came to change out that part a few years ago in another identical toilet in the house. If it is absolutely necessary, I will get a plumber in but if it is something I can do myself, I will rather do it myself as it cost around £150 the last time, and it is that time of the year now where I can do with saving where I can.

The last photo is the part that the plumber who came previously put in.

Your advice is very much appreciated.

 

[JohnD]

The filling valve is a Torbeck (or possibly a similar copy). Yours looks very new. Perhaps the fitter was careless.

Check if it is at fault by gently lifting the float (shaped like a tiny upturned bucket) with your finger. The water flow should gulp and stop in a second or two. If it does, then the Torbeck is not at fault.

They are a very good, quiet valve but are prone to grit or scale in the mechanism, especially when the pipe has not been run free to flush it clean. You can dismantle it and wash the parts. If you do that in a glass kitchen bowl you may spot the grit or other detritus. I have found them very helpful in sending replacement parts if anything is lost or damaged. Look up the installation instructions online.

There are lots of vids on Utube. Observe the stainless steel needle carefully and refit correctly into the hole. Use your glasses and a torch as it is very small.

Turn off the water supply first, of course. Turn it back on to flush out the open pipe. You need a mug or something to prevent the water squirting round your bathroom.

If you decide to fit a new filling valve instead, the Fluidmaster with brass shank is very good.

If the Torbeck is not at fault, then your flushing valve is letting water by. You can test this by turning off the water supply. No more will enter the cistern, but water will keep running out.

 

[oldbuffer]

If the water fills the cistern and runs down the internal overflow (open pipe above flush valve in your photo) then it is the inlet valve (red circled bit) which needs a new diaphragm washer or needs changing.
If the water doesn't fill the cistern to the lip of the overflow pipe, but water still runs into the bowl even when the cistern is full, then the problem lies with the flush valve. These mostly unclip on a sort of bayonet fitting, by turn 1/8th or 1/4 of a turn, usually anti-clockwise. There will be a large diameter rubber washer at the end. These can get damaged with age, or grit gets stuck on the washer and / or the seat (which remains in the cistern). Cleaning / replacement is the way forward. Some makes are also prone to getting tiny bubbles in the rubber of the washer. In these cases replacement of the washer is the best solution, although it is sometimes possible to clear off the bubbles.

 

[CBW]

If your part that’s been changed is the one for the Torbeck, then check the plastic lugs are in place.