Toilet flush pipe stays full of water

[dilalio]

Looks like bad moulding in the pan causeways (or bad design!)
If that "wall" of porcelain is acting as a dam then it will always retain water behind it.

As above, infill with mait.

 

[SiliconS]

Thanks again. I'll clean out the pan hole and try that idea.

 

[Madrab]

Yup, if the last of your pics is looking inside the flushway gallery inside where the flushpipe fits and that's a wall of porcelain that the water has to get up and over to wash into the pan then there's no way all the water will ever empty out of the pipe.

As @dilalio suggests it looks like the mould wasn't finished properly or just simply a bad design and all you can really do is seal inside and outside the pipe cone and hope it stays dry, or get a new pan.

 

[lostinthelight]

Was this a toilet that flushed normally until you tried to fix the leak?

 

[just pumps]

This "wall" you guys speak of, if it is a stop for the flush cone and the internal bore of the flush cone is of the same size as the bore of the pan then water should flow through.
Has the vertical section been cut down short on the flush pipe?

 

[Madrab]

This "wall" you guys speak of, if it is a stop for the flush cone and the internal bore of the flush cone is of the same size as the bore of the pan then water should flow through.
Has the vertical section been cut down short on the flush pipe?

Are we looking at the same pic? Or is it just me that isn't looking at it properly?

That gallery looks like it is 3/4 obstructed at the back, almost to the top of the moulding by looks of it. The cone stop is the whiter ring closer to the camera, it's usually just that small knuckle in the moulding, or even a tag sitting in the bottom.
If the flush pipe is set horizontal or just off, then that 'wall' at the back will always allow water to be left in the pipe when flushed.

I would take a guess and suggest that when it was all first fitted new, the flush come sealed up nicely, now it's older and been disturbed it's not. Though looking at the staining on the pan connector I looks like it may have been leaking for a while.

 

[just pumps]

Yep same picture guess I wasn`t looking to the background close enough - My bad.
Has to have been a poor flush from the start though.

 

[terryplumb]

I think the pic may be misleading. It's not taken " head on" ,but from above at an acute angle. At first glance it looks like 3/4 of the inlet is obstructed, which would be ridiculous . And if that is so ,it would quite useless.

 

[SiliconS]

Hi all. Thanks for all the replies.
Yes, that wall of porcelain in the pan inlet means the water has to flow up higher to flush the toilet. Perhaps it means the pan is lower profile than normal or something. I don't know. But it flushes just fine so it does seem to be by design.
My photo shows the old white cone that was leaking before I removed it. If I fix the leak from the new black rubber cone then all will be OK, even though the pipe stays full of water.
I'll try and get a photo of the pan inlet with my phone, which will be higher quality than the photo above and might be useful.

 

[Madrab]

The section of the gallery, when you get to that 'wall' , will probably still have a clearance above it so the water will get up and over that to the pan wall and flush ok, it just means that it leaves a certain amount of water behind.

That section of the moulding would usually be cut out before the pan is fired and it looks like they missed it in this case.

 

[SiliconS]

That's a clearer photo of the flush inlet.

The Great Wall of Porcelain in there doesn't look like a mistake to me. It's part of the pan's design. If it were a mistake I'd expect the flush to be weak, and it isn't at all.

The inlet had copious amounts of white silicone attached. (You can still see quite a bit attached.) Presumably whoever installed this (or has had to fix it in the last 20 years) has used this to stop leaks from the flush pipe. I've got some plumber's mait to try instead. Wish me luck.

 

[Madrab]

Hmmmm, I don't know, I can't see such a fundamental flaw being part of any design as it's a really stupid mistake. Can't see why it would be deliberate to have it where the flush pipe would always be left half full of water.
I'm sure that wall/or part of it should be cut out when the mould is released and the cast is still soft before it's is air dried and fired.
There's been a mistake with that one that's then got through QC and the installer just had to 'glue' the flush pipe/cone in to stop it leaking, guess you'll need to do the same.