Water slowly leaking into toilet blow, any thoughts?

[Elsa]

Water has been slowly leaking into this toilet bowl, but it seems to stop if I push down and fidget with the white cylinder after every flush. If I don't then the slow leak starts again.




Presumably something isnot tight down there, but there's nothing that I can unscrew and I can't see how I can get it out. This seems to be a different toilet system from the standard I see? I don't have a stop tap in my flat (checked kitchen sink, bathroom etc, there's one on the road but I'm not sure which tap it is as they are not labelled) so it'd be good to be able to fix this problem without having to stop water.


Thanks in advance!

 

[Dotty]

You'll probably find the seat and washer on your flush valve have gunged up a bit looking atthe build up of scale there. Easily done and no need to turn water off as it'll just run into your loo.

If you look at your flush mechanism you'll see you can remove it by twisting it anti clockwise while supporting the bottom bit from twisting with it.

take it out, clean it all up and put it back together. should solve the problem.

Also check your water level, does the fill valve still let water through after it's meant to have turned off?

 

[Simon F]

welcome along,
it could also be that the flush valve washer has started to swell.
take out and have a look, it could have bubbles on the washer, if so best to swap for new, or as an easy fix get busy with a pin.

 

[Elsa]

Thanks for all your advise. I valve washer a couple of times (first time it didn't work) and it seemd to have lowered the leak by about 90%. There's still a tiny drip but it's so much better! Maybe if I try harder with one more clean the leak will be completely gone 🙂

 

[Elsa]

I spoke too soon. It no longer leaks from the bottom (via washer), but there's still a constant drip after each flush, seems to come from the top of the valve rather than the bottom. If I adjust/nudge it slightly, or if I take out the water pipe (with a full tank of water), then the leak stops...

So it looks like the tank is constantly being topped up as the water is very slowly flowing from the top of the valve, and the leak stops if the valve is very slightly readjusted after each flush...

 

[Elsa]

Do you guys think I need to buy a new flush valve? Or is it just not positioned properly?

 

[Simon F]

if the fill valve is not fully shutting of when the water level is reached then it would usually be the washer has split, but it does look a bit crusty, so possibly something is sticking??
a new valve would solve it either way.

 

[kris]

No you can buy the rubber seal so do as croppie said spin it quarter turn and the hole flush valve will come out theres no need to switch water off as will only run into toilet. When flush is removed measure the size of black rubber at the bottom of valve . Norrmally around 1. 1/2 " but sizes vary. The washers cost 3quid .

 

[kris]

After a period they start warpin gently so if you do get the right washer buy another as a spare and it will save cost of plumber. Good luck

 

[Elsa]

Hi thanks for the responses. I've cleaned the washer again and it does seem like the issue is not the washer but something else.... Whenever I half flush it doesn't leak, it only starts leaking again if I do a full flush. And when I detach the tube the leaking also stops.

When the tank is full (unlike below) but the tube is detached, the leaking stops.

Photo here (site won't let me attach):

i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn2/salliander/DSC_0055_zps43e22f01.jpg

The leaking often stops if I push down and twist the white plastic top (with the hole, above the black balloon valve) anti-clockwise for 5 - 10 seconds.

Any ideas?

Thanks again for your help!

 

[Elsa]

Photo of washer: i300.photobucket.com/albums/nn2/salliander/DSC_0051_zpse9d9b1e0.jpg