Toilet cistern help please ( a bit of a saga)

elsien

I work in a home for people with severe learning disabilities, one of whom has a habit of repeatedly running into the bathroom, flushing the chain and running out again.
The toilet cistern is a dudley duoflush with handle, where the quick press of the handle is the long flush and you need to hold the handle down to get the short flush. As the chap is whizzing in and out at speed, he's doing the long flush and we're on a meter so I'm guessing that's one of the reasons our water bill for a 5 bedroom bungalow is currently £160 a month. (Severn Trent say there isn't a leak, we've had them check.)
We don't want to put a brick in the cistern - we're at the bottom of a slope, so we already need a pump to get the sewage up to the main drain, and as the guys also put a lot of loo roll down the pan, the system gets blocked up if we're not careful.
I enquired of the housing association if they'd be able to change the cistern innards to make the short press the short flush instead, and they said no because it would require a whole new cistern.
So my questions are 1) is this true and 2) if it is, can anyone give me a ballpark figure for going ahead and paying for the work ourselves.
Or any other suggestions anyone has that doesn't involve locking people out of the bathroom!

tigeress289

Hello, the answer is quite simple but you will need a plumber or a good DIY person to do it. The rod that connects to the diaphragm has 2 washers on it, when removed, it will make it a short flush only. It is quite a straight forward job, but the syphon has to come out.
all the best

tigeress289

Just to add, the cost depends on the plumber that comes out, £40 should be a ballpark figure as there are no parts to change. Ask before they come out. Good Luck