Leaking Toilet

debbie42

Our toilet is leaking from (unfortunately!) the dirty end, i.e. the bit where the U bend joins onto the other bit. I confess I haven't got close enough to check in detail as yet, but it looks pretty gross, so you can tell that's where it's leaking!

Is there anything I can do to fix it, or does it need a plumber?

Thanks.

HugoSP

It sounds like the seal inside the pan connector has failed.

TBH it is an easy repair taking a 2 or 4 hours for someone who knows what he's doing. All it needs is the toilet taking out and the pan connector replacing.

You could try to bodge it yourself by wrapping the whole lot in duct tape but I doubt this would be satisfctory.

My tight fisted customers usually ask me to come and repair when all else has failed, and I have to fight my way past every bodge known to man.

I take it the leaky water is around the same colour as the coffee in your picture

debbie42

HugoSP wrote: »

TBH it is an easy repair taking a 2 or 4 hours for someone who knows what he's doing. All it needs is the toilet taking out and the pan connector replacing.


I take it the leaky water is around the same colour as the coffee in your picture

I think it might be an idea to get a plumber in, given that estimate, and yes, it is a similar colour as my coffee, but doesn't smell as good.

We do have a spare loo, so it's not an emergency repair (thank goodness!) I'll pop an old tupperware underneath, just in case my kids ignore the "Out of Order" sign. :cool:

Thanks for the advice.

BobProperty

Exactly what HugoSP said. Though if you had a perfect newish installation you might get the time down to 1-1.5 hours, but if they've cemented and tiled the pan in place, you're well over the 4 hours.

debbie42

It was a new toilet fitted around 4 years back, so is fairly recent.

The pan is screwed onto a wooden floor which was covered with a carpet. Needless to say that carpet, which was cream, but is now rather darker under the U bend, will definitely have to go now, but it was only a cheap stopgap measure anyway, given the rather poor aim of my son.

So it may be straight forward, but I'm not sure I want to risk it! I think I'll leave it to the experts. If I can find one!


p.s. Just noticed I'm a "Nerd", when did that change happen??

EliteHeat

Have a go yourself. Parts are; new closely coupled donut and pan connector - about £15 all in. What's the worst that can happen?

wolfehouse

I had the same problem when i moved into my house 10 years ago (so someone elses mess)
cost me £50 for a plumber to repair then (in 1997 money). it needed a new white rubbery/plastic bit to be fitted (as hugo said)
money well spent i'm thinking.

only other time i had a leak there the same bit, which is tucked in had untucked when i moved it a bit while putting in new flooring.

HugoSP

Just out of interest there are a huge number of those pan connectors on the market. I use the ones from Screwfix, not because they are the cheapest (which they are) but because they give the tightest fit and seem to do the job without having to mess around with it. They have a very tight rubber seal that hugs the outlet like a boa constrictor.

I had a major problem once with an expensive branded coupler. I chucked it and used a Screwfix one that solved the problem.

debbie42

I can think of many things that could go wrong (including a flooded kitchen, a big mess, broken kit etc.) but if I did attempt this myself, does anyone have any hints, tips, links etc. on how to do it?

I'll have a look at the screwfix site. What should I look for there, in terms of spares, sizes etc.? The waste goes straight out through the wall, not through the floor. It looks to me like there's the pan, then a plastic collar thingy wich goes into a bigger tube that goes into the wall. I'm not sure which of the two joins the leak is coming from (yet).

HugoSP

BobProperty wrote: »

Exactly what HugoSP said. Though if you had a perfect newish installation you might get the time down to 1-1.5 hours, but if they've cemented and tiled the pan in place, you're well over the 4 hours.

That depends how the cistern is secured to the wall. The old low level suites were a doddle as you could simply pull out the pipe from the cistern and pull the pan out after unscrewing it.

Then came the close coupled cistern. This design means that the toilet has to be assembled before it is installed, which means that the whole pan/cistern arrangement will have to come out as one.

Now, so many cisterns are not screwed but glued to the wall, meaning that you need a hacksaw blade to cut through the adhesive/silicone at the back of the cistern, then the wall and cistern have to be cleaned to remove the old silicone/adhesive before it is put back.

HugoSP

debbie42 wrote: »

I can think of many things that could go wrong (including a flooded kitchen, a big mess, broken kit etc.) but if I did attempt this myself, does anyone have any hints, tips, links etc. on how to do it?

I'll have a look at the screwfix site. What should I look for there, in terms of spares, sizes etc.? The waste goes straight out through the wall, not through the floor. It looks to me like there's the pan, then a plastic collar thingy wich goes into a bigger tube that goes into the wall. I'm not sure which of the two joins the leak is coming from (yet).

http://www.screwfix.com/search.do;jsessionid=K0EDSB51RVB0OCSTHZOSFFA?_dyncharset=UTF-8&fh_search=pan+connector

Have a look at the above link.

From what you say you will need something similar to item no:12145, but it may need to be straight, not offsett. They used to list one but it doesn't seem to come up on my search??

Also you may need item no:12078, extension piece - on the next page.

Alternitively you could use item no:17529 - flexible pan connector. I suspect you won't need this but they are good for awquard fits.

Having said that SFD charge packaging and handling for deliveries under £50. So you may be better going to somewhere like B&Q, who aren't much more expensive.

If you need someone to talk you though it, get some photos and let me know. Either PM me or try and find me here.

All the best

H