Can I easily fix this leaking toilet bowl?

scarletjim

For a few months now my toilet has had water constantly trickling into it, and from time to time (say once a fortnight) it doesn’t flush. When that happens, I take the top off, unscrew the flush, twist it out, put it back in again, and for a while it works fine again. But obviously I want to fix it permanently if I can do so without spending lots of money…

Here are some pictures of the toilet and flush mechanism:
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/ybhyth5ldaahiq8/AADHZnUcuIaiBPkTaZr5EPDKa?dl=0

YouTube videos suggest that I need to change the big rubber seal at the bottom, but I can’t find one the right size, plus it seems the flush mechanism in my toilet wasn’t even designed for this toilet! (If I Google ‘roca dual flush button mechanism’, the one in all the pictures looks slightly different to mine, it has a black plastic part at the bottom that mine doesn’t have for a start…)

Also, when it take it out to look at it, I see that both seals (the big one at the bottom, and the smaller one a bit higher up) both have a green film / sludge around them – is that meant to be there to help the seal, or is that debris that I should wipe off?

When I do try to buy the new seal, I can’t find the right size. For example, if I Google ‘roca dual flush button mechanism seal’, all the resulting items have a relatively small hole in the middle, but as you can see from my pictures (IMAG2003), on my existing bottom seal the ‘hole’ in the seal is much bigger.

So, a few questions:
1. Does it matter that the flush mechanism doesn’t appear to be the one originally designed for this toilet? (Or am I mistaken on that?)
2. What is the green substance around the seal all about? Should I wipe it off?
3. Do I just need to replace the bottom seal? If so, where can I find one, and how will I know it’s the right size?

TIA for any advice anyone can provide.

societys_child

Any replacement, (provided it's the same diameter) should work.


Had the same problem (and couldn't find the correct replacement washer) a few months ago, so I put a short length of copper pipe in the part-wot-lifts-up-and-down* this adds a bit of weight, which holds the flush washer down and stops the leak. Jobs a good-un for now





*Technical name . . .

getmore4less

same thing is happening to one of ours,
It replaced a very old siphon that had split

I suspect it is the hard water in our area and a descale of the unit may work but the weight idea is much simpler.

That one looks like a lot of scale build up and cleaning blocks have been used.

perhaps a soak in vinegar(diluted) will help.

southcoastrgi

Why have you removed the whole thing ?
Twist the top half & it will come apart from the bottom part, the bit that is secured through your cistern stays in place. You will now need to replace the doughnut washer between the cistern & pan

scarletjim

Thanks guys. So, it seems in my attempts to fix it, I've perhaps actually made it worse... I didn't really that part could be separated, I just twisted the whole thing and it unscrewed, but judging by southcoastrgi's comment I shouldn't have done that. So based on all the responses above, a few more questions:

societyschild: Sorry if I'm being thick, but what exactly do I do with the copper pipe? How long? How would I fix it?

getmore4less: Where is the scale build up? What does it look like? Is that the 'green sludge'? What part are you suggesting I soak in (diluted) vinegar?

southcoastrgi: Aha, that might be why I can't find the size of rubber seal that I need, because I've pulled the whole thing off and so have been looking for the 'bottom' seal. I've now taken it out again and have separated the two parts, had a look at the 'inner seal', and put the whole thing back again - will see what it does... Are you saying that I've now probably damaged that 'bottom' (doughnut) seal and will need another? Where on earth can I get one? I've not seen one in all my searching...

southcoastrgi

Screwfix do a fuildmaster seal which will prob fit, the doughnut washer is the thick rubber washer that goes between the bottom of the cistern & the pan, because it compresses it should be replaced whenever the cistern is removed from the pan, any plumbers merchant or B&Q etc will sell them, better if you take the old one with you as there are serveral different types