Problem with my toilet 23 August 2005 at 5:02PM in Water bills 10 replies 6.4K views

cheggers

My toilet every so often, and often in the middle of the night decides to re-fill itself for about 10-20 seconds.

It only tops itself up for a short period, is there something wrong with the water pressure.

deanos

Could be your ballcock not turning the water off properly in the cistern

Cardew

The most likely reason is that water in the cistern is leaking out - hopefully just into the toilet bowl - and the cistern is just topping up.

It should be fairly easy to check this and replace the toilet plunger mechanism.

losgiganteskid

I believe this is a totally BOG standard procedure

W1zz

Ghosts have to take a leak too you know. :eek:

Nar, sorry, sounds like a leaking ballcock.

weekendwarrior

Hi,

It sounds more like a leak beneath the syphon or flap!

If you put some dye such as one of the blue toilet cleaning fluids in the cistern, do not flush the toilet, but check the bowl in a few hours. If the water in the bowl has discoloured then there is a leak on either the syphon or the flap valve, depending on what type of toilet you have!

Ironically flap valves in toilets are relatively new for if they do leak then the water goes straight down the pan, water companies did not want this and so insisted on a syphon as the chance of a syphon wasting water was very low.

Now that most houses have water meters it is ok if your toilet is of the flap type and leaks!

Moral of the story is that the water companies don't mind you wasting water as long as you are paying for it!

cheggers

The toilet is a Roca, with the plunger in the middle.

It seems like I have a leak, as I can see a constant flow/trickle of water down the inside of the pan.

Then after a 5 to 10 minutes the toilet tops itself up and the cisten level has dropped.

What I'm best when I call the plumber, should I pay the new parts for the plunger 1st if I can get hold of the parts?

Cardew

The plungers are usually standard. Unless they are heavily corroded they are simple to change. Turn off the water to the toilet - or tie/prop up the ballcock arm and see if you can change it yourself.

weekendwarrior

Hi cheggers

It's a very easy problem to fix and can easily be done by someone with a little plumbing experience!

If you can do it your self you would be looking at a few pounds, if you get a plumber considerably more!

Weymouth_Man

W1zz wrote:

Ghosts have to take a leak too you know. :eek:

Nar, sorry, sounds like a leaking ballcock.

:eek: I willy not tell a single living person about this then!!!! :eek:

:silenced:

Paul_Heaton

I have had the exact same problem.
My syphon was a Roca unit.
The reason is that deposits build up on the diaphragm that seals at the bottom of the unit. Dis-assemble and clean may help but replacement is an alternative.