My appliances hate me...

[icowden]

News update!

I'm pretty certain it's this wotsit that was causing the problem. I think age has withered it. It's the seal around the pipe from the cistern that pushes into the bowl. The waste is better as they used a concertina connection rather than just a rigid pipe with a wotsit on it.

However, I also discovered that those installation chaps at B&Q took a few shortcuts when installing the bowl. Spend ages trying to get out the two bolts that hold the bowl to the floor. I thought one had sheared off. Decided to poke around at the shear and discovered it was silicone sealant. Essentially they used sealant to hold the bowl to the backboard and the floor then used sealant to put the plastic retaining bolt covers in place so it looked nice.

That said - it was pretty rock solid for the last 10 years so it did work.
Anyway - offback to screwfix if I can find what the doodad is called. Then I have the fun of cleaning off all the sealant and redoing it.

 

[CXRAndy]

I generally use silicon to stick down toilet pans and cisterns to the wall. Surface area provides excellent bonding

Don't like using screws with porcelain.

 

[wonderloaf]

News update!

I'm pretty certain it's this wotsit that was causing the problem. I think age has withered it. It's the seal around the pipe from the cistern that pushes into the bowl. The waste is better as they used a concertina connection rather than just a rigid pipe with a wotsit on it.
View attachment 783687

View attachment 783688
However, I also discovered that those installation chaps at B&Q took a few shortcuts when installing the bowl. Spend ages trying to get out the two bolts that hold the bowl to the floor. I thought one had sheared off. Decided to poke around at the shear and discovered it was silicone sealant. Essentially they used sealant to hold the bowl to the backboard and the floor then used sealant to put the plastic retaining bolt covers in place so it looked nice.

That said - it was pretty rock solid for the last 10 years so it did work.
Anyway - offback to screwfix if I can find what the doodad is called. Then I have the fun of cleaning off all the sealant and redoing it.

Could be it, we had a problem where over time the slight movement of the toilet pan from people getting on and off the toilet caused the pipe to 'walk' it's way out of the seal, causing the leak. A block of wood between the wall and the pipe solved it for me!

 

[DRM]

It still could be the micro switch. Mine look clean on the outside, but greasy steam finds its way inside and fouls the contacts. The switches are easy enough to open up and a spray of contact cleaner or emery cloth on the contacts will ensure it’s operating. Be gentle with them as the switch mechanism can ping out and is a fiddle to put back.

View attachment 778457

View: https://youtu.be/vPFhzX5Bheo?si=DmSqfpvvdpPMT74a

As a side note, another item that wears out quickly is the upper spray arm seal. It’s basically a large plastic nut with a rubber seal in the centre. When the seal perishes the top arm stops working. A 30 sec job to change and it washes a whole lot better after replacing.

One thing to remember with microswitches is when fitting a replacement, the 3 terminals are marked common at the bottom, and NC (Normally Closed) & NO (Normally Open) on the end, the manufacturers do love to transpose the NC & NO connections for a laugh, so you can't just copy the connections, you have to double check you're putting the wires on to the correct connection with regard to if the switch is breaking, or making the circuit

 

[DaveReading]

Anyway - offback to screwfix if I can find what the doodad is called. Then I have the fun of cleaning off all the sealant and redoing it.

It's normally referred to as a doughnut.

If it's still capable of sealing, you could be better off re-using it as a new one might be harder to compress to the same degree and then the union on the supply pipe to the cistern won't tighten sufficiently.

DAMHIKT.

 

[icowden]

It's normally referred to as a doughnut.

I thought the doughnut was for close coupled cisterns. This is an internal flush pipe connector according to Fluidmaster.

If it's still capable of sealing, you could be better off re-using it as a new one might be harder to compress to the same degree and then the union on the supply pipe to the cistern won't tighten sufficiently.

This goes over a 40mm pipe from the cistern to the bowl so the fault was the fins on the previous connector perishing over the years. The new one is on after a wrestling match and the toilet bowl re-sealed to the floor and backboard. 24 hours now before anyone is allowed to sit on it.

 

[icowden]

I generally use silicon to stick down toilet pans and cisterns to the wall. Surface area provides excellent bonding

Good to know. I've done the same as I don't have the floor anchors that would have gone with the bowl. I suspect that they also thought it was easier than trying to drill through the marble tiles my wife chose.

 

[CXRAndy]

I use 5mm spacers to lift the pan off the tiles, apply silicon under the pan into the gap, remove spacers and let pan settle onto silicon. Clean up the excess splurge, leave to cure overnight.

Another advantage of a bead of silicon under the pan, is you tend not get that creak or grind when two porcelain materials touch each other

 

[icowden]

I use 5mm spacers to lift the pan off the tiles, apply silicon under the pan into the gap, remove spacers and let pan settle onto silicon. Clean up the excess splurge, leave to cure overnight.

That's not a bad idea. Bit late now though -it's stuck down. Bathrooms are on the list for re-doing anyway. Once we get second child off to Uni there might be a bit of money to be able to do it.