Water leak from under tank on toilet

AAAAAAAAARRRGGGHH!!!!!!

Chust taken a further look at your photos... (There should be a smiley showing a head buried in open hands, the odd tear seeping through the fingers)

It IS the obvious thing - the seal betwixt the cistern and the pan. Ie, the 'doughnut' not sealing properly. See where the inlet pipe is? I thought that whole white ceramic panel was the bottom of the cistern, and that hole was chust a recess. But it isn't - that panel is the top of the toilet pan. There is a HOLE in that panel where the inlet pipe connects to the filling valve in the cistern above - looking through that hole you can see the bottom of the cistern.

Clearly water is leaking where we suspected all along, and landing in the narrow gap above there and making its way along the top until it chust falls through that hole.

Bond, we have spent fifteen times longer trying to sort this conundrum that it will take you to fix. C'mon, man - grows some tentacles. Fix it.

You know that any plumber will roll his eyes heavenwards when he sees what a p***-easy job it is to sort. He'll think you a wus, man. He'll double the bill 'cos he'll think you a sucker.

You got yourself a woman? Well, she'll leave you. Possibly for the plumber; he's a real man.

Honest to goodness, this is an EASY job. You CAN do it. And you'll feel great.

Take some photos of the whole loo, and also looking inside the cistern.

We'll hold your hand (in a manly way, of course... )

 

Forgot to mention, any water that remains in the cistern can be tipped down the pan or into the bath. There's no need to remove the syphon (flushing mechanism) from the cistern either, just the donut that your going to replace. Honestly, it's a very easy job, plus the sense of fulfilment, once you've done it yourself and saved £££'s into the bargain

 

as john said its the doughnut washer pushed down more on one side thus making a loose fit at the other

 

Looking at your original pics, I don' think it ever had a mounting plate (as shown in the photo I put up) I reckon all you need is a new doughnut washer, and put it all back together.

PS, well done for getting it apart. (wasn't a difficult job at all,, was it?)

 

just from curiosity have you done it ..............hopefully.....lol...are you stressed or boasting to the wife, that you can do pipe bending stuff because its simple.....hahaha

 

Undo the pipe where you undone it from and wrap some ptfe tape around the olive (will be showing on the very short bit of copper pipe attached to the flexi pipe). Put a good few wraps around it (4 or 5 at least) then re-assemble. If you want , you can put a couple of turns on the thread, but this shouldn't be necessary. Turn the water back on and bask in the admiring glances from your wife at a job well done (and think of the money we've saved you)

PS I realised from your second lot of pics that yours didn't have a mounting plate, as the bolts seem to come right through the cistern, c/w rubber inserts so they themselves don't leak.

 

Hey Bond! Awesome, man .

Sorry I missed all the excitement today with your trials...

But, main job done - and nicely.

Ok, the rest is easy. See that joint you opened and which is now seeping slowly? Well, you can see some white plastic tape sticking out the top - yep?

You chust need a wee bit more of that stuff. And it costs pennies. (Actually, you probably don't even need any - I bet one further tweak of the nut will do the job even tho' you think it's tight already. (Do you have TWO spanners to use on this fitting?)

Anyways, your choice is two-fold... The first is to grasp that 'body' of the valve and give that top nut a sixteenth more clockwise turn tighter...

Or, turn off that bottom valve, undo that top nut (the same one as you did before) and have a looksee. Ok, if you push that short piece of copper pipe down through the fitting and look at its end, you will find a brass 'collar' going around it that's a separate part - that's the 'olive'. The olive gets squished when you tighten the nut, and makes a water-tight seal against the pipe. Or it should. It usually needs a wee bit of help from either PTFE tape (the white stuff) or some pipe sealant.

Ok, personally I'd first try the 16th-tweak, 'cos when you say it's tight, we don't really know if it is .

If that doesn't help, then buy some PTFE tape first, and then come back on here.

And don;t worry - it won't turn into a gushing torrent - just place a pan under it and it'll be fine.

 

Ok, to recap...

1) Use two spanners to give that joint a 1/16th extra tighten. If that doesn;t work then go on to two...
2) Buy some PTFE tape at a hardware store or whatever.
3) Undo that single nut and disconnect as you did before.
4) Push the copper pipe through so's you can see its end.
5) The end should have an 'olive' and there should be around 5 to 10mm of the end of the copper pipe sticking out beyond that olive.
6) Clean off any loose bits of PTFE tape.
7) Get your new tape and wrap a few turns* neatly and with a bit of tightness (so's the tape sits snugly) over the olive and overlapping the copper pipe on both sides. 4 or 5 turns. Keep the tape pulled snugly and then a final sharp pull when you've done this to snap it - it should hopefully not unravel since you did it all 'tightly'...
8) * With the copper pipe end facing you, wrap the tape anti-clockwise so's it's less likely to unravel as you tighten that nut.
9) Replace, refit, retighten.
10) Puff chest.
11) Check for leaks...

 

Yes James, that's exactly what I told you to do. You'd have thought a secret agent of your calibre could follow simple instructions,, Do keep up Bond, or we'll have a water shortage affecting all off the Home Counties and the PM will not be pleased.

 

Basically just tighten an extra smidge, or a 16th of a full turn, just to tweak the joint a bit.

 

Yep.

One adjustable spanner holds the valve body carefully so's not to damage the surface - that's the awkward one 'cos it doesn't really have any 'flats' as such, but you use the raised bit around the screw slot to prevent the body turning. You MUST prevent this from turning, or else you risk loosening the joint underneath...Then a well-fitting spanner on the akshull nut.

Look down.

Picture the top of t'nut.

Divide it into quarters. Divide it into eighths. Divide it into sixteenths...

Turn it that much.

Ie - a 'tweak'.

Worked? Awesome.

No? Repeat...