Evening all. The toilet flush is giving trouble (for the third time this year...). This time the button often stays pressed down so water runs endlessly into the pan. I want to replace the valve without dismantling the cistern, but I don't really want that brand. I think it's Viva, iirc from when the plumber came. I would like to simply unclip and replace it. Is there a more reliable brand that will fit its cradle?
It doesn't seem to be all that reliable. At least, as per the Amazon reviews, quite a few of them said that within months their unit developed the exact same problem mine has.
Anyway reliable or not, it seems miraculous to me that I press a button and a signal goes down the cable to the valve and it opens the right amount for the flush. Sheer magic. Any explanations welcome. Especially reasonable ones.
I think you’ve misunderstood the workings of these ‘cable’ style flush valves and rather over complicated your idea of their workings It’s a simple cable attached at one end to the push button and other end to the flush valve Volume of short/long flush is set by sliding a tab on the flush valve OR may be plastic button that you push into selected holes on valve The dual flush buttons are slightly different lengths and pull the cable back by two slightly different amounts No signal going down cable or anything as technical as that ! Think more like a bike brake cable - pull brake lever / it operates brakes (ok, many bike brakes are now hydraulic but I’m keeping it simple here) Try removing cable from buttons and operate buttons and see if they’re jamming in plastic housing. They have a spring and should depress easily and spring back by themselves Possibly hole for button assembly has been cut a little undersized or wonky and buttons are being pinched Then manually flush valve several times and see after water has been dumped, does the cistern re-seal and fill without leaking into toilet pan Try determine first if a problem with buttons or valve itself
Aha! My Viva button has no spring. I got it from an amazing online retailer. I will replace the flush valve assembly with another after Christmas. I will inspect the old one's workings then too. A lesson in plumbing for less than £20. Thank you.
I'm fairly sure that Viva sell the push buttons as a spare part / replacement As I suggested, flush the valve several times manually so you can identify where the fault lies If its the button assembly, then just replace this item
Not sure that will solve the problem. The plumber put in the entire valve with a lever earlier this year when the button got too stiff to press. Nobody in this house likes buttons, they are a pain with our various disabilities. But the lever as you can imagine was a big fiddle for the plumber and never really worked. Anyway hence I put in the button instead of the lever and then soon afterwards got a replacement - button only - when the valve problem first started.
I have now sorted this out. I did not install anything new. Fixing the problem was ridiculously easy, which I did not expect. I simply changed the small flush amount on the valve from minimum to second-from-minimum. A matter of moving the blue switch one notch down. The smallest flush uses a bit more water than before, but the button now returns to its correct position after pressing it. Magic, for certain.