Toilet Continually Flushing

[Si]

We recently had a new ballcock and siphon fitted in our toilet. It worked fine for a while but now, when you flush the toilet, it will keep on flushing. I had a look inside and noticed that, when flushed, the ballcock does not move until all the water has gone and then it suddenly drops to the bottom of the cistern and on its way back up, gets caught on a plastic bit that sticks out from the side of the siphon. The water carries on filling over the ballcock and eventually has to flush over and over. Am I right in thinking that the plastic bit on the side of the siphon is there to stop the ballcock arm from dropping too far down? I initially thought it was a design fault but I think it might be there for a reason.

Anyway, does anyone know how I can fix this?

Cheers.

Si

[Andrew Gabriel]

No, it's nothing to do with the ballcock, which should not touch anything, lest it get stuck (as in your case). Sounds like the fitting of the new ballcock and siphon was done wrongly. When doing this, you need to be careful to chose parts and position them so there's no contact. There are replacements for ball valves which smaller and don't require a ball on a long arm, and these can be easier to fit in to some toilets.

[Si]

Hey Andrew,

I think he installed it OK but like I said above it was a bit of a squeeze. I'll see if I can find out more info on those replacements for the ball valve that you mentioned.

Cheers.

Si

[Andrew Gabriel]

There's a Torbeck valve which has a short arm (couple of inches perhaps) and a small float, and there's a Fluidmaster which has no arm and does full flow refill right up to the level line, and is usually silent, or at least very quiet.

[Si]

Hey Andrew.

Thanks for those. It got stuck again about 5 minutes ago. I had another look and I'm thinking if I can find a flat 10 inch piece of plastic I could place it from the top of the siphon at an slight angle down to the back of the cistern at the bottom. Hopefully the arm would then just slide down the flat plastic bit and avoid the bit on the siphon that it keeps getting stuck on. Now, where are those flat bits of plastic when you need them!

Cheers.

Si

[Rob graham]

Maybe you could put a small object (e.g. part of a brick) in the bottom of the tank so that the ball came to rest on it, but higher than the 'bit of plastic' to stop it going down below the 'bit of plastic'.

Rob

[Harry Stottle]

If you have paid a plumber to do the original replacement, get him/her back to do the job right instead of messing with bodge ups, and don't pay any more, as it should have been done right in the first place.

[shazzbat]

It sounds to me like what's happened is when the ballcock was fitted and the nut tightened, it rotated slightly so it's touching the plastic bit you refer to. It's a matter of getting it's position exactly right so it doesn't hit what it's hitting now, without moving it so far that it fouls the casing on the other side. The window of opportunity for this is minute and can take a lot of fiddling about. BTDT. You have to be prepared to swivel it a miniscule amount and try again.

Slacken nut, swivel, tighten nut, test. Slacken nut, swivel, tighten nut, test. Slacken nut, swivel, tighten nut, test. Slacken nut, swivel, tighten nut, test.

Lots of times.

Steve

[Si]

Hey Steve,

Thanks for the advice. Initially I did try to find something that would adjust the ballcock arm position but couldn't see anything. I obviously didn't look hard enough so I'll have another go and see if I can find it.

Cheers.

Si