Bloo Loo

[The Medway Handyman]

Did a job this afternoon, lady said her toilet 'wasn't working'. Apparently it overflowed and wouldn't flush. She had only been in the house 2 months.

Took the lid off the cistern, the metal arm of the ball valve had snapped and the operating rod for siphon was also snapped. Never seen that before. The metal arm had been 'repaired' with duck tape.

Also really dark blue water. Siphoned out the water & found a good inch of blue 'jelly' on the bottom of the cistern.

Seems like (at least) one of those toilet fresheners that people are obsessed with had burst. Right mess to clear out.

The two screws holding the cistern to the toilet were so badly corroded I had to cut one of them out.

Makers date on the plastic cistern was 1998, so not that old.

I've changed siphons & ball valves in cisterns twice that age & never come across so many faults in one place before.

Could this damage & corrosion be due to the bloo goo? What the hell is in those things? Everything seemed to have been affected - plastic, metal, rubber seals.

[TheScullster]

"The Medway Handyman" wrote

I have two experiences with these things.

Having used the toilet and caught the seat when I "stood up", I discovered on walking downstairs that one of those "hooked over the toilet rim" type fresheners had detached itself from the bog and attached itself to my back pocket :).

Having deliberated for ages over a toilet flush blockage, I eventually removed said toilet to find one of those "hooked over the toilet rim" type fresheners lodged in the neck of the drain immediately after the pan outlet.

I have also suffered from the sludge build up you mention with the "in-cistern" type fresheners.

I find the solution is to make a lid that is non-removable without tools and to ban the use of "hooked over the toilet rim" type fresheners.

Phil

[the_constructor]

I thought everyone knew not to use Bloo Loos... There was an article on one of the TV shows many years ago about such items and they advised people not to use them because of the corrosion and sludge effects.

[meow2222]

I gather this is a common cause of blockage.

NT

[Owain]

The solution is a squirty bottle of bleach next to the loo.

Owain