Concealed lavatory cistern - maintenance

[ephraim_pule]

Just fitting concealed lavatory cistern as part of bathroom re-furb. It is an Ideal Standard Conceala with dual pneumatic buttons attached by air pipes. Across the top of the cupboard like unit, a worktop will be fitted into which a wash basin will be set and sealed with silicone to prevent the worktop turning into soggy wheatabix with the wet.

So, when the Torbeck-type valve gets a bit of grit in it and needs sorting how do you get back into the unit? The guy in the bathroom showroom said, "They never go wrong". All it takes is a bit of work on the water main up the road and grit gets in. Also the washer will wear out over time.

Ideas, please.

EP

[Dave Plowman (News)]

Absolutely nothing ever goes wrong so service access is always needed. I reckon the life of a torbeck valve in a hard water area is no more than 10 years. However it's not a daily occurrence so assuming a silicone seal you just cut through that to remove the worktop. Would make sense to have service valves to the basin to make disconnecting that less painful.

[Grumps]

We have one of those, or something very similar. The buttons we chose are mounted in a rectangular chrome (effect) plastic plate which we've got mounted directly above the cistern (a cut-out in the worktop). This plate removes quite easily (it's spring clip mounted) and enables essential access to the valve. Alternatively, there are loose fitting cover panels that simply rest over a cut-out in the worktop. If your basin is only fixed to the worktop, then it would be possible to remove the whole lot (after disconnecting the tap tails and waste). But that'd be a pain.

[Rod]

Not familiar with that make/model. But the two we have are both fully maintainable from the front - where there are removable panels. One (make not remembered) specifically said that it only needs front access; the other (Macdee) is similar and I am conviced it would be true for that as well.

I used plastic pipe (Hep2O) for both - the flexibility of which might make it easier to maintain than copper.

[Grumps]

Your cistern has a removable front panel?

[Bruce]

Guy in bathroom shop speak with forked tongue. ;-)

[Rod]

Yes!!! The units into which they are fitted are what I was really talking about! :-)

And it is work of moments to disconnect water supply and flush pipe and remove cistern. But I think it might actually be possible to replace the valve without even doing that. (I am not about to do it and take photos... Oh sod it, here we go )

[Grumps]

Cool (as my kids would say). Is the water level behind that blue cover?

[ephraim_pule]

Thanks, I think Rod has the idea. If I mount the two- button flush (fitted on a removable plate) into the worktop, then I can get into the top of the cistern via its top access fairly easily without removing the sink. (It doesn't have side access). The issue is that it ain't all that obvious and the bathroom shop man didn't have an answer even as I took him to a display model and asked him how he'd get to the valve! The push buttons were fitted on the face of his fitted unit, so removing it would only take you to the blank side of the cistern.

EP.

[Dave Liquorice]

The vertical one I doubt it that just clips in at the top and the screws are missing... It's difficult to tell but I suspect the water level is just below where the tank opens out to full size. The water inlet has to be above the water level by an inch or so, look to the right.

[Rod]

Bear in mind that I removed the worktop to get that photo! If I had ever fixed that properly, it would not have been possible to see the top blue panel.

The top panel and the front panel are interchangeable - you screw one in and the other just clips. So you could have the panel with the hole for the pneumatic thingy on top *or* at the front. In either case, you would be able to get at the valve through the clip-on blue panel.

The front panel (as I have fitted it) really seems just to prevent moisture, spray, flies, from transferring between the interior of the cistern and the inside of the cupboard. Hence, relatively little dust or fungal blackness in the picture.

[Rod]

See my other post!

Not 100% sure I have fully understood your problem, but if what I have posted helps, I am happy.

[The Medway Handyman]

Did his nose get bigger when he said that? Did he promise that the cheque was in the post?

I've found two examples where cisterns have been boxed in & tiled over! People are somewhat dismayed when you tell them the tiles will have to come off to repair the cistern.

[Dave Plowman (News)]

A mate bought a new show house where the tiles had to be removed to gain access to the boiler for a routine service. And he couldn't get matching tiles to repair.

[Andy Champ]

We have a not very needed soap dish inset into the worktop near the basin.

Not very needed for soap that is, as the basin has a built in depression.

But it's just above the ballcock in the cistern...

Andy

[Ian_m]

I have a MacDee (?) concealed cistern under a bathroom workstop, easy peasy to get to fiddle with.

1. Remove panel above loo (easier said than done).
2. Turn off water to cistern.
3. Flush to remove water.
4. Disconnect incoming water pipe where it enters cistern or at isolating valve.
5. Undo down pipe attached to cistern.
6. The whole cistern can them be lifted up off its rear attachment bracket and removed for easy fiddling.

1. Reverse the whole process to put back.

[Frank Erskine]

What if the fault's in the flushing system so that you can't empty it?

[The Medway Handyman]

[Mike Barnes]

Bale it out with a plastic cup. Suck the last half-inch out with a long straw.

[Rod]

I am not going to photograph that as well! But I think that I could disconnect the water supply and the flush pipe easily. Then just lift the whole cistern out. Memory (which tends to be rather fallible) says that the cistern sort of 'hangs' on a couple of clips and that would make it easy to remove in this way.