Freeing a stuck plug in a bidet

This is hardly urgent. When we moved into this house ten years ago, we inherited a bidet which has not been much use, as the plug is stuck in the plug hole. There is a plunger type thingy which is supposed to raise the plug, but doesn't. Looking below/from behind, there is a rod from the plunger to a lever, connected by a few inches of rubber pipe. Presumable the lever, which angles out of the drain, is supposed to move up and down, or in and out. Any idea which? I'm reluctant to force it, in case I'm trying to move it in the wrong direction.

Thanks.

Reply to
News
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I'd expect up and down, but which way does the plunger 'want' to move it?

Reply to
GB

News wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@nospam.demon.co.uk:

Pushing the outside of the lever down caused the section inside th epipe to lift and raise the plug. However, the plug has an adjustable length of rod on the bottom of it. This can have gone out of adjustment and the lever may not be even making contact. Have you tried lifting the plug using a sucker?

I presume the lever is actually moving and is not siezed.

Reply to
DerbyBorn

All the ones I've got are just simple up /down. Imagine a see-saw, as you press one end down (visible end of rod) the other end (on which the base of the plug rests) pops up.

But if you just ease your fingernails around the top of the plug you should be able to lift it out.

Adjustment:- sometimes the bottom of the plug has a bolt which can be adjusted for length, usually with a lock nut, or more fiddly, where the vertical rod and the horizontal rod join there is probably a connecting block with a screw fitting that may allow adjustment.

(Quite often though, after a few years everything is rusty/ corroded/ cracked)

Reply to
JTM

Yup you can't beat the old rubber plug on a chain really, all this clever stuff is fine at the start but usually succumbs to over zealous users or lime scale and rust.

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

There is a horizontal rod which moves the plug. This is pivoted in the middle by means of a ball and socket joint - which can be accessed by unscrewing its cap, round the back of the bidet. The plunger and horizontal rod should be connected by a two-piece metal connector whose pieces can rotate relative to each other, and where each piece has a hole for its rod and a clamp screw. To adjust, you loosen the clamp screw and move it up and down on the plunger rod so that when you move the plunger up and down the horizontal rod moves up and down by the right amount to lift the plug. [I don't understand the bit about the rubber tube].

As others have said, there is usually some adjustment on the bottom of the plug to allow it to close fully when the plunger is up and to open sufficiently to let the water out when the plunger is down.

You might find that the bottom of the plug simply sits on the horizontal rod, so that it can be lifted right out - or you might find that the horizontal rod passes through a hole in the base of the plug - so that the plug can't be lifted right out until you've unscrewed the cap over the horizontal rod's ball joint, and removed the rod.

Either way, if it hasn't been used for a long time, it's all going to need to come apart to be thoroughly cleaned and lubricated before it will work properly.

[It's actually quite straightforward, and takes longer to describe than to do!]
Reply to
Roger Mills

Which means they get to sell you the same thing again... wonder why they are so popular with the makers?

Reply to
John Rumm

You'll have to come up from the other way. Undo the ubend and push a sink unblocker (or a piece of wire) up to remove the plug.

Reply to
zaax

I hope you don't use that approach instead of the Heimlich manoeuvre!

Reply to
Bob Eager

You would not fall for the same trick twice surely?

Brian

Reply to
Brian Gaff

Have you seen how frequently some women want new kitchens and bathrooms given the chance? ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

There is a knob on top, which is connected to a vertical metal rod. Behind the bidet, a rod exits above the U bend, horizontally. The rubber tube, bent 90 degrees, connects the two.

That is an understatement :-)

Looking at the plug, which is still stuck in position, others have obviously tried before me. Both plug and surround are covered in scratches. Someone has been trying to remove it from the top. I think you are all correct - the only way is dismantle, and attack from below.

Reply to
News

Pure class John:-)

You know that Brian is blind.

Reply to
ARW

Not all observations need to be visual ;-)

Reply to
John Rumm

This video

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shows the components of a basin pop-up waste which is essentially the same as the one on your bidet - apart from joining the 2 rods with a conventional joining block rather than a bent bit of rubber.

Anyway, it might give you some ideas.

Reply to
Roger Mills

Roger Mills wrote in news:aej7faFdlnlU1 @mid.individual.net:

He missed the important step - to tighten the locknut at the bottom of the plug assembly. This is the cause of many of the poblems!

Reply to
DerbyBorn

Indeed he did. I cited it in order to illustrate how the various bits fit together - and come apart - rather than as a brilliant example of how to do it. He seemed to be making a bit of a meal of it!

Reply to
Roger Mills

Roger Mills wrote in news: snipped-for-privacy@mid.individual.net:

I had this problem with a couple of basins in a villa I rented. Both were due to the adjuster having slipped due to not being locked.

I guess that if the "see-saw" rod is seen to be freely moving then the problem is the adjustment. - It may me that the linkage between the operating (vertical) ros and the see-saw could have slipped. However, the OP needs to free off the plug first.

Reply to
DerbyBorn

In message , Roger Mills writes

Had another look behind the bidet this afternoon - I can only see really clearly on a bright sunny day :-)

The actuator is most certainly not an up and down movement as shown in the video. I've now realised that the device on top of the bidet, to open the plug, is meant to rotate, not go up and down. Removing the 'bent bit of rubber' reveals the remains of a spring - the connection between the device on top and the plug itself was a little like net curtain wire. Presumably that broke years ago, and the rubber pipe was a replacement. Rotating the knob on top of the bidet transfers the movement through 90 degrees to a rod emerging just above the u-bend. The rod rotates, but the plug remains stuck fast :-(

I cannot get inside it without a total strip down, which is going to be a pain. I suppose I could try squirting WD40 around the top of the plug, and see if enough works down to free the plug. That will make the bathroom stink, and please the wife ...

Reply to
News

writes

Just rip the whole thing out and get a toilet seat bidet. ;-)

Tim

Reply to
Tim+

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