Toilet flushing problem

[neil]

I have a problem with a toilet that will not flush properly. Ordinarily the handle moves as if it meets less resistance than it should and nothing happens. I can see inside the part of the device where the water should be pushed upwards and the water is not moving up enough. Initially the problem was intermittent. Now it is permanently not working. The solution I have discovered was to take the top off the cistern and over fill it beyond the overflow right to the top and pump the handle furiously until I got the water high enough in the internal workings to flush.

Can anyone tell me what the problem is as I can see nothing obvious?

[Mungo "two sheds" Toadfoot]

The syphon is probably buggered.

[John Schmitt]

Most likely you will find inside the syphon head (dismantling required) there is a flap of polythene sheet over the driving piston (the bit actuated by the lever). This has probably failed. I believe you can buy them from plumbers' merchants for very little. Failing that you can fabricate one out of 500 gauge polythene sheet.

John Schmitt

Been there, done that.

[Badger]

John Schmitt wrote: > Failing that you can

Or an old land-rover inner tube, BTDTT

[Dazzler]

You need to replace the plastic flapper valve within the 'U' shaped part that you can see the water not moving up enough. It's this valve which pushes the water up and over the top of the 'U' and then the rest of the water syphons out of the cistern. It probably started as a small tear in the plastic hence the intermittent part and now it's completely torn and now doesn't work.

shows you exactly how to do the repair.

Dave D.