My mother-in-law's toilet is a fairly modern one with all plastic components in the cistern. The trouble is that the water is running through without stopping when the float reached the top. For the life of me, I cannot see how the shut-off is suppose to work - almost as if a part is missing. Any ideas?
David, Manchester
Google Torbeck. If it's like that there's a small hole (0.5mm?) which is closed off by the float when it rises, and the flow through the valve is controlled by leakage through that hole. It's quite clever (while it works :-)
Can it be fixed?
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If the tiny hole gets blocked, the pressure is not equal on both sides of the diaphragm when the valve is meant to be closed. So water carries on going through even when the float is 'up'.
Undo the big knurled collar and take the diaphragm out; make sure you note where everything goes, and in what order (there are not very many parts). Wash the muck off everything and reassemble. Tip: unclip the float spindle from the valve first (noting which notch it's on); it's quite fragile and easily broken while trying to loosen the big ring. And don't forget to put it back....!
Worked for me a few weeks ago!
99% probably the rubber washer's packed up. Torbeck washers are expensive and fiddly (little needle-like bit sticking out IIRC) but cheaper and slightly less hassle to replace than a new valve.
If you have hard water, little bits of scale blocking the pinhole of the diaphragm is the usual cause. Mines been repaired several times over 2 yr by just cleaning it. Poking the blockage out with a pin is sometimes necessary, but don't enlarge the hole.
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