# Toilet - Need to identify this system!



## Joetry (Oct 15, 2012)

Hello, I really need your assistance! I live with & care for my elderly grandparents and they've had a running toilet for about 6 months now.

They're quite old & set in their ways, so they insisted that it'll just stop of it's own accord (obviously, it hasn't) and it's got to the point now where the toilet doesn't flush anymore.

So, whilst having a bath I went over to the toilet to inspect it. It's an old bathroom suite.(atleast 22 years old as that's my age and it's always been like that for aslong as I can remember!) and the whole bathroom is a set, and the sink, toilet & bidet are all the same, ceramic and unbranded.

It took me quite a while to figure out how to take the top off the tank.. it has a hollow tube in the middle that leads upto a pull lever.
To flush the toilet, you have to pull the the handle straight-up vertically and let it go.

On closer inspection of the toilet, I had to unscrew the tube in the middle before I could remove the lid, which lead down to a verticle tube-system that seems to flush using a tumbler-shaped chamber system.

I've taken a picture of the chamber system & of the inside of the tank.


My question is; is there a name for this specific system, so that I can either mention it to a plumber's merchant or search for one on the internet


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## nealtw (Oct 15, 2012)

This might be close to what you have.
http://411plumb.com/how-to-repair-a-leaking-mansfield-toilet/


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## notmrjohn (Oct 17, 2012)

I gotta admit I've never seen a thing like that, but I'm an ex-remodeler and furniture maker, not a plumber.  It may be as common as dirt.

 If you take that strange iron stained white part to plumbing supply house, somebody oughta be able to identify it. depends on where you are ( put your location in profile, it helps in many ways) and how large a supply house you can find and if there's an old guy working there. Old people can be so obstinate. Wait a mo. I* am* a old people! Put your location in your profile! Consarn it!

Since toilet is constantly running and tank won't fill, water is leaking between white ring around hole at bottom of tank and black rubber ring at bottom of the "plunger" thing.  The rubber is probably hard and dry and won't seal. If the hole at bottom was metal or ceramic, I'd tell you to polish it with emery cloth and replace the rubber washer, if you could find one. If hole is plastic  use nylon scrubbing sponge to clean it, might have to make the washer from old inner tube, if you can find one of those. ( This new generation and their tubless tires! In my day we built entire cities from old inner tubes.)


You can get entire new, water conserving toilet, for $80, you may be able to install it yourself, since you figured out how to get into old one. Tell the folks it saves water and money. Us old folks gotta "go" more often, so it may more than pay for itself in shorter time than you young whipper snappers with your new fangled ideas  and cybernetic internal organs and virtual interweb bathrooms and all.


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## Joetry (Oct 17, 2012)

notmrjohn said:


> I gotta admit I've never seen a thing like that, but I'm an ex-remodeler and furniture maker, not a plumber.  It may be as common as dirt.
> 
> If you take that strange iron stained white part to plumbing supply house, somebody oughta be able to identify it. depends on where you are ( put your location in profile, it helps in many ways) and how large a supply house you can find and if there's an old guy working there. Old people can be so obstinate. Wait a mo. I* am* a old people! Put your location in your profile! Consarn it!
> 
> ...



Thanks for the responses! This one is particulaly helpful, as I was looking for what caused the fault initially! I'm in Burnley, Lancashire. I'm not sure if there are large plumbing merchants around my area, but I'll have to check!

Replacing the toilet isn't really an option, purely because as mentioned, my grandparents are stubborn and would probably rather use the guest bathroom instead of replacing the toilet and having a non-maching suite!


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## nealtw (Oct 18, 2012)

I would try the o rings first the one we can see and there maybe another one just inside the part that turns to lock in place.


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## nealtw (Oct 18, 2012)

These companys offer conversion kits to a dual flush I would send them a picture. one of them should be able to help you out.
[ame]http://www.google.ca/search?q=Duoset+cistern+parts+uk&hl=en&source=lnms&sa=X&ei=Lp1_UN8woZSIAsrfgKAN&ved=0CAYQ_AUoAA&biw=1016&bih=523#hl=en&sclient=psy-ab&q=converting+cistern+spares+uk&oq=converting+cistern+parts+uk&gs_l=serp.1.0.33i29.27016.27682.1.30756.2.2.0.0.0.0.124.246.0j2.2.0.les%3Bcesh..0.0...1.1.5NEXPEiYErg&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&fp=88754f5032d57cf2&bpcl=35466521&biw=1016&bih=523[/ame]


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## notmrjohn (Oct 18, 2012)

I kinda figured you weren't from around here by your use of the "plumbing *merchant*"  That'd explain why I hadn't seen such a mechanism before. You may not have as much difficulty finding parts as I suspected.
According to the inter-web, which is never wrong, there are over 2 million people 20 miles south of you in Greater Manchester, one of those people is bound to be a merchant with parts. Thanks to technology you can E-mail pic to dealers.  Mebbee neal's links will get you on a track, it would be helpful if you could find a brand name or number on something. It does look a lot like that Mansfield, he linked to. Sometimes there is info cast into ceramic inside tank.

I have seen dual flush loos  with a push button in center of top.  I recently installed a push button dual flush conversion in one of my toilets but button was made to fit in square hole on front of tank. I dunno what kind of hole our top button things have. I've never seen one where you pull up a handle. Actually seems like a good idea, eliminates the lever, flapper arrangement that often needs adjusting and untangling of chains and such.

 Does "monger" not apply to plumbing?


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## Joetry (Oct 21, 2012)

Again, thanks for all your help... on closer inspection, a very faint "ABC Italy" can be made out on the toilet. I've Google'd various different phrases "ABC Italy Toilet" "ABC italian bathrooms" etc. to no avail.

I don't know what year Middle-Class Northerns started importing toilets from Italy, but that's the age of this bathroom.


@NotMrJohn ...asin, Plumbing-monger? I wouldn't think so. I've always known tradesmen to refer to them as Plumbing Merchants.
I thought I'd try running the new information by you all before I headed to the Plumbing-monger-merchants!


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## notmrjohn (Oct 22, 2012)

"ABC Italy " Nope. All i know is they make a lot of pottery and ceramics in Italy. 

No plumbing mongers. All I know is; iron mongers are hardware stores, chemists are druggists, pharmacists or drug stores. And  lorry driver shouldn't be confused with lory driver, which is  a teamster who has a wagon pulled by parrots.

Good luck at the plumbing supply merchant house. Be sure and take that contraption amd pictures with you.


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## nealtw (Oct 25, 2012)

http://www.cisternfittings.co.uk/siamp-33a-single-flush-valve-button-included-100-p.asp


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## notmrjohn (Oct 25, 2012)

How'd you find that neal?
Cistern!  All that boots in the trunk or trunks in the boot, people or engines under the hood or a bonnet, and all along it was tank parts or cistern parts.  Cisterns are usually out back over here, but if the economy improves, perhaps we will have indoor plumbing like  advanced monarchies. 
27 bucks... comparable price for whole thing, rings pro'lly 3 or 4.


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## nealtw (Oct 25, 2012)

The Queen's throne


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## notmrjohn (Oct 25, 2012)

A Royal Flush.


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## Joetry (Oct 28, 2012)

nealtw said:


> http://www.cisternfittings.co.uk/siamp-33a-single-flush-valve-button-included-100-p.asp



That cistern looks near-perfect! Thankyou... I'll size it up when I'm next at my grandparent's house!


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## nealtw (Oct 28, 2012)

If you read further down their site you will find an e mail address where you can send your photos and they can help with matching it up.


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## notmrjohn (Oct 29, 2012)

This is another one of the threads that I wanta know how it all turns out. Don't forget us if you get it fixed.


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