To ask about how to deal with loo plumbing issues? House sitting and loo is constantly running (but not overflowing or anything!)

[Chocolatefrogs]

Sorry for this boring post - posting for traffic!

I’m house sitting, and after I flushed one of the loos in the house, it has kept running. It has two flush buttons and neither of them work properly. Both buttons are quite loose from the panel they’re in, so you can’t really apply any pressure on them to get them to flush.

I’m wondering whether the buttons not working properly could be connected to the fact the loo has continued to run after I flushed it?

The loo isn’t overflowing or close to overflowing or anything. It’s more that the water in it is running as if it’s trying to fill up the tank/cistern again. Unfortunately I don’t think there’s an easy to check the cistern or inner workings, as the flush buttons are attached to a wall panel and the cistern and piping is all behind that wall panel.

I’m planning to contact the person I’m house sitting for, just to let them know, in case they want to call anyone out to repair it. Luckily, there’s a spare loo I can use. Just thought I’d post in case anyone has any further suggestions or advice. Thanks!

Can you access the cistern? We have a wall hung loo but the cistern is in the airing cupboard. If it's anything like ours, you might need to adjust the valve at the bottom of the cistern to get it to close properly so it can fill up.

Might not work, but worth a try if you haven’t already….. this used to happen at my last place. I had to press the button again and it would work…. Only a random thought that may be useless. I ended up getting my house insurance out that fixed it.

Ours used to do that.

I'd just wobble the loose button, or lift the lid a bit and gently shake it from side to side.

Had a massive water bill after this happened to me on the last flush before leaving the house empty for 10 days! Easily fixed by just pushing the flush button again and again until it stopped. Never happened again. Have since had it in a different house, done the same & fixed it again. Only seems to have happened with button flushes where you can’t get into the mechanics of the loo to fix it easily.

I've been to many houses where pressing it again seems to fix it.

If not, as above you need to get into the cistern. It usually means the valve hasn't caught right when it shuts so if it's an intermittent fault that's when pressing a second time can sort it out. Otherwise you essentially need to resite the bit where the water is coming out the cistern at the bottom so it closes fully.

My toilet does this I lift the lid off the cistern and move it side to side and it stops.

One of ours does this. We have to tap the button until it stops. If you can’t stop it they will end up with a big water bill.

Mine does this sometimes, Stops if I press the flush again and release.

Omg you guys are fab! I was looking all over for the cistern and (thank god) found the cistern bits and pieces behind the wall panel with the flush buttons. The panel is on its last legs anyway, so came away without too much trouble. I forced down one of the flush buttons a couple of times and - hallelujah! - it worked! Blissful silence, and hopefully the family won’t come back now to a crazy water bill!!! Thanks all 🤩🤩

Press the button again to stop it.
If they are on a meter the bill will be huge. If not it doesn't matter, but is wasteful.

We've had that a lot.
If it's a cistern you can access it's usually easy to fix, open the lid and lift the lever and floater thing (no idea how it's actually called). It should fix the issue, unless it's broken.

In our current house we can't access the cisterns, but leaving it for a bit then pressing both buttons a couple of times quite hard usually fixes it. You can't tell if it's worked immediately anyway so do that, and come back 30 min later, try again if it's still running.

I had the same last week and lifting the cistern lid and wiggling bits didn’t work like it usually would. I usually lift up the bit to the left of the photo and it stops it running. I ended up using a hair bobble to lift the level up which stopped the water running until my dad could come and fix it. Ended up needing a new part which cost £30. I took a picture to text my dad in a panic!

No idea why they’ve classified this picture of my toilet as a sensitive image 🙈🙈🙈

if none of those work and you can access the cistern, take the cover off. there'll be a ball inside on a lever - lift that up and out of the water, and should clear.
Put it all back again.

Or - call/text the people your house sitting for and ask if it's a recurring problem, and what's the solution.

It's the cistern overflow which goes into the pan.

It is running because the watering the cistern has risen over the level of the overflow.

There is a float in the cistern that stops the water inflow when it reaches a certain height. So you need to reach into the cistern and lift the float, this will stop water entering the cistern and going down the overflow

You can actually adjust the float with a simple screwdriver but if it's someone else's house maybe leave it to them.

As above, this is reasonably common - you need to get in the cistern (if you can access it).

Did you miss this?

Unfortunately I don’t think there’s an easy to check the cistern or inner workings, as the flush buttons are attached to a wall panel and the cistern and piping is all behind that wall panel.

Same

Glad it’s fixed. I do think that toilets exemplify the adage “not all change is progress”. I’m renovating a few bathrooms soon and seriously thinking of going back to toilets with a handle and a cistern above the seat that you can easily get into. The button ones are plasticky and shit and concealed cisterns are the work of the devil.

Mine does this when it gets a bit limrscaley inside and the thing that is supposed to slowly rise up attatched to the float catches (sorry don’t know the technical name for the part).
how long are you house sitting? Pour in a bottle of white vinegar tonight or if they have any limescale toilet cleaner lying around and don’t flush over night,
Tomorrow get 1 or 2 cistern limescale blocks in there & that should resolve it until they are back.

Mine does this and the cistern is kind of inbuilt so I can’t get to it easily. I just whack the flush button a few times and it stops. Probably won’t work forever though and I’ll have to get it properly sorted eventually