Concealed Toilet Cistern Problems and Solutions

Concealed Toilet Cistern Problems and Solutions

​All types of toilets can have issues, but some require more specialised knowledge. If you’re near Streatham and you’re having concealed toilet cistern problems, then contact Plumbing Professional, as we have the tools, knowledge and experience required for the job.
We’ll try and systematically analyse the problem to find out what’s causing the concealed flush tank problems. But, to do that, we need to first take a look at the basics.
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What Is a Concealed Cistern?

The concealed or hidden cistern has gained popularity because of its sleek minimalist design. It can be hidden either behind a wall or inside a piece of furniture such as a storage cabinet. From the outside, you can only see the button(s) used to flush the toilet.

The cisterns come in at various shapes and sizes, so it doesn’t matter if you have thin walls, there’s a concealed cistern out there for you. You should also take into account the type of toilet you want when shopping for a cistern. Whether you go with the back to wall or wall hung toilet can impact which type of cistern you should get.  So, it’s pleasing to the eye and you don’t have to worry about cleaning it. Is the concealed toilet cistern the ideal solution?

​Depending on the installation, it can be difficult getting to the concealed cistern and fixing potential problems that can arise. The same goes for replacing the cistern. As we mentioned furniture and in-wall installations previously, you can already guess that in-wall installations will be more difficult to access.
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Common Concealed Toilet Cistern Problems

Now we’re going to get into the gist of things. Keep in mind that the problems listed here aren’t unique to just toilets with concealed cisterns, but their restricted accessibility may cause the problems to be more severe.

Concealed Cistern Leaking Into Toilet

This is one of the most common problems you can have with your cistern. The cistern won’t fill up with water but let it leak through to the toilet. Essentially, this will render your toilet useless until fixed, as you won’t be able to flush it.

The two likely causes of this problem are either the float (ball) valve or the flush valve. Another possibility is that your overflow pipe is cracked somewhere and it’s causing the water to leak out.
Whatever the cause is, the first thing you should do is to turn off the water supply to the toilet using the stop valve. There’s no point in wasting all that water and paying for it.

The valves or the overflow pipe can be replaced, but the problem is how do you access it to see who’s the culprit. If you’re lucky, you can remove the “push” flush button entirely and have a look inside. This won’t be possible with all installations, and even in this case, it can be difficult to actually see all the parts.

The other option is to remove a few tiles in order to access the concealed toilet cistern and diagnose the problem. Of course, homeowners won’t be thrilled to hear this, but unfortunately, that is the price you have to pay in order to have a beautiful, concealed cistern. For those of you who rent, the logical thing to do is to call your landlord as things can get messy with a concealed cistern.

The best course of action is to contact your local plumber and have them come out and inspect the problem. It is quite possible that a professional can fix the problem without having to remove the tiles which can save you a lot of headaches.
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Toilet Push Button Stuck

This can lead to your cistern leaking back into the toilet, so it’s an extension of the previous problem. The push button can either be totally stuck so that it doesn’t go back at all or it can stick from time to time until you give it a “nudge”. The problem often starts by the button sticking from time to time but progresses until it’s totally stuck and you’re left wondering how to flush the toilet.

Without inspecting the problem in-person, the recommendation would be to replace the whole push-button mechanism as well as the flush valve. This will likely solve the problem of the stuck button, but may not stop your cistern leaking into the toilet due to the reasons listed in the previous section.

When replacing the flush valve, it’s crucial to replace it with the same type or it simply won’t work. The problem here is that you can’t just remove the cistern to replace it, since we’re talking about a concealed cistern. Whether or not you will call a plumber for this depends on your expertise and whether all the parts are accessible in your installation. If you’re in Streatham, feel free to contact us and we’ll discuss the best course of action with you.

Bad and Leaky Seals

Multiple seals can go bad on a toilet. We’ll consider the biggest of them – the one between the cistern and the pan. This will cause visible leaking, so you won’t have problems identifying it. Make sure you know which seal is leaking, so you don’t fix a perfectly good seal.

Before doing anything, drain the tank so there’s no water to hinder your efforts. As with the first problem on our list, if you’re cistern isn’t easily accessible, you won’t be able to do this without the removal of tiles.

If your concealed cistern is hidden inside some furniture then it shouldn’t be a problem to access all the parts required for this fix. You can replace the seals yourself easily enough, but the challenge is accessing the parts. Consider contacting a professional if the fix requires the removal of tiles.

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Contact Plumbing Professional For All Your Concealed Toilet Cistern Problems

If you want a professional to do all the work for you quick and easy, then contact Plumbing Professional and we’ll have your concealed toilet cistern full and ready to flush in an instant!