Leaking Porcher Veneto

[RandalG]

I have the above toilet and the flush valve or gasket is leaking water into the bowl.The fill valve kicks on every few minutes.I put food coloring in the tank and can see it leaking into the bowl through the flush valve(I think).I took out the flush valve and it seems to be working properly.Also the gasket appears to be fine and toilet is only a year and a half old.Is this a common problem and should I replace the flush valve or is it more likely the gasket at the bottom of the tank.If its the gasket how is that changed?Do I need to disassemble the whole tank to get to it?Is there any way to tell if its the flush valve or the gasket?I'm just a homeowner so I'm new to this.
TIA,
Randal

 

[Gary Swart]

Water is held in the tank by the flapper. That's the cone shaped rubber devise that the chain from the flush handle is attached to. These must seat in the hole in the bottom of the tank and sometimes either get out of alignment or wear out. First thing to do is to see if somehow it got twisted a bit where it mounts on the overflow tube. If that seems OK, then replace the flapper. These are available at any hardware store.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[RandalG]

There is no flapper or chain like a standard toilet.There is a button on the top of the tank that pushes down on the flush valve.See the link below.
Porcher Veneto

 

[Gary Swart]

It looks to me like the gasket, #6 in the illustration, does the job of flapper and is not sealing tightly for some reason. Like the flapper, it just may not be hitting the hole squarely or it may need replacing. This is just a guess on my part, I've never seen an assembly like this. Most of the pro plumbers are not online on weekends, so perhaps tomorrow some of them may pick up on this question and provide a more informed opinion, but it's pretty obvious that whatever is supposed to seal the water into the tank is not functioning properly.

 

[RandalG]

Thanks.I was more or less trying to get alittle feedback from someone that has some experience with this toilet.Being a homeowner I'm not familiar with this sort of thing. I can't tell which part I need.I suppose I could just get both but I was trying to save alittle $.One more thing I shut off the fill valve and noticed that the water didn't totally drain out of the tank.There is still 1 to 1/12 inches of water in the tank.Shouldn't it have all drained out since the gasket is on the bottom of the tank?

 

[Gary Swart]

First, let me make a small correction from my earlier post. The gasket that seals the tank is #7 in the drawing. #6 is the cylinder that it fits on. It's normal to have a small amount of water in the tank when it is supposedly drained. There is probably a lip or high spot at the hole were the flapper or that gasket #7 fits. If you ever have to remove the toilet, that water should be sponged out first so it doesn't spill out onto the floor. You should understand that although your flushing device looks much different than most and it's mechanics are different, the overall principal is the same. Water is held in the tank until the toilet is flushed. At that time, either a flapper is raised or in your case, the gasketed cylinder #6 is raised. This causes the tank water to empty rapidly into the toilet bowl and flush to toilet. As soon as the water level in the tank drops, a float valve opens and the tank refills. If the tank level slowly drops, as soon as water in the tank reaches certain point, the valve opens and refills the tank. It is wasting water, and the sound is annoying, but the toilet will still work until you fix it. With the flush handle located in the lid, I don't know how you can remove the lid and observe these parts in operation, but I'm sure there is a way.

 

[Joerg]

Hello Randal and Gary,

I have seen this type of flush mechanism in Europe but it's been a long time ago. It could be that the piston (#5) is what moves up upon flush. Hard to see, but that could be the reason why water remains in the tank. I'd check that piston assembly (#5) for any tears in O-rings and stuff like that. Also, look for rough spots as this kind of plastic is usually injection molded.

If #7 would leak there should be much less water remaining in the tank I would think.

As to such O-rings, after moving to California I found that the chlorine in our water ruins everything made out of rubber within less than three years. If you touch an O-ring and it leaves black goo on your fingers it's pretty close to gone.

Regards, Joerg.

 

[RandalG]

As an update for those interested I spoke to Porcher regarding my leak problem and they sent out a piston at no charge as my toilet is only a year and a half old which solved the problem.