What concealed cistern to use?

[Sodden Again]

Hi,

I am looking for advice about what cistern to replace my current concealed one with.

I have an Opella Castalia cistern with a Torbeck compact (bottom entry) inlet valve and Torbeck variflush drop valve. I fitted them myself about 2½ years ago as part of a Hombase supplied bathroom. It has rarely worked well. It has had bouts of passing by; instances where it refuses to fill and the dual flush feature has worked for only about 4 months of that period. Even when it is working OK, the push button is too stiff to be operated by my wife (who has some arthritis in her hands) and most children. It is on its third push button cable; and second flush mechanism - all supplied by Capella under warranty.

I have decided to junk it and put in something that is more reliable and easier for people to operate.

The access panel into my fitted unit is a 60cm x 16cm opening–see picture. I have become expert at dismantling the cistern and its components and extracting it out of the opening. Ideally I would like to be able to install the new cistern through the opening, but if I have to I will dissemble the whole front of the unit, including the pan, to fit a new cistern.






Another problem I must work with is that the panel where the push button is mounted has mouldings that limit the size of the push unit I can use. The flat centre section is only 38cm x 5.2cm. A shame because I would have liked to try one of the larger push panels. See picture.




Advice from a couple of plumbers merchants is that there is nothing I can sensibly fit into the existing cistern so I had best replace the lot. One merchant strongly recommended the Dudley Vantage cistern with a pneumatic push operation as something that would meet my needs (even though he could not supply it!).

I should value opinions as to to whether it is a reliable unit and easy to operate...or any other advice really.

Many thanks


Mike

 

[PlumbBobBob]

i find that pneumatic flush buttons are harder to push than cable ones. i don't agree about not being able to fit another flush valve into your cistern get a good quality one . maybe old one was fitted at slight angle so fouling cable against side of cistern

steve

 

[Sodden Again]

i find that pneumatic flush buttons are harder to push than cable ones. i don't agree about not being able to fit another flush valve into your cistern get a good quality one . maybe old one was fitted at slight angle so fouling cable against side of cistern

steve

Thanks for the response Steve. I will have a look and see whether I can get Fluidmaster valves to fit into the existing cistern. There was no fouling of the cable on the Torbeck - I tried a couple of different routes of it through the cistern to try to find a solution - even swapped the inlet valve onto the other side of the cistern to allow space to turn the outlet valve round so that the cable route was straighter - but no solution lasted more than a few months.

The cistern is mounted at the back of the housing unit, against the wall, so I had to use the 520mm cable option. As part of this change I will have to mount it further forward so that the Fluidmaster 350mm cable will reach.

Cheers

Mike