My toilet is enclosed in a cabinet and is flushed by way of a button attached with a small tube to the cistern. Recently I had to replace a rubber seal in the cistern which meant dismantling the whole setup and detaching the tube connecting the button and the cistern. Since then it has become increasingly hard to flush and needs a few good 'pumps' to get it to flush fully. I'm pretty sure the cistern end of things are ok as the flush works fine if you blow into the tube but the button seems to have 'lost pressure' if you know what I mean. Would filling the tube with water help or do I need to buy a new button, etc.?

Neill, August 2008

I have just finished 1 and had that problem, there was a pin hole right at the end of the hose and so it was drawing water into the button through the hose.If you take the hose of and try the button on its own and see if theres any water in it,as if theres water in the button this makes the button hard to push!

richard, March 2010

I have come across a similar system in a office block.
How we think we solved the problem was to descale the mechanism.
With the air pump activating the mechanism, the moving parts must move freely and this was acheived by cleaning the plastic parts with a descaler liquid.
Pour some done the centre and manualy slide the plunger up and down a few times.
It then should flush with one press of the button.

Cliff Crouch, October 2008

Neill, the pipe contains air and the flush button acts as a pump forcing air through the pipe to activate the mechanism. We have the same system here and it should have been possible to remove the system with the airline still attached. Our pipe is blue and has pneumatic stamped on the side of it. There are brass type clips on the ends and you need to find a way of making the airline clip firmly back in place. Perhaps BPS could advise? We have a leak, in that water drips steadily into the toilet and the toilet keeps topping itself up as the level in the cistern gets lower. I presume this is probably why you replaced the seal. I have had ours apart and the seal looks fine. Would you happen to know the make and where did you get the seal?

Keith Turnecliff, August 2008