the toilet cistern has been making a horn noise when it's flushed, but also now makes a sort of hissing noise continously as well, and now the pipe that leads outside is leaking water all the time, can I get a new ballcock etc myself or do I need to get a plumber in??

fred, January 2007

An irritating but not major problem which is puzzling.The upstairs toilet cistern (or pipe leading to cistern) makes a spasmodic gushing sound (similar sound to flushing or tap running hard) for about five seconds only. This happens once or twice a night, sometimes more. Can also happen in daytime. Is it possibly cistern automatically refilling as I've noticed a minute amount of water seeps into the pan from above almost constantly? Is there a solution?

Tom, September 2009

Adjust the valve on the pipe that goes into the cistern at the back/underneath (usually on the right hand side) with a coin or flathead screwdriver so that the line points vertically up (i.e. is fully open). This should get rid of the hissing/whistling.

Jasb@h, November 2007

Adjust the valve on the pipe that goes into the cistern at the back/underneath (usually on the right hand side) with a coin or flathead screwdriver so that the line points vertically up (i.e. is fully open). This should get rid of the hissing/whistling.

Jasb@h, November 2007

new valve / or a repair kit. both easy jobs. the rubber has gone hard inside the valve.

hi-spec plumbing, January 2007