(4) Diagnosis: Death. Fitting the new syphon

The picture below is supposed to show why the flush wasn’t working so well. It’s a little hard to make out, but the thin cellophane layer that moves up and down when the flush is pulled had developed splits and cracks with age. 




Out with the old! I chucked the old syphon and hooked the new one on to the flush handle:

After the new syphon was in place, I wanted to change the ‘close coupling’ seal. From what I’d read, you change the ‘close coupling’ seal to prevent leaks between the cistern and the pan once they’re reintroduced. Well, not this time. The seal on this weird toilet is not at all like the standard one, which just looks like a thick rubber doughnut. The original was much thinner and also hexagon shaped to fit on the plastic nut. The loo wouldn’t go back together with the thicker new one shown here in place:

Here’s a comparison photo showing old and new. Annoyed, I reused the old seal – without problems, luckily.

Nearly finished now...