Hi Folks.
My toilet pan has an outlet pipe which can be set to any angle when viewed from above; this is achieved with a two part pan construction to allow rotation. The seal between the two parts is starting to leak and I am hoping for some advice on the type of sealant to use to fix the problem before I take it apart!

The pan was made by Royal Doulton and was probably installed at new build in the late 1940s; as far as I can tell from the outside, its a putty or cement type sealing material. I have wondered about just raking out the joint from outside the bowl and squeezing some silicone in, but this would not be how it was intended to seal.

All suggestions appreciated.

Chris

On 2/29/2016 6:47 PM, wrote:
Hi Folks.
My toilet pan has an outlet pipe which can be set to any angle when viewed from above; this is achieved with a two part pan construction to allow rotation. The seal between the two parts is starting to leak and I am hoping for some advice on the type of sealant to use to fix the problem before I take it apart!

The pan was made by Royal Doulton and was probably installed at new build in the late 1940s; as far as I can tell from the outside, its a putty or cement type sealing material. I have wondered about just raking out the joint from outside the bowl and squeezing some silicone in, but this would not be how it was intended to seal.

All suggestions appreciated.

Chris


All depends on how much access you have, and how much effort you are
prepared to put in. Taking it out, disassembling, cleaning thoroughly,
and reassembling would be the Rolls Royce solution which would probably
give you another 75 years or more. No reason not to reassemble with
silicone which provides a little flexibility if the two sides move.

But raking out and replacing with silicone might well provide an easy
fix, especially if the leak is slight. The problem is, can you rake deep
enough for the silicone to "key" into the joint. Also, is the failure in
the putty (possibly plumbers' "mait") gradually spreading round the joint.

If the geometry is favourable, and it is not particularly visible, I've
got away in the past by wrapping slightly leaky joints with white pvc
(electrician's) tape, applied under some tension. I've never actually
done this on a soil pipe, but I have done it for various dirty sink
wastes. I've also done this where I had to join "old size" and "new
size" plastic waste pipes telescoped together rather than employ a bulky
adaptor.

If it is not visible at all, some of the adhesive tapes sold for
repairing greenhouses and the like are very effective. These include
fairly thick aluminium foil, stickly backed, or the coarse fabric
heavily impregnated with sticky, smelly goo (Denso tape or similar).

On Mon, 29 Feb 2016 20:51:46 +0000, newshound
wrote:

On 2/29/2016 6:47 PM, wrote:
Hi Folks.
My toilet pan has an outlet pipe which can be set to any angle when viewed from above; this is achieved with a two part pan construction to allow rotation. The seal between the two parts is starting to leak and I am hoping for some advice on the type of sealant to use to fix the problem before I take it apart!

The pan was made by Royal Doulton and was probably installed at new build in the late 1940s; as far as I can tell from the outside, its a putty or cement type sealing material. I have wondered about just raking out the joint from outside the bowl and squeezing some silicone in, but this would not be how it was intended to seal.

All suggestions appreciated.

Chris


All depends on how much access you have, and how much effort you are
prepared to put in. Taking it out, disassembling, cleaning thoroughly,
and reassembling would be the Rolls Royce solution which would probably
give you another 75 years or more. No reason not to reassemble with
silicone which provides a little flexibility if the two sides move.

But raking out and replacing with silicone might well provide an easy
fix, especially if the leak is slight. The problem is, can you rake deep
enough for the silicone to "key" into the joint. Also, is the failure in
the putty (possibly plumbers' "mait") gradually spreading round the joint.

If the geometry is favourable, and it is not particularly visible, I've
got away in the past by wrapping slightly leaky joints with white pvc
(electrician's) tape, applied under some tension. I've never actually
done this on a soil pipe, but I have done it for various dirty sink
wastes. I've also done this where I had to join "old size" and "new
size" plastic waste pipes telescoped together rather than employ a bulky
adaptor.

If it is not visible at all, some of the adhesive tapes sold for
repairing greenhouses and the like are very effective. These include
fairly thick aluminium foil, stickly backed, or the coarse fabric
heavily impregnated with sticky, smelly goo (Denso tape or similar).

Not had much luck with PVC tape with pipework. Much better results
with self amalgamating tape

--

Graham.

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