I've fitted one of those brass thread filling valves to my cistern. Don't
get on with plastic when the pipes are copper.

Tightening up the tap fitting is presenting a problem. There is very
little brass thread projecting from the cistern - although it does have
flats on it. Which measure at 18mm. So needs a very slim spanner to go
between the tap fitting nut and the one holding the valve into the
cistern. Needs to be less than 4mm thick.

You can buy slim spanners at a price. But this doesn't need to be as
strong as you'd need for a nut that size on a car, etc. One of the old
pressed steel bike types would probably be strong enough.

The new cistern is a very expensive Ideal Standard one. It's a high level
type with a chain for the flush. The lever simply didn't have enough range
to operate the syphon. Pull the wire link on the syphon by hand and it
worked just fine. Went as far as phoning their help line. No help there -
other than take pics and send to them.

After a deal of head scratching - the lever looked very well made and
polished chrome - it turned out it had been fitted to the bracket the
wrong way round. Pressed out the roll pin pivot and re-assembled and it
now works.

--
*It is wrong to ever split an infinitive *

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

On Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:42:10 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've fitted one of those brass thread filling valves to my cistern.
Don't get on with plastic when the pipes are copper.

Tightening up the tap fitting is presenting a problem. There is very
little brass thread projecting from the cistern - although it does have
flats on it. Which measure at 18mm. So needs a very slim spanner to go
between the tap fitting nut and the one holding the valve into the
cistern. Needs to be less than 4mm thick.

You can buy slim spanners at a price. But this doesn't need to be as
strong as you'd need for a nut that size on a car, etc. One of the old
pressed steel bike types would probably be strong enough.

The new cistern is a very expensive Ideal Standard one. It's a high
level type with a chain for the flush. The lever simply didn't have
enough range to operate the syphon. Pull the wire link on the syphon by
hand and it worked just fine. Went as far as phoning their help line.
No help there -
other than take pics and send to them.

After a deal of head scratching - the lever looked very well made and
polished chrome - it turned out it had been fitted to the bracket the
wrong way round. Pressed out the roll pin pivot and re-assembled and it
now works.

Some bicycle spanners are very thin and are usually stamped out, so quite
cheap.

Halfords?
Brian

--

This newsgroup posting comes to you directly from...
The Sofa of Brian Gaff...

Blind user, so no pictures please
Note this Signature is meaningless.!
"jon" wrote in message ...
On Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:42:10 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've fitted one of those brass thread filling valves to my cistern.
Don't get on with plastic when the pipes are copper.

Tightening up the tap fitting is presenting a problem. There is very
little brass thread projecting from the cistern - although it does have
flats on it. Which measure at 18mm. So needs a very slim spanner to go
between the tap fitting nut and the one holding the valve into the
cistern. Needs to be less than 4mm thick.

You can buy slim spanners at a price. But this doesn't need to be as
strong as you'd need for a nut that size on a car, etc. One of the old
pressed steel bike types would probably be strong enough.

The new cistern is a very expensive Ideal Standard one. It's a high
level type with a chain for the flush. The lever simply didn't have
enough range to operate the syphon. Pull the wire link on the syphon by
hand and it worked just fine. Went as far as phoning their help line.
No help there -
other than take pics and send to them.

After a deal of head scratching - the lever looked very well made and
polished chrome - it turned out it had been fitted to the bracket the
wrong way round. Pressed out the roll pin pivot and re-assembled and it
now works.

Some bicycle spanners are very thin and are usually stamped out, so quite
cheap.

On Sat, 5 Dec 2020 05:17:52 -0000 (UTC), jon wrote:

On Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:42:10 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've fitted one of those brass thread filling valves to my cistern.
Don't get on with plastic when the pipes are copper.

Tightening up the tap fitting is presenting a problem. There is very
little brass thread projecting from the cistern - although it does have
flats on it. Which measure at 18mm. So needs a very slim spanner to go
between the tap fitting nut and the one holding the valve into the
cistern. Needs to be less than 4mm thick.

You can buy slim spanners at a price. But this doesn't need to be as
strong as you'd need for a nut that size on a car, etc. One of the old
pressed steel bike types would probably be strong enough.

The new cistern is a very expensive Ideal Standard one. It's a high
level type with a chain for the flush. The lever simply didn't have
enough range to operate the syphon. Pull the wire link on the syphon by
hand and it worked just fine. Went as far as phoning their help line.
No help there -
other than take pics and send to them.

After a deal of head scratching - the lever looked very well made and
polished chrome - it turned out it had been fitted to the bracket the
wrong way round. Pressed out the roll pin pivot and re-assembled and it
now works.

Some bicycle spanners are very thin and are usually stamped out, so quite
cheap.

When I had access to a floor-standing grinder I made two spanners for wheel
cones: 13 - 14 and 14 - 15. Ground slowly and only one side (to leave the
treated metal on one side) and they were far better than the pressed ones.
A bike's front wheel cone hadn't been locked and it was wound into the
bearing enough to stop the bike. Pressed spanners failed; mine worked;
bearing nackered of course.
--
Peter.
The gods will stay away
whilst religions hold sway

In article ,
jon wrote:
On Fri, 04 Dec 2020 16:42:10 +0000, Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

I've fitted one of those brass thread filling valves to my cistern.
Don't get on with plastic when the pipes are copper.

Tightening up the tap fitting is presenting a problem. There is very
little brass thread projecting from the cistern - although it does have
flats on it. Which measure at 18mm. So needs a very slim spanner to go
between the tap fitting nut and the one holding the valve into the
cistern. Needs to be less than 4mm thick.

You can buy slim spanners at a price. But this doesn't need to be as
strong as you'd need for a nut that size on a car, etc. One of the old
pressed steel bike types would probably be strong enough.

The new cistern is a very expensive Ideal Standard one. It's a high
level type with a chain for the flush. The lever simply didn't have
enough range to operate the syphon. Pull the wire link on the syphon
by hand and it worked just fine. Went as far as phoning their help
line. No help there - other than take pics and send to them.

After a deal of head scratching - the lever looked very well made and
polished chrome - it turned out it had been fitted to the bracket the
wrong way round. Pressed out the roll pin pivot and re-assembled and
it now works.

Some bicycle spanners are very thin and are usually stamped out, so
quite cheap.

That was my first thought, so looked at Halfords. Cheap, they are not.
Their pressed combination spanner - the sort that came with the bikes when
I was a lad - costs as much as a pukka drop forged open ender - but
doesn't have 18mm anyway. I suppose I could have bought one and ground it
out to 18mm.

Some more searching on Ebay found what I need is a cone spanner. And they
do come in 18mm, so one ordered up. Odd that Screwfix don't sell one.
Wonder what proper plumbers use?

--
*It was recently discovered that research causes cancer in rats*

Dave Plowman London SW
To e-mail, change noise into sound.

Dave Plowman (News) explained :
You can buy slim spanners at a price. But this doesn't need to be as
strong as you'd need for a nut that size on a car, etc. One of the old
pressed steel bike types would probably be strong enough.

If I need something special like that, I look at making what I need
from something else. I keep old spanners and even the cheap pressed
steel spanners. Old ones can be ground down in thickness, then the
width adjusted to the size needed. Pressed steel ones might just need
the width adjusting on the grinder.

I have even cut the business end off sockets, to weld them to a long
flat steel strip, to make a long reach thin socket. I did that to
access a belt tensioner pulley, to fit a new belt. My homemade cost an
hour, versus the £30 special tool for the job. My homemade allowed the
pulley to be lashed back under tension to change the belt, the ready
made didn't. Sometimes homemade is better than the ready made.