How to change a push button toilet flush

Many DIY enthusiasts choose to tackle this procedure themselves but by having one of our professional plumbers to carry out the work you’ll not only be covered for parts and labour but you won’t have to worry about sourcing the right parts to match your other fixtures.

This technique is exactly the same that you’d have when you are changing a syphon unit but instead of having the flush handle bit and doing the linking at the end you have a push button going through the top.

So lets have a look at how to do that. how to turn the water off, how to take everything out and do that.

Removing your old push button toilet flush

1. Disconnecting the push button flush

Remove the cistern lid and take off the linkage at the back of the toilet. While you’re at it the old button off from the lid. It should unscrew by hand. Most units use a large white plastic nut. If you find that you are unable to unscrew it by hand fetch a large set of grips and you should be able to loosen it easily.

2. Turning off the water supply

Turning off the water will depend on your system set up. Sometimes there will be an isolation valve quite close to the toilet which means you don’t have to turn the whole water system off. Whenever you fit a new toilet we recommend installing an isolation valve at the same time.

3. Draining the water

Inside the system you’ll see the flushing mechanism. There are many different types types of flushing systems so it’s hard to give exact instructions here, but you want to make the system flush so that all the water drains from the cistern.

Once you’ve flushed and drained out most of the water from the cistern remove the screws securing the it to the wall along with the 2 wing nuts that are under the cistern that attach it to the toilet bowl. Remove the cold water feed too, a pipe that’s attached to the unit, and lift the cistern off. Keep all screws and nuts safe.

You may notice a little bit of water coming out the pipe as you disconnect the feed but this is nothing to worry about. It will only be a very small amount so having a hand towel nearby to wipe away any excess water is recommended.

Shut the lid of the toilet, put a towel over the top so that when you remove the cistern you can lay it on its back and work on it. You may need to pour whatever water is left out of the cistern beforehand. Simply turn the unit upside down and pour this down the toilet bowl.

3. Removing the old system

Now that you have the empty cistern on its back you need to take the bolts of the bottom of the unit. Peel off the donut (large washer) off too and put it to one side. Now use a big set of grips to unscrew and remove the plastic nut and take off the metal clamp. Sometimes the donut can be re-used depending on the quality and condition. A decent old donut may be better then the new one supplied with your new push button system.

Keep all your parts safe as you’ll need to refit them when reassembling.

Installing your new push button toilet flush

Once you’ve unpacked all your new parts and familiarised yourself with each component the first thing to do is to fit the seal that should come with it into the plastic piping.

1. Fitting the the new system into the cistern

Now place this inside the cistern and push the end through the hole at the bottom and pup the clamp back onto the pipe. Screw back on the plastic nut and do up as tight as you can and pop back in the bolts into the clamp.

2. Re-fitting the cistern

Lift the cistern back onto the toilet bowl and be careful to line everything up and get the bolts back through the holes.

Pop the wing nuts back on on and tighten them up. Now pop the screws back through their holes and secure the cistern to the wall. Lastly re-attached cold water feed and tighten it up.

3. Testing the flush

Now is good time to turn the water back on and make sure everything is working. Check for leaks and make sure that the cistern is filling up properly and flushing properly. At this stage it’s also a good idea to also attached the button (before connecting it to the cistern lid) just to make sure this works too.

4. Fitting the push-button to the cistern lid

Once you are satisfied that the flush is working correctly, and that there are no leaks, it’s time to fit the push button flush to the toilet lid. It’s pretty straight forward procedure.

Sometimes the new flush unit will come with a shroud. This is incase your new button doesn’t fit though the hole in the top of your cistern lid. As long as it does fit through (which looks a lot nicer) you can discard the the shroud.

Now clip the wire into the underside of the button, pop the cistern lid back on, and you should be ready to go.

Disclaimer: The information on this web page is presented for general guidance purposes only and is supplied without liability. Such information is provided in good faith. Whilst every care has been taken in its preparation, no responsibility is accepted for any errors or omissions which it may contain. The information on this may be updated or changed at any time without warning.