AliG

I can’t because the pool automatically tops itself up. I found this out the one time I did turn it off. We also constantly have people staying and sometimes it overlaps our holidays so I can’t turn off the water. Leaks are such a massive cause of damage I’m surprised these systems aren’t more popular. A lot of people in the US seem to say their insurance companies insist on them.

There have been a couple of threads on this, but they didn't;t seem to go anywhere. I have had a few leaks from flexible connectors in the house over the last couple of years, Hopefully, I am OK for the moment due to proactively replacing them. However, it has got me to thinking that now I am retired we go away a lot and we have a lot of plumbing fixtures in the house. In our last house, I was away for a week and came home to find the dining room ceiling almost collapsed due to a leak. That was just a drip and it still caused a couple of thousand in damage. If one of the flexi pipes burst and ran for a couple of weeks the damage would be massive. I think all things considered I should install a smart leak detector with automatic cut off. Unfortunately I can't just turn off the water when we go away and I'd maybe forget anyway. The best know product is probably the Moen Flo but this is really a US product and seems to be just an import when sold in the UK. Grohe make a product called Sense Guard but seem to have discontinued it in the UK, although it is still available to buy. I found this products, the Watergate Sonic https://watergate.ai Does anyone have something similar installed or have any other recommendations? Thanks

So. I went around checking the pipes when I started this thread. For some reason one of the cisterns had a screwed on plastic cover behind the flush plate instead of a plastic twist like the other ones have. I didn't check that one as I couldn't be bothered getting a screwdriver at the time. Of course that one blew two days ago. Luckily I got up really early and heard it. It was dripping through the ceiling, but just needs repainted. I think it had maybe only blown half an hour before I got up. Of the nine of these that I have, I have replaced four, another four seem fine and I need to check the one today in my daughter's bedroom. Two of them would probably have blown within the next year. We have stopped leaving Toilet Duck in the cisterns, I will report back in a while to see if this has stopped the corrosion. I also, however, have to replace three or four of the connectors between the inlet valve and the pex pipework in the house. I am hoping that now I have figured out there is slack in the pex, I can just pull it through into the cisterns to change the flex pipes over. But I suspect it won't be that simple as the pex often comes up from below and the hole in the cistern is in the top, so the pex won't bend enough to come through the small holes and I will have to cut the holes bigger. I have ordered nylon coated flex pipes for this, so that they cannot corrode in the wall unseen.

We don’t allow people to advertise or sell on the site but someone might be able to suggest a supplier that you can contact.

I believe we have the highest industrial prices or thereabouts. As said that is important for the economy and our competitiveness. But not the highest consumer prices. Most of the complaining you hear on line is regarding consumer prices. The UK consumer price of electricity is close to the average of large Western European countries. The recent 3.5p cut in electricity prices was due to the government taking on some subsidies and having them paid by the taxpayer. So what you were paying for electricity you may now be paying in tax. In reality they only did this because these subsidies were close to coming to an end. The price of electricity would have fallen on its own, but they get to take the credit by bringing it a bit forward. Not taking a party political view, that is certainly a smart way to play it. Money Saving Expert explains it well here. About a third of the saving is from the end of the Great British Insulation Scheme which was ending this year anyway. The other 2/3 is from the Renewables Obligation Scheme which was due to end in March 2029. https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/news/2025/11/energy-bill-cut-renewables-eco-martin-lewis/

For people interested in the serviceability of these hidden cisterns. This one has also had a dodgy flush valve that sometimes kept running if you didn't push the flush plate long enough. I had put off fixing it assuming it would be a pain to do. I bought a new flush valve as I had disconnected it anyway to fix the pipework. It took roughly five minutes to replace the flush valve. You literally just pull it out and push the new one in. It bends to fit through the flush plate hole. Taking off the front plate and putting it back n tight actually took longer than replacing the flush valve. It was an unusual instance of a job actually being as easy as it was supposed to be.

Thanks. It is very rare any standards get mentioned or the grade of stainless steel.

The pipes are the original ones that come with the cisterns. They are Porcelanosa/Noken. No specification for the pipes is given even when you buy them separately. It is very rare that anyone gives a spec for these pipes and I am sure they are made down to a price.

Good idea. Might try that

I usually go for 10% as you are going to really annoy the tiler for a small saving. If they charged you a couple of extra hours to come back it would more than offset any saving. BUT I always measure it myself and allow for baths, doors etc. I have seen bathroom fitters just measure the room and ask me to order tiles to cover er the whole room, even though a door takes up almost 2 square metres. So I would tend to measure the actual area being tiled and add 10%. I also try and make allowances for the size of the tiles and likelihood of cuts being required. If I think it is a flat area and a small number of cuts will be required I might go nearer to 7-8%, if it is complicated and needs lots of cuts I might go 10% or even a bit more. Another thing to consider is how easy will it be to get an extra box. If you can nip down to Topps for another box fair enough, if you have to wait two weeks for them that is another matter.

I just started to go and check the other bathrooms. The first picture, the cistern is on an outside wall and the second one on an inside wall. I thought my theory that the outside wall spaces are cooler and water is more likely to condense on the pipes was proved. The third picture is a bathroom right next to the second one. Both on inside walls, both basically the same room and the mirror image of each other. The difference is dramatic and frankly hard to understand. The third one will be getting replaced tomorrow. Even though this seems crazy, the cleaner likes to use Toilet Duck, it only goes in the bowl, nowhere near the cistern. But the rooms with issues are the ones that are used more so get cleaned more often. Could it be that Toilet Duck left in the cistern is producing fumes that are damaging the pipework, or travelling a little bit back up the flush pipe. A pattern might be clearer once I have checked them all.

The pipe I have ordered is from the US, it claims to meet their standards. I couldn't find a nylon one here for the 3/8 to 1/2 connection. I was able to buy a 15mm to 1/2inch tap connector in nylon here, but It doesn't mention any standards. My thinking is to try it as it is nylon braided and so shouldn't rust. From what I can see nylon ones might be a bit less strong and easier to pinch, but that is pretty much irrelevant as they won't be moving around. One of the ones that failed after just a few years I think might have been twisted during installation. Some places do indeed recommend replacement every 5-10 years. Virtually no one must be doing this in reality. I will certainly check the other pipes in the house, I did this last time I replaced one. Last time I checked there were no other issues and it seemed isolated to certain rooms, it seemed to be all the places where the cistern is on an outside wall and colder, although the cold water coming into the house is pretty cold. It was also the most used cisterns and again I think these have more water running through them so are generally colder.

Yes Australia, typo fixed thanks. We have a 28mm hot and cold loops in the house with all the fittings connected to this using 15mm pipe. The loop was put in months before the bathrooms so I think they did this as they weren't connecting up the toilets. They just brought the mains close to where the toilets would would be.

The pipes inside the cistern can be replaced just by taking the flush plate off. All of the inside of a concealed cistern can be removed through the flush plate. This was more difficult as it was a second flex connector connecting the valve inside the cistern to the mains. I used metal cutting scissors to cut the top out of the plastic cistern. Then I pushed my arm up into the wall, getting it all scratched up. Yesterday I did this with a small screwdriver to shut off the valve while I waited for a new pipe to arrive so I could turn the water back on. Today I was about to give up because there was no way to get enough purchase on the pipe inside the wall to unscrew the compression fitting. Then I wondered if I could move the 15m PVC mains pipe, I remembered how flexible they are. I pulled it out of the clip holding it to the wall and was able to pull the pipe out through the cistern. Then I could easily unscrew the compression fitting and replace it before putting it back into the wall. The new nylon flexipipe presumably won't rust. Our last house did not use flexi pipes but the builders had put isolating valves in all the fixed pipes entering the cisterns. After around 10 years these all began to fail and we and multiple neighbours had floods due to this as the cisterns were all concealed and you didn't notice the slow leaks until the ceilings started to drip. The flex pipes burst under pressure so you can often hear straight away when they go.

It’s the hose that fails. The stainless steel rusts and breaks then the pipe pops. If I look at the pipes the rust seems to be mainly on one side which fits in with my belief it is caused by water condensing on the outside of the pipe. I have PVC piping and then they have used 15mm tap connectors at the end of each piece to connect to the fittings. This is the first time one of those has gone. The main problem seems to be the ones inside the cisterns. They are not under water just at the top of the cistern. All concealed cisterns seem to use a similar connector.