Leaking "Bum Gun" Portable Bidet All aspects of plumbing questions and answers, help, tips and information

[tesber]

Newbie here.

I have one of those "bum gun" portable bidet things, which has worked fine for the last 18 months since it was installed. The other day it started leaking (fine in the morning, unusable by afternoon, with no use in between), with water running down the flexible hose.

At first I assumed the hose itself was faulty, but after unscrewing the trigger/shower section, the hose had no leaks at all. When I removed the shower section from the hose, a little perished orange brown mess fell out, which I can only assume is some kind of washer (or, Google tells me, possibly a "friction ring", whatever one of those is).

The rubber washer in the hose seems fine, and the O-ring at the trigger end seems OK too (both have been replaced and made no difference). So I can only assume this orange brown thing is the culprit. However, I have no idea what I'm actually asking for in a shop, as I don't have the old one to compare.

Can anyone shed any light on what the required component is likely to be? Is it indeed a friction ring? Where in the assembly would such a thing fit (in the hose or on the shower section, or directly in between)?

Thanks for reading. I spent hours puzzling over this this morning.

[tesber]

I went to a plumbing supplies shop for advice on the "friction rings" that might be what failed on this device, and the guy behind the counter had no idea what I was talking about, so that wasn't much use as a piece of internet research...

The guy behind me in the queue suggested PTFE tape, and proceeded to wrap tape around the joint, and assured me that would stop all leaks.

Needless to say it didn't, The thing still leaks merrily as soon as the water is turned on.

Someone suggested that the elusive "friction rings" were actually just fibre washers, so I sought out one of those that fit the connection (but as the original is a pile of mush, I can't assess the thickness required). That made no difference either.

I'm tearing my hair out now. Every washer has been changed, I've tried changing the flexible hose and also another model of "gun" on both hoses. There is always, always a leak. I can't figure it out, or even where a problem might logically lie that is so resistant to isolation.

Any suggestions?

[geoffj83]

Hey, did you ever find out what the problem was?

I am having a similar problem.