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How best to seal leaking Armitage Shanks close-coupled WC cistern

Posted: Sun Oct 03, 2021 2:52 pm
by Captain Beaujolais
Question relates to a normal Armitage Shanks close-coupled WC that's about 10 years old. We have just noticed that rusty water has been weeping very slowly for some time from the back of the join between cistern and pan. The problem seems to be either due to or made worse by the fact that the sealant used appears to have gone mouldy and has lost much of whatever grip it had to the porcelain.

Mainly on account of my age and my arthritis, I really don't fancy separating the two to re-do the seal properly, nor can we afford to get a tradesman in to do it. What I intend to do is drain the cistern and bail/sponge it out, then remove as much sealant from the joint as possible, dry it out thoroughly with the hair dryer, then pack it with as much sealant as possible.

There's no room to use anything in a cartridge and gun, so what's my best bet given that I don't want to be re-doing this every year or so? Plumber's Mait? Or is there something like the Dow sealants that's available nowadays in a tube?