On Saturday, I decide to replace the seat/lid of a toilet in one of our en-suite bathrooms, because the plastic hinge assembly had broken.
An examination showed the old assembly was held in by two 8 cm steel studs in an inaccessible place round the back with ~60 cm free space to the left and 45 cm to the right. The studs were badly rusted and the little force I could exert on the thumb-nuts (nylon), even with tools, were insufficient. Aha! thinks I! WD-40! half-a dozen generous sprays later had, as only effect, to asphyxiate me. No way could I budge those nuts. Plan B: try to demolish the plastic hinge heads without cracking the ceramic or glaze. I don't know what kind of plastic it was, I suspect a TiO2-loaded polyamide, but it was tough. Eventually, I created enough space to allow a hacksaw blade in, but I had only about 2 cm of movement and, after considerable effort an time, I cut through the top of the stud. Repeat other side.
After cleaning round the holes, time to fix the new seat/lid. The pitch for this was adjustable, but I had to keep trying it in position, removing it, adjusting it, until the two hinges were the right distance apart and symmetrical. OK, from there on, it should have been plain sailing, tightening the nylon thumb-nuts up about 8 cm of studs. Unfortunately, the nuts were very tight on the threaded studs and space was tight, about 3 or 4 cm all around on 3 sides. It was hard work.
To make things worse, it was 34°C in the bathroom (38°C outside, so opening the window would have been pointless). I was working in a T-shirt and boxer underwear, doubled up to gain access most of the time. To say I sweated was the understatement of the year. 3½ hours of purgatory to do a 10 minute job, if only the maker of the cluggy had the sense to foresee that such changes could be necessary and to design it accordingly, using rust-free metal parts.
Never was a long, cool, shower, followed by a litre of mineral water so welcome after that! My back is still suffering!
An examination showed the old assembly was held in by two 8 cm steel studs in an inaccessible place round the back with ~60 cm free space to the left and 45 cm to the right. The studs were badly rusted and the little force I could exert on the thumb-nuts (nylon), even with tools, were insufficient. Aha! thinks I! WD-40! half-a dozen generous sprays later had, as only effect, to asphyxiate me. No way could I budge those nuts. Plan B: try to demolish the plastic hinge heads without cracking the ceramic or glaze. I don't know what kind of plastic it was, I suspect a TiO2-loaded polyamide, but it was tough. Eventually, I created enough space to allow a hacksaw blade in, but I had only about 2 cm of movement and, after considerable effort an time, I cut through the top of the stud. Repeat other side.
After cleaning round the holes, time to fix the new seat/lid. The pitch for this was adjustable, but I had to keep trying it in position, removing it, adjusting it, until the two hinges were the right distance apart and symmetrical. OK, from there on, it should have been plain sailing, tightening the nylon thumb-nuts up about 8 cm of studs. Unfortunately, the nuts were very tight on the threaded studs and space was tight, about 3 or 4 cm all around on 3 sides. It was hard work.
To make things worse, it was 34°C in the bathroom (38°C outside, so opening the window would have been pointless). I was working in a T-shirt and boxer underwear, doubled up to gain access most of the time. To say I sweated was the understatement of the year. 3½ hours of purgatory to do a 10 minute job, if only the maker of the cluggy had the sense to foresee that such changes could be necessary and to design it accordingly, using rust-free metal parts.
Never was a long, cool, shower, followed by a litre of mineral water so welcome after that! My back is still suffering!
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