Advise me..New Fluidmaster fill valve, letting by..

[Sirbendy]

Yet more woes with my close-coupled loo...it had been dripping annoyingly for a month or 2, so at the weekend I shut off the isolator, drained the cistern and mopped the water out, then stripped the original bottom-fill ballvalve.

All looked OK (if old and scaly), so cleaned it all up and reassembled, still dripped. The rubber washer was dimpled in the middle, which I suspect was the issue.

So, decided to say hell to it. Went to Homebase, bought a Fluidmaster 400 after seeing them recommended on here in a few places.

Fitted it, rotated it to allow the slider to clear the tank, adjusted it for height to an inch (poss a bit more) above the water line on the tank. Set the float for the lowest level, turned on the water. Fast fill, shut off fine. Shut off the isolator again, adjusted the water level back to the original mark. Water back on, all fine.

Then a few hours later, I could see very slight rippling in the bowl. Lid off, the valve was letting a tiny bit by. Isolator off. Isolator back on - flow shut down fully again.

Now had this a few times...it seems to shut off OK at first, then seep a little..any ideas?

 

[HERTS P&D]

I take it it is a push button syphon?

You will need a new washer on the syphon, normally it's just easier to replace the syphon.

http://www.screwfix.com/p/fluidmaster-push-button-cable-dual-flush-valve/51173

Andy

 

[Charnwood]

I've sold thousands of Fluidmaster 400s, PRO400s and PRO45.
Faulty ones are as rare as rocking horse poo.

In the instructions it says:
"7. IMPORTANT: ALWAYS CLEAR DEBRIS FROM WATER LINE TO COMPLETE INSTALLATION. Shut off water supply to cistern. Remove VALVE TOP by lifting arm and rotating TOP 1/8 turn anticlockwise, pressing down slightly on cap. While holding a container over the uncapped VALVE to prevent splashing, turn water supply on and off to clear debris that may be in supply line. Turn off water supply and replace TOP by engaging lugs and rotating 1/8 turn clockwise.
MAKE CERTAIN TOP IS TURNED TO THE LOCKED POSITION. VALVE MAY NOT TURN ON IF TOP IS NOT
FULLY TO THE LOCKED POSITION."

Did you?

 

[Sirbendy]

Yep, did that.

Decided last night to shut down the isolator when bathing daughter..could see the pan rippling very slightly. Came back 2 hours later, turned the water back on...filled for around 6-7 seconds and shut off again. Shortly (20 minutes tops) after I could hear it whistling very quietly as it started letting through again.

So, water off, level in tank dropping and rippling in the pan...go on, tell me the flush valve is probably leaking...

That in itself wouldn't be such a sod, but a) I just had the loo rebuilt to replace the donut (close coupled) - PITA of a job, took the plumber a lot of jiggling etc to stop it dripping, and

b) It's a blue and white "Pacific" flush valve..which I gather is now utterly non-available, and quite well known for this issue!

Sigh. WHAT was wrong with the old syphons? At least they only ever seemed to fail "unable to flush" as opposed to "dripping".

 

[Charnwood]

Fit a flapper valve; simplistic in design, little can go wrong, easy to fix if ever it did.

Fluidmaster is my choice. (Mainly because I stock dozens of them. )

 

[Threadjacker]

Ah yes, welcome to the world of garbage cistern inards, as cisterns have shrunk in size over the years the old fashioned syphon and ballvalve are becoming rare.

Your inlet valve was in perfect working order so your trip to Homebase was a complete and total waste of time, as you suspected the flush valve is rubbish, don't even bother trying to replace the washer as I've been there many times and its hit and miss. You always get the call the next day "its dripping again!"

Replace with Fluidmaster flush valve and let thet be an end to it.