problem adjusting chain length of an actuator valve for an American Standard toilet

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Johnny-Canuck

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I have an American Standard toilet with an actuator valve i.e. the thing that tilts up and back when the flush lever is used and then when enough water has drained out of the tube part, it drops back down and closes the tank.

For the life of me, I can't get the chain length adjusted properly so that the actuator tilts back far enough to make the tube that's full of water, vertical enough so that it will sit in the vertical position until the water drains out the bottom ... and lets the toilet flush completely. I've tried all possible chain lengths with no luck ... from very taut to very slack and everything in between.

If I manually tilt it up and back into it's vertical position is works like a charm, but obviously it's the lever and chain are meant to do the same thing. Is there some trick I'm missing in getting the chain length adjusted properly? It's sure got me stumped.
 

Willie Two

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Through trial & error find the correct weight of a nut, bolt or screw and drop it in the tube, just don't plug the little hole in the bottom of the tube. Proper counterbalance is what you need. :) :) Try to use brass or Stainless steel
 

Jimbo

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Possibly you have the wrong handle, or at least the chain is not connected to the right position on the handle.
 

Johnny-Canuck

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To Willie Two ... Thanks. I'll give this a shot as a work around ... I'm getting tired of getting my hand wet :)
But I assume there's some type of handle that must work as designed that I haven't found yet. Continued below.

To jimbo ... Thanks as well. It's a "flat" front tank (it's not "beveled" on the front corners) and I'm currently using a "short" lever handle (about 3-4" long). I tried a "long" lever handle (about 6-8" long but it only has 1 position to mount the chain. I couldn't make any adjustment on this long lever handle that would make the actuator sit up, even if I kept holding the handle down. The short handle I'm using, at least works as long as I stand there and hold the handle down long enough for the tank to flush before I finally release the handle.

At Home Depot I think I've seen a handle that is a) long b) has more than 1 hole position to hang the chain from and additionally c) can be bent into a curve if straight isn't good enough. I guess I'll need to give that a shot.
 

hj

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The handle has to be short enough so that it pulls the float backwards. If you use a Fluidmaster "universal" lever you have to cut it off so that your chain attaches at the "slot" position.
 
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