Kohler "Ingenium" slow fill.....

[chrisexv6]

Lately its been taking a looong time for our Kohler toilet to refill. Taking off the tank top and watching, it *looks* like there is a good stream of water into the fill tube, but for some reason it takes a long time (at least 60-70 seconds). It does eventually stop, and the toilet doesnt "run", so Im not sure if the flapper valve is leaking.

I see the cap on the filler setup says Ingenium, but the float itself says Flushmaster 400.

What should I be looking at to fix it? I couldnt get the top cap off the filler setup to clean it, but for the price of a new one (if I can just use a generic) might I be better off just replacing it?

Thanks.

-Chris

[jadnashua]

The only thing you can replace in the Fluidmaster is a gasket...it could be clogged up with crud. The instructions are on their website...basically, you twist the tower (make sure you've turned the water off first!). Testing if the flapper is leaking is easy...shut the water supply off then leave it...see if the tank empties. An alternative is to put some food coloring in. If it is leaking you'll see the color appear in the bowl. But, if it leaks fast, and you don't check it out soon enough, it could have washed all of that down the drain, but then both the tank and bowl would be clear.

[chrisexv6]

Assuming the flapper is OK, can I replace the valve with any old FluidMaster from HD/Lowes?

Would a Korky setup be an "upgrade" or just not worth the effort?

[jadnashua]

The Korky is a little quieter and the moving parts are inside rather than outside like on the Fluidmaster. The wear part is cheaper on the Fluidmaster, but they're both inexpensive. On the low-flow toilets, the manufacturer may customize the generic version of the valve to get the right balance of tank to bowl so that it minimizes the amount of water used. Overfilling the bowl just wastes water, since you can only fill it so high. Ideally, the bowl and tank get filled at the same time. If the tank gets filled first, your bowl will be low and not flush well. Usually, it's the other way around, and the bowl gets overfilled, wasting water. Customizing the balance means minimum waste and consistent performance.

[chrisexv6]

I took off the top cap and let the water pressure flush everything out, still didnt improve.

Its a "whisper" version of the FluidMaster 400. After removing the rubber "regulator" that makes the inlet quieter, it filled at a normal pace (35 seconds). After reinstalling the regulator we're back to a 60-70 second refill.

The regulator piece itself didnt look bad, it wasnt dirty or clogged.

Any ideas? Maybe just replace the whole valve with a new whisper ? Id prefer to get it quieter than it was without the regulator, but not at the cost of 60 second fill times.