We're Now An All-Korky-528 Household

**wjcandee** · 01-28-2013, 09:20 AM

Over the last year, I have replaced or refurbished all seven toilets in our house. Two of the three replacement toilets, Totos, came with the Voreto fill valve rather than the Korky 528 that came on the other. Last night, I finally ripped out the last Voreto fill valve, this one from our Toto Carlyle II, and replaced it with a 528MP. I just couldn't stand the loud chirp that the fill valve made every time it shut off. I have to say it was worth the $11. The toilet fills more quietly, and it just shuts off with no definitive sound. No chirp, no shhhhtunk, it's just running and then it's not.

This was my first use of the 528MP, as opposed to a 528 without the adjustable refill ratio. I have to say that the refill adjustment on this valve is far, far superior to the refill adjustment mechanism on the competing Fluidmaster. The Korky uses a little knob and dial, which stays where you set it, whereas the Fluidmaster uses a slider which really isn't infinitely-variable.

So, since the time that I first started participating on this forum last year, I have done the following: (1) disassembled one 1950s-vintage AS toilet and replaced the fill valve, flush valve, gaskets and attachment hardware with the Korky kit; (2) done the same for a 1970s-vintage AS; (3) removed the ballcock and tank-ball-holder from a 1927-manufactured AS toilet and replaced with a 528 and a Korky flapper; (4) replaced the Fluidmaster fill valve on another 1950s-vintage AS toilet with a 528; (5) swapped out the Voreto valve on one Toto Drake with a 528T, and, now (6) replaced the Voreto valve on the Carlyle II with a 528MP. The other Toto Drake came with the 528T factory-installed.

The three water-saving toilets we installed are far and away the most-used ones, so I think we struck a good balance by maintaining the rarely-used ones and replacing the most-used ones.

In sum, we now have one 528MP, two 528Ts, and four regular 528s. It's nice to know that the replacement cap that I have in the tool drawer is likely all I will need to use to repair any of the fill valves in the house when the time comes. Everyone has noticed how much quieter the fill and shutoff is on the refurbished toilets.

Given that a recent Toto piece that I read suggested that a running toilet can burn through 200 gallons of water per day, keeping the toilet mechanisms properly-maintained can very-quickly do as much to save water as replacing the whole toilet. Now that we're well-versed in self-help, any running toilets are fixed immediately, and this has to be good for the environment long-term.

Thanks, Terry, for recommending this excellent product.

**wptski** · 01-31-2013, 06:44 AM

Okay, I don't have a fill valve problem but since you've mentioned the Korky 528MP, I have a question.

The adjustable fill valve. Does it have a abnormally high fill tube rate? Is it possible that with the correct WL in the tank that wide open would underfill the bowl? If/does that happen where one has to increase the tank WL to allow the fill rate adjustment to have the needed range to properly fill the bowl?

I have a AS Cadet 3 1.6GPF and I measured exactly 1.6G as is to the marked tank WL.

**wjcandee** · 01-31-2013, 08:26 AM

Originally Posted by wptski

Okay, I don't have a fill valve problem but since you've mentioned the Korky 528MP, I have a question.

The adjustable fill valve. Does it have a abnormally high fill tube rate? Is it possible that with the correct WL in the tank that wide open would underfill the bowl? If/does that happen where one has to increase the tank WL to allow the fill rate adjustment to have the needed range to properly fill the bowl?

I have a AS Cadet 3 1.6GPF and I measured exactly 1.6G as is to the marked tank WL.

The longtime standard was 20% refill. On a 5-gallon toilet, that would fill the bowl, and then some, and then some. The excess would run over the weir and down the drain. Most people didn't even notice.

On a Toto GMax toilet, it's 40% refill. That's the setting on the 528T. Doesn't take as long to fill the tank, so a bigger percentage needs to be devoted to refill.

On the 1.28gpf Totos, the fill ratio varies a lot. So they had a lot of green-color valves with different refill ratios. Which is why they now have one Toto universal refill valve with an adjustable rate. It's modelled on the 528MP.

The 528MP goes from 0 to 40 percent, with a little knob you turn to adjust the rate. 40 percent is going to be as much as anyone needs. The 1.28gpf toilets use less. The old toilets use even less than that.