Best fill valve...

I've 4 toilets in my house, all with Fluidmasters...I'm not impressed, seems like there's always one with a problem - I want to replace them all with the most reliable fill valve.
If you were going to replace, what do you all think is the absolute best, reliable fill valve? Brass - which make? Or plastic - which make?

Thanks all!

I think replacing the Fluidmasters with a good Mansfield brass ballcock would serve you well. They last longer, and when they do finally leak, you only need to replace the rubber gasket instead of the whole thing, like you have to do with the fluidmaster.

fill valve

You must be hard on fill valves, because I have very, very little problems with them, and I have been installing them for over 35 years. If you have a problem with them, other than a split housing, all you have to do is buy an inexpensive replacement top cap and snap it on.

Last case of Fluidmaster 400A's I was a little surprised.

They seem lighter, the box is mostly written in spanish now and I've already had to discard the plastic piece that connects to the overflow tube for replenishing the trap. If it would connect like the old style and come through perpendicular it would work great but top down doesn't work on all toilets.

Ends up collapsing/kinking the tube down and limits the flow during fill-up.

These new ones even feel lighter than the last ones. ????

I do however like the adjustment screw for the float....and you don't have to do full revolutions on the tower anymore to adjust the height. So I'm 70/30. If I can get a bunch of those old style filler connectors from fluidmaster I'll be happy.

I get leerie of Korky style because that clip is hard to put back on the side once it is installed......and if it comes loose......talk about a problem. I had this happen once already.......not by my hands but the guy said it broke the tank lid when it broke loose and hit the lid. Not to mention the water damage that was caused by it.

sparkg said:

I've 4 toilets in my house, all with Fluidmasters...I'm not impressed, seems like there's always one with a problem - I want to replace them all with the most reliable fill valve.
If you were going to replace, what do you all think is the absolute best, reliable fill valve? Brass - which make? Or plastic - which make?

Thanks all!

Click to expand...

Sounds like high water pressure or you have those chlorine tablets/2000 flushes liquid inside the tank.

I could be wrong but 400A's do hold up quite well in many conditions.

You cannot look at your water coming out of a faucet to know if it is high or not.

Get a gauge and test it. Might save you many repairs relating to high water pressure issues.

Please tell what the problems are.

Hi
Get the old style brass ball cock and forget about it. They cost more but are re buildable forever for almost nothing. I have had good luck with the Korky, but as said they can be sort of confounded at times. Stay away from the newest fluidmaster.

Val, you're talking about the Mansfield #4 ballcock?
I used them exclusively for many years.

Years ago when there were a lot of different people making :quiet fill" to "quick shut valves", we tried them all. The guy that owned the hardware store in town also was a handyman. In those days the call came in that the toilet wont shut off. If it was a Fluidmaster I would put a Mansfield in and be done with. Sometimes the Fluidmaster was only a few days or a couple of months old.

Mansfield would last many years before it needed attention and for a dollar you could buy a kit and make it like new.............

But in later years I found the Fluidmaster to not need the attention that it used to. I have no problem using them anymore.