Wed 5 Dec 2012
A Ssssssssssssssssssss So Slight
Posted by Will under DIY
[4] Comments
You don’t remember that thing I wrote about DIY’ing a loooong-leaking hose faucet last January, do you? Of course you don’t. Imention it because after being proving myself to be so slow to put off what in essence turned out to be such an easy and water- and money-saving fix, one would think that if any other H2O-No! pops up around our 106-year-old domecile, my conservational self would hippity hop to getting it repaired, yes?
Not so much.
Case in point: the fill valve inside the toilet in the bathroom off the study. It literally has been running for about nine months. Not pouring, mind you. In fact, the flow was slight enough as to be almost imperceptible. But it was continuous nonetheless — 24/7/365. And I’ve been aware of it aaaaall thiiiiiiis time.
Suffice it to say it was ever on my to-do list, but always getting bumped to the bottom.
Not that I did nada. As best I figured it, the valve was not shutting completely after flushing. As the water would refill in the tank, it would almost-but-nooooooot-quiiiite close off. So hell yeah: I tinkered with it on a whole bunch of occasions — twisting a screw there, repositioning the floatball here… I even went so far as to buy a replacement assembly at the local hardware store about six months ago. But it was 15 inches tall, whereas the tank won’t accommodate anything more than a foot high.
So the fill valve went on incessantly overfilling. Draining water with juuuuuuust-so-slight a ssssssssssssssss and the occasional very quiet “gloip” noise that sounded as if the world’s smallest cottonmouth snake with a burping problem was living in there.
But of course, I wouldn’t be writing about this if there wasn’t a happy ending, right?
Riiiiiiight.
It came in the form of the Fluidmaster 400LS Fill Valve With Leak Sentry Technology, that I found in the back end of my closest Home Depot yesterday. Ten bucks.
Not only reasonably priced, but miracle of miracles, I dropped it in and it went to work without me having to do the slighest bit of adjusting.
And that makes me nervous. So whenever I’m at my desk I keep an ear toward the bathroom, to hear if the tiny burping snake has snuck back.
Sssssssso far, sssssssssso good.
4 Responses to “ A Ssssssssssssssssssss So Slight ”
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philpalm says: 12/06/2012 at 11:12 amFluidmaster has a rubber gasket that you can easily get access to by holding the float in the up position and twisting the top off. Tiny particles of rust and rocks can get embedded in the rubber gasket causing it to not shut off.
A leaky “flapper” leaks water from the tank and cause the valve to turn on after a few minutes. Fluidmaster provides a new seating and flapper kit too.
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David says: 12/09/2012 at 7:04 am
Leak Sentry Technology? That’s new. (insert joke here)
Fluidmaster is so much better than the ball float thingy, but it does sometimes leak, like when a water main breaks in the neighborhood and the lines get full of sediment. Like philpalm said, it’s fixable, and rather easy, too. You should have no worries.
Speaking of waterworks, I’ve noticed that two heater tanks have stopped having the clanging marbles sound for a few months now. Has yours? Have those sediment balls just disappeared?
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philpalm says: 12/09/2012 at 7:12 pm
re: David’s marble noise
Draining out the water heater tank occassionally will help get rid of sediments. (you have to shut off the valve and open up either the pressure relief valve or the connecting unions in order to allow it to drain.)Worse case scenario is the sediments have formed a solid layer, hence no sound. More worse case scenario is the sacrificial anode rods have completely dissolved away.
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Will says: 12/10/2012 at 7:53 am
Thanks for the tips, Phil!
David, I guess I’ll count myself lucky in dodging any clanging in our water heaters. They’re in the basement so it may just be a matter of the sound being beyond my hearing.