[J. V.]

Is there any further adjustment of Fluidmaster 400A? I bought one and its to sensitive. The slightest movement of the bowl (sitting down) will actuate the valve for less than one second.
Also does it occasionally by itself. Real fast and quick.

The hose has been trimmed short so it does not go below the water line.
The water level is low as I have a low flow tank. 1.8 Gallons. The valve is as far down as it can go so the lid will not hit it.
The flapper has not been replaced. But I did remove it, check it good and cleaned it.

I have read all of Fluidmasters instructions and have done everything accept use the the little hose holder. My fill tube has its own little holder located inside the tube.

Any suggestions.

 

[Lightfoot]

sorry you haven't received an answer yet.
I have put dozens of the fluidmaster 400's in service and i have never once had that problem--maybe someone here has, but i just don't know what to tell you. All the ones i have seen will not kick on until they drop (and not just a hair).

If it comes on by itself, you may have a flapper leaking slowly. Put some food coloring in the tank and see if your bowl shows color after a while. But that still doesn't explain the short spurt fills.

Hope someone can answer:thumbsup:

 

[jmon]

It's possible it could be defective. I can only speak of my similar experience with a new fluidmaster 400 in my toilet. I, like you tried everything, with no positive results. It seemed like it was very sensitive to everything. So I took it back and got another one and it worked fine with no problems.

One quick thing to check - That little tube you mentioned that goes from the fill valve to fill tube, make sure it is not pushed down inside of fill tube. It could siphon water out and give same sympton as a leaky flapper. Use the hose/tube clip that comes with the new fluidmaster 400a even though your fill tube has a place for the little tube.

 

[rjniles]

John,

I had the same issue. Try turning off the stop, removing the top cap on the Fluidmaster, hold a paper cup over the top and turning on the stop for a second. This will blow out any debris. Replace the cap. If this does not work, replace the Fluidmaster.

That's what happens when an electrician turns plumber

 

[jmon]

RJ,

That is also a very good point.

Additionally, lightfoot mentioned the food coloring method which is also a good way to see if flapper or fill tube have a problem.

I'm sure JV has tried just about everything we mentioned. Hopefully we can give him a few more ideas to try before he takes it back.

Thanks.

 

[Javiles]

Have the tank fill and then shut the water off to the tank , then mark the water line, check it in a couple hours see if its had any loss, also poor water pressure will cause a similar problems, these valves work on counter pressure to shut them self off.

 

[Alan]

Use the bowl primer tube attachment fluidmaster gave you. It's designed that way for a reason.

Make sure that the float is not touching the side of the tank or near it in any way. If it lodges itself in the off position, and you have the bowl primer line down into the overflow, it may be slowly siphoning, and when you sit and bump the tank, the float is dislodging from the wall of the tank and dropping to an on position.


Just guessing here though.

 

[J. V.]

It's possible it could be defective. I can only speak of my similar experience with a new fluidmaster 400 in my toilet. I, like you tried everything, with no positive results. It seemed like it was very sensitive to everything. So I took it back and got another one and it worked fine with no problems.

One quick thing to check - That little tube you mentioned that goes from the fill valve to fill tube, make sure it is not pushed down inside of fill tube. It could siphon water out and give same sympton as a leaky flapper. Use the hose/tube clip that comes with the new fluidmaster 400a even though your fill tube has a place for the little tube.

It was at first and then I remembered that the little hose needed to be up higher. Above the water level. I brought it up.

John,

I had the same issue. Try turning off the stop, removing the top cap on the Fluidmaster, hold a paper cup over the top and turning on the stop for a second. This will blow out any debris. Replace the cap. If this does not work, replace the Fluidmaster.
That's what happens when an electrician turns plumber

Ain't that the truth. I am cheap and try to fix everything myself.
I was on a roll until this.
My wife has lost all faith in me now. :laughing:

Have the tank fill and then shut the water off to the tank , then mark the water line, check it in a couple hours see if its had any loss, also poor water pressure will cause a similar problems, these valves work on counter pressure to shut them self off.

I will do that right now. Thanks.

Use the bowl primer tube attachment fluidmaster gave you. It's designed that way for a reason.
Make sure that the float is not touching the side of the tank or near it in any way. If it lodges itself in the off position, and you have the bowl primer line down into the overflow, it may be slowly siphoning, and when you sit and bump the tank, the float is dislodging from the wall of the tank and dropping to an on position.
Just guessing here though.

I just have to say I am thinking the exact same thing. The little hose (bowl primer tube) has its own holder that I did not use.
It looked funky and my tank has its own holder located inside the fill tube.
I am going to install what came with the damn valve.
Thanks very much.
I will report back.

 

[J. V.]

Update.
Marked water line and turned off supply.
Installed little hose holder that came with the valve. (note: remove hose holder located inside fill tube first, or get wet).

Checked water two hours later. It was 1" below mark. So I replaced flapper. Seems to be fine now.

One more question.
The flapper does not fall perfectly straight onto the hole. It is a bit to the left, but seems to be covering the hole. Is there a way to adjust a flapper? To make it fall directly over the hole? The fill tube and the flapper holder seem perfectly lined up. But the flapper wants to fall slightly off center.

 

[jmon]

I don't really know what the inside of your toilet looks like. Can you take a pic of it looking straight down?

Couple of quick things to try;

Take a little slack out of the chain and move anchor on the arm to a point closer to over the flapper and see if that helps.

Try to bend the rod if it's metal, careful not to break it, so that the flapper gets lifted straight up and down, see if that helps.

Make sure flapper is positioned on those plastic hooks on filler tube properly.

As long as the water is staying in the tank and not leaking into the bowl, It's really no biggy. If it's leaking into the bowl then, yea, I say fix it. Because you are literally throwing money down the drain with the loss of water.

Let us know how it worked out for you. Thanks.

 

[J. V.]

I don't really know what the inside of your toilet looks like. Can you take a pic of it looking straight down?

Couple of quick things to try;

Take a little slack out of the chain and move anchor on the arm to a point closer to over the flapper and see if that helps.

Try to bend the rod if it's metal, careful not to break it, so that the flapper gets lifted straight up and down, see if that helps.

Make sure flapper is positioned on those plastic hooks on filler tube properly.

As long as the water is staying in the tank and not leaking into the bowl, It's really no biggy. If it's leaking into the bowl then, yea, I say fix it. Because you are literally throwing money down the drain with the loss of water.

Let us know how it worked out for you. Thanks.

Thanks jmon.
It seems to be fine. I have not heard a peep from it since I replaced the flapper.
I noticed the original flapper sat off center also.
Hopefully its fixed now.
Thanks for all the help guys.

 

[jmon]

your welcome JV, glad it worked out for you.