Can You Repair A Toilet Fill Valve Without Replacing It
Preface
This post describes: How to repair a Toilet Silent Make full Valve. Basically that's how to replace the safe diaphragm within the valve.
Introduction
I recently heard my cistern alluvion. On investigation I decided to adjust the float level to stop it by reducing the height to which the h2o in the cistern rose when it filled. A few days later on I heard the distinct audio of the cistern inundation again. I and so realised I needed to repair my Toilet Silent Fill Valve.
- Pic. 1. The internal parts of a dual flush toilet cistern.
- Film. ii. The silent Fill Valve and Bladder System with labels.
- Picture show. 3. Here the Clamping Nut, Top Cover and Arm have been removed.
- Picture. 4a. Water Turned ON
- Pic. 4b. H2o Turned OFF
- Film. 5. Fill Valve with the Summit Encompass removed and the Diaphragm in place.
- Pic. six. Make full Valve with the Top Cover removed and the Diaphragm removed.
- Moving-picture show. seven. A Damaged Diaphragm – holes show when it is stretched.
- Flick. 8. White and Red Pinned Diaphragms side by side.
- Flick. 9. Diaphragm
- Pic. 10. The Diaphragm in particular.
- Pic. 11. Top Comprehend Assembly with the Arm threaded through the Clamping Nut.
- Movie. 12. Top Cover Assembly with the Clamping Nut detached.
- Film. 13. Valve with the Arm removed and the pinhole exposed.
- Pic. 14. The Arm (upside down).
- Movie. fifteen. The underside of the Height Cover of the new Twist Lock valve with a Red Pin diaphragm.
What Is The Valve Called?
In order to satisfy the requirements of Internet SEO (Search Engine Optimisation) the valve is referred to, in this article, specifically as a Toilet Silent Fill Valve or more by and large Silent Fill Valve merely its total title is a Silent Fill Toilet Cistern Inlet Valve since it is:
-
A Valve.
- An Inlet Valve.
- A Cistern Inlet Valve.
- A Toilet Cistern Inlet Valve.
- A Silent Fill Toilet Cistern Inlet Valve.
Old & New Fill Valves Compared
Repairing a Toilet Silent Fill Valve used in a toilet is, in my opinion, easier to perform than one on a traditional brawl valve (brawl cock). Mod inlet valves take up the minimum of infinite with their modest float, are made of plastic and can often be dismantled past strong hands without any spanners because their spiral threads don't jam with calcium and corrosion similar contumely ones. They are available in various formats. Some mount through a pigsty in the side of the cistern, and are a good replacement for old brass ones (which are usually mounted that way), while others stand on a tubular stalk inside the cistern which mounts through a hole in the lesser of the cistern.
When the fill pipe is attached at the lesser of the cistern the pipe can often exist situated out of sight. Bathrooms look much nicer and cleaner when pipes are out of view.
Information technology may exist that a Replacement Fill Valve is required. If so take a look at my article "Replacing A Toilet Make full Valve".
To discover out how a Toilet Silent Make full Valve works see the addendum to this post entitled:
'How A Toilet Silent Fill Valve Works'
Why Is It Silent?
This blazon of inlet valve is referred to as silent because it is designed to fill up the cistern quickly (mine takes near 30 seconds for a pocket-sized affluent and 45 seconds for a large affluent) and without the sounds of rushing and splashing water within the cistern. The silence is mainly accomplished by keeping the outlet of the inlet valve below the water level in the cistern.
Syphoning Back From Cistern To Supply
If the inlet valve outlet fed into the water through a solid circular pipage it would be susceptible to becoming a syphon. This might occur under agin conditions when the supply pressure is depression, e.yard. when the h2o supply to the house is turned off. Water could then syphon back into the supply pipes1. The h2o regime are very keen to prevent syphoning back into the supply with any connected apparatus in example the water main gets contaminated by it. People in the aforementioned building could end up drinking the h2o siphoned back. In the by they would not take allowed any inlet valve outlet pipe to be immersed.
Still past using a collapsible polyethylene pipe for the outlet (its similar a narrow polyethylene bag with a hole in the lesser) siphoning can't take place. The flexible polyethylene pipe doesn't float up and lay on the water surface because it has a sparse plastic rod inside it which keeps it pointing straight down. I think that if information technology did float on the surface water might spray in all directions within the cistern. Remember they don't have watertight lids since air has to get in rapidly to replace the h2o when it is flushed out.
When the cistern is filling I tin can still hear water flowing in the business firm pipes, merely just for a curt flow.
My Platonic Standard Toilet Silent Fill Valve was supplied with my Armitage Shanks toilet in 2007. It's served me well needing very little float level aligning and no replacement parts in the intervening menstruation up to April 2014. I have now just replaced the diaphragm again in February 2019.
Accessing My Toilet Silent Fill up Valve
To perform any operation inside the toilet cistern the hat must be removed. I have already posted an article describing how to practise that on a modern push button toilet like my Armitage Shanks Ascania WC. You can read it here entitled 'Dual Flush Toilet Cistern Lid Removal'. With older ceramic cisterns that are shut coupled to the pan, or but in a higher place it, the hat usually merely lifts off. I'grand sure some plastic cisterns have some screws around the border of the lid belongings it on.
Cistern Overflows
My Internal Overflow
Pic. 1. The internal parts of a dual affluent toilet cistern .
My cistern overflows internally through a pipe rising from the bottom of the cistern. (See adjacent paradigm.) The output from this overflow piping drains straight into the toilet pan at the point where the flushing water enters. The overflow pipe is integral with the flushing mechanism.
The acme of the overflow can be adjusted. The pinnacle department is just a pipage with a screw thread moulded on it. Information technology can be screwed in and out of the bottom section. So turning it clockwise lowers it and anticlockwise raises it.
Why it took a century to develop an internal overflow I don't know. All the problems with external overflows disappear with an internal overflow.
The Issues With External Overflows
- Water pouring all over the paths outside and and then freezing in winter in cold climates.
- Water pouring downwards the wall of a house where the overflow pipage is too short or doesn't hang down or the wind blows the h2o dorsum to the wall. Unattended this can seriously damage a wall causing clammy, mortar erosion, mould and bad staining which then ruins the look of a belongings.
- Icicles hanging from overflow pipes which break off and injure people underneath in cold climates.
- Water in the overflow pipe freezing whilst overflowing in cold climates causing the alluvion water to back upward and spill indoors.
- Toilets demand to be near an exterior wall or take a lengthy and maybe problematic overflow piping run on the inside of the building.
- Cold air blowing into a clear overflow pipe from outside and passing across the elevation of the water in the cistern. This tin can chill the water in the cistern by evaporation until information technology freezes. (The overflow pipe should pass up into the cistern water so that air cannot pass through the piping.)
My Toilet Silent Fill Valve Parts
One time the cistern hat has been removed the Toilet Silent Fill up Valve is accessible on the left of my cistern. Here you can encounter the parts labelled:
Pic. ii. The silent Fill Valve and Bladder System with labels.
Here is the Silent Fill Valve Parts List:
- Arm,
- Clamping Nut,
- Flexible Apartment Anti-syphon Tube,
- Float,
- Float Adjustment Spiral,
- Input Pipage,
- Output Tube,
- Pinhole Cone & Stopper,
- Pivot,
- Top Cover,
- Water Level Mark.
Adjusting A Toilet Silent Fill up Valve Float
When I found water inundation I removed my cistern hat to admission my Toilet Silent Make full Valve's float. I adjusted the bladder level and then that the cistern h2o level didn't rise and so high.
The adjustment is made by turning the long screw which has a hexagonal nut moulded onto it. Although it's shaped like a nut it doesn't require a spanner to turn it, fingers are sufficient. Run into the image beneath where the Toilet Silent Fill Valve Height Cover and Arm take been removed to give a ameliorate view of it.
Picture show. 3. Here the Clamping Nut, Tiptop Cover and Arm have been removed.
The float is existence held up by mitt to show the adjusting screw. The knob on the top of the screw attaches to the Arm.
Adjusting My Cistern's Water Level
To raise the water level: I turn the screw clockwise when looking downwardly on it, i.east. screw information technology into the float.
Notation: At that place is a ❝Stop❞ moulded onto the screw thread (see Motion picture. 3) to prevent the screw beingness screwed besides far into the float.
To lower the h2o level: I plow the screw anticlockwise when looking down on it, i.e. screw it out of the float.
NOTE: There is a line marked in the porcelain showing where the water level should be when the cistern is full. Make certain the top of the overflow is above the line past at least 1 cm. But make sure it is well beneath the screw holes (or whatever other holes) in the cistern.
Flushing The Cistern With The Lid Off
The cistern tin can be flushed with the hat removed by poking something suitable through the holes in the Height Adjustable Securing Plate and using it to push the flushing buttons down. Either a button with spindle attached or a screwdriver can be used. Where space permits the buttons can be pressed direct with a finger or pollex. For more than information refer to: 'Dual Flush Toilet Cistern Lid Removal'.
Turning Off My Cistern'due south Water Supply
When adjustment of the float failed to end my cistern overflowing I presumed there must be a trouble with the Toilet Silent Fill valve itself, probably the rubber diaphragm within the Toilet Silent Fill Valve. I decided to examine the prophylactic diaphragm past taking it out of the plastic trunk. That required me to turn off the cold water supply to the cistern. I have an inline terminate tap installed as part of the flexible hose linking the copper supply pipe, where it exits the wall, to the Toilet Silent Fill Valve Back up Tube protruding from the bottom of the cistern. So I just had to rotate the tap with a apartment bract screwdriver until the slot was across the pipe instead of inline with it. See images below:
Pic. 4a. Water Turned ON
Motion-picture show. 4b. H2o Turned OFF
Annotation: This blazon of tap can turn both ways and through 360° merely some (like mine) only turn back and along through 90°.
Repairing My Toilet Silent Fill Valve
Removing The Top Cover
I began by unscrewing the Clamping Nut in an anticlockwise direction. This holds downward the Meridian Cover of the Toilet Silent Fill Valve and seals it confronting the outer edge of the Safe Diaphragm.
Note: At that place is a detent protruding from the top of the output pipe which engages the Clamping Nut. I had to force information technology out of the way of the ridges on the nut and so that the nut could exist turned.
Then I removed the Top Cover to reveal the Prophylactic Diaphragm within:
Pic. 5. Make full Valve with the Elevation Cover removed and the Diaphragm in identify.
Annotation: The Top Cover retaining the Clamping Nut can exist removed without disconnecting the linkage from the Toilet Silent Make full Valve operating lever to the float. The whole assembly tin can then be moved bated by pivoting information technology on the float adjusting screw (not shown in this view).
Removing The Fill up Valve Diaphragm
The Prophylactic Diaphragm then has to be winkled out revealing the innards below:
Pic. half dozen. Fill Valve with the Top Cover removed and the Diaphragm removed.
At first I couldn't run into much wrong with the diaphragm but on closer inspection, when I stretched it, I found several splits in the rubber.
Hither the diaphragm is pinned, in the stretched position, to a block of woods covered in white newspaper to display information technology:
Motion picture. 7. A Damaged Diaphragm – holes show when it is stretched.
"Why exercise the safety diaphragms tear?"
T K Mukasa
Every time the diaphragm goes up and downwards the area that tears is bent, straightened and stretched. Eventually the molecules rip autonomously at a identify in the material where they are overworked.
The real question is: "How many times should you lot be able to bend, straighten and stretch this textile before the harm is done?" I suspect if it were to be used on a device taking a long infinite journeying information technology would be able to practise it millions of times but it would toll a small-scale fortune.
What have we here? A twopenny-halfpenny device, and then information technology only lasts a few years. Perchance a ameliorate design or a improve textile that isn't prohibitively expensive might make it last longer.
". . . I found your site, looked at the diaphragm and quickly spotted the tear. 10 minutes later and £i.57 after problem solved."
Richard King
Replacing Fill up Valve Diaphragms In General
There has been debate comparing diaphragms with ruby pins to those with white pins. The questions have been:
- Are they identical?
- Volition the white one work in the same fill up valve equally a blood-red one and visa versa?
Well I've got my hands on a white pin diaphragm at last. And so I take compared it with a red pin one. I took edge on photos of both and measured their thicknesses and diameters. Y'all can come across them side by side in the moving picture below:
Pic. 8. White and Crimson Pinned Diaphragms side by side.
The answer to Q1 higher up is: They are different. Although they are the same bore, 31 mm, they are different shapes.
The reply to Q2 to a higher place is: Because they are the same diameter they can be placed in each others' fill up valves.
So I have tried a white pin diaphragm in my fill valve which should have a cherry pin diaphragm in it. It did piece of work later I had adjusted the Float Adjusting Screw considerably. I had to screw it out of the float by almost 3 cm.
The white pin diaphragm has to travel ii mm more to close than the red pin diaphragm. To do this a greater force is required above the diaphragm. This is achieved by closing the pinhole earlier in the fill process when the float is low in the water.
As far as I am aware the white pin diaphragms are for utilise with the twist lock valves. If at that place is a failure when substituted for a ruby pin diaphragm don't arraign me. I still intend to utilise red pivot diaphragms in my older valve which has a screw on retaining nut to hold it in place, if I can get them.
Replacing My Fill up Valve Diaphragm
I couldn't get a replacement diaphragm from Wickes in 2014, only I did become ane from B&Q.
Other suppliers are:
Kingsway Plumbing,
Pic. 9. Diaphragm
". . . I then establish an ain Plumbsure make replacement at B&Q which works perfectly. Function No. WB540QV3 diaphragm washer for placidity fill valve."
Mike Robinson
I had to supplant my diaphragm once again in February 2019. This type was what I had already got as a spare.
Here is the diaphragm held in its operating attitude with the niggling red Restricting Pivot pulled down by gravity. It doesn't driblet out of the hole because the other end of the pin is squashed flat making information technology besides wide to pass through the hole. Brand sure the pivot can move upwards and downward freely under gravity while submerged:
Motion-picture show. 10. The Diaphragm in particular.
The diaphragm is flexible so that the section which shuts off the main catamenia of water, when filling the cistern, can become up and down relative to the area which seals against the inside of the Silent Fill Valve Tube.
Annotation: Some inquire which way up the diaphragm should exist. Well the side with the cerise pin head should face towards the incoming water supply.
Cleaning & Servicing The Parts
Before I reassembled the Toilet Silent Fill Valve I cleaned various parts. It'south quite easy to disconnect the adjustable float spiral from the valve operating lever. The lever has a slotted hole and the plastic is flexible so it can be stretched to get over the ball on acme of the Float Adjustment Screw. Only after disconnecting the lever from the bladder tin the inside of the valve top be inspected. Below you can see the Top Cover Assembly:
Flick. eleven. Top Comprehend Assembly with the Arm threaded through the Clamping Nut.
Calcium can exist removed from all the parts with the help of a descaling agent and the aid of an one-time toothbrush and a penknife to scrape with. It's important not to damage the plastic around the pinhole in the Acme Embrace or the valve won't part correctly (information technology may leak). See image below with Clamping Nut discrete:
Pic. 12. Tiptop Cover Assembly with the Clamping Nut detached.
Pic. 13. Valve with the Arm removed and the pinhole exposed.
With intendance I prised the supports on the Top Comprehend sideways to release the fulcrum pivots of the arm and then it could be removed. I was concerned that the supports might break under force. The supports are shaped so that the arm pivots can be clicked into place easily. (I doubtable the manufacturer only expected it to exist assembled once.)
The Pinhole Cone & The Rubber Stopper
Below is the valve with the arm removed. Yous can come across the underside of the arm with the Safe Stopper insert in the Top Cover beneath:
Motion-picture show. 14. The Arm (upside downwardly).
NOTE: The condom Stopper may need replacing if the dimple in it becomes besides deep. The dimple's made when it presses down, over a long fourth dimension, on the proud Pinhole Cone on the Elevation Cover. I presumed, incorrectly, that the Stopper was a unproblematic safety cylinder. I expected it could be removed and turned terminate over end to present a new apartment surface with no dimple. However I take been informed past a reader (Tom Fenwick-Brown) that the Stopper is pressed onto a spindle to hold it. This means it has a pigsty in the opposite end preventing that blazon of repair. I have not had occasion to remove my Stopper and await at the hidden end. I suppose the dimple in the stopper could merge with the pigsty embedded in information technology from behind. Then it would leak water and non seal the pinhole cone.
"Just one tiny (but important) point regarding your proffer to: – remove the 'stopper' in the arm and plough over to nowadays a new flat surface. This is not possible as the stopper is hollow and sits on a spindle, so the bottom side is open. I was unable to find a replacement anywhere, and then I improvised with a shim under the stopper to raise the level and sort the trouble. I tried a few tiny rubber washers first simply found them too thick, [so] I ended upwardly using a cut out from an former pair of thin safety gloves, which worked a treat."
Tom Fenwick-Chocolate-brown
Reassembling The Toilet Silent Fill up Valve
Equally is often the instance reassembly of the parts was the reverse of the dismantling process thus:
-
I began by clicking the Arm into the forks of the Top Cover. Then I threading the Clamping Nut over the Arm until information technology fitted effectually the Top Cover.
- Next I seated the new Diaphragm in the acme of the Inlet Valve body plumbing equipment the Peak Comprehend over it.
Note: In that location is a spigot on the edge of the Meridian Cover. It tin can be positioned into 1 of three recesses on the valve body. The spigot volition prevent the Top Comprehend rotating while the Clamping Nut is tightened. The spigot should be engaged with a recess according to the position of the float.
- I Held downwardly the Height Cover by screwing down the Clamping Nut in a clockwise direction.
- And so I pushed the ball on the end of the Float Adjusting Spiral into the slot at the stop of the Arm.
- All I had to practice and so was plow on the water supply and suit the Float.
Menstruum Restrictors & Filters
A Toilet Silent Fill Valve may have a catamenia restrictor. It prevents the cistern filling too fast when the h2o pressure is high. It may as well accept a filter to stop grit going into the finer parts of the valve.
A restrictor finer narrows the fill pipe and resists the period of water. Allowing the cistern to fill up too rapidly can adversely affect other appliances attached to the h2o supply. They can suffer from a lack of pressure when the cistern takes all the water. Showers, for instance, require pressure level to exist maintained for them to work correctly.
Restrictors are not usually required if a cistern is fed from a header tank only one or ii floors to a higher place. The pressure from such a tank volition be low plenty.
Many a Toilet Silent Fill up Valve is supplied with the appropriate restrictor. The plumber decides whether to insert it or not. Some take a low force per unit area insert to put in its place if the restrictor is not required. What and where it is inserted depends on the design of the Toilet Silent Fill Valve.
An Inlet Filter Problem
Below in that location is a quote taken from a comment to this post past someone who resolved a filter trouble. They had a Toilet Silent Fill up Valve slightly different to mine.
". . . I and so remembered, before replacing the diaphragm, that underneath it – in my float arm cap – there's a filter unit of measurement. Shaped like a small bullet – I'd pulled this out to affluent it through equally the instructions for the float arm, which I have, said to practice periodically.
Anyway, I finally realised I'd not pushed this filter unit back properly into the recess under the diaphragm. Thus the diaphragm couldn't even begin to do its job as it wasn't being pushed downward onto the valve as the cistern filled up! I pushed information technology firmly in and voila – the waterfall stopped!
So just in case others also have this little filter unit underneath their diaphragm – ensure you lot push button information technology firmly dorsum into the recess earlier replacing the diaphragm. Use a pair of long nosed pliers to twist the filter one quarter plow clockwise once information technology's firmly pushed in place. The filter has trivial lugs on it which yous can grip with the pliers."
Marianne Wilford
My Silent Fill Valve Has Been Superseded
My Toilet Silent Fill Valve seems to have been superseded by a new one. It has a Twist-lock cover instead of a screw cover for one matter.
The new one has 18 supports for the diaphragm to remainder on. See below where the supports accept impressed ridges in a red pin diaphragm:
Pic. fifteen. The underside of the Meridian Cover of the new Twist Lock valve with a Red Pin diaphragm.
Note: The diaphragm should not exist shaped to fit confronting the 18 supports like it is in this picture. Maybe information technology should have a white pin and thus be shallower. See Pic. viii.
I at present (June 2020) think a red pivot diaphragm is not the right i to use and that the ridges seen in it should non be there.
A Video of A White Pin Diaphragm Beingness Replaced In A Twist-lock Fill Valve
As far as I can see the top is removed by an anticlockwise quarter plough twist to gain access to the diaphragm. Take a expert look at the My Toilet Spares video below showing the diaphragm being replaced:
I have noted that the plumber is not replacing the diaphragm with ane with xviii ridges already embedded in it. Besides it has a white pin.
I believe the ridges get pressed into the diaphragm if it has a red pin, because information technology's the right diameter but the wrong shape (too deep).
I now know that diaphragms with white pins accept different dimensions to those with cherry-red pins. However they do have the same diameter. Encounter Movie eight above.
Reference
1. How A Toilet Silent Fill Valve Works
Get to my reference article in the Reference Library entitled 'How A Toilet Silent Fill Valve Works' to see the detail in an addendum to this post.
2. Encyclopedia of Toilets
Check out this Encyclopedia of Toilets. Part of InspectAPedia.
one. How water could syphon dorsum into the supply pipes and be a danger
If the street stop cock or the main firm terminate tap is turned off then, if the common cold tap downstairs in a firm is turned on water will come out of that tap when an upstairs tap is turned on (letting air in), or if water from an upstairs cistern can syphon backwards out through a valve which is non held shut. That upstairs cistern water isn't guaranteed to be clean and once in the cold h2o pipework it could be drunkard. It could have been in the cistern for a long time if the toilet was non regularly used.
Source: https://helpfulcolin.com/repairing-toilet-silent-fill-valve/
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