Korky fill weirdness- latency / noisy - Free Video included!

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Sonofawhatthe

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So for some reason my Korky refill valve (9 months old) is acting bizarre when the toilet is flushed. It flushes and then does NOTHING for about 1.5 minutes when it starts making strange noises and eventually refills.

I shot a video of the event today and posted it to YouTube. Caution: it will be among the most boring things you ever watch but all the same I appreciate any advice you can offer! I assume the valve is getting stuck on something and eventually coming free. Is there a way to take the device apart and make it have "less friction"?

I assume it would still be under warranty but for sure I threw out the receipt and box by now.

Noise starts at about 1:30 if you want to fast forward past the nothingness.

 

Sonofawhatthe

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Here are instructions for that valve
www.terrylove.com/korky

It may be that removing the assembly cap and cleaning it is all that is needed.

VERY much appreciate quick response. I took it apart- I found 'gunkus" on the float and cleaned it off (thinking that it was adhering to side of tube) and inspected valve. Didn't see anything to my untrained eye other than the float gunk. Re installed and tested- if anything the delay is longer before filling begins. So- next steps? If I pull the tube out of the valve tube- is there something specifically I'm looking for? Should I pull the red ring out of the valve? To me this seems more float related since when I manually force the float to action it fills fine. It's like the float is not falling when the water drains out of the tank (duh). So why would a float not fall? It's simple gravity, right?

I'll disassemble and try again.
 

WJcandee

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Okay, look, first things first. (Nice video by the way.)

There is a small hole in the bottom of the black box that the float sits in. So water goes into that box to shut the valve off, and drains out when you flush, thus tripping the float and starting the rush of water. Make sure that hole is clear of obstructions and gunk so the water can flow out and the valve can open.

Second, make sure the float is properly attached so the "pusher" part is centered over the top of the black cap. Sometimes, it isn't clicked on there right and so it doesn't move freely.

Third, remove and inspect the cap. Are there deep marks in the red rubber part (i.e. from high water pressure) or does it look like the consistency of a washer. If the former, then replace it. $3 at HD.

Fourth, remove the strainer by pulling straight up on the tube under the cap, and pull the strainer out of the bottom. Rinse. Reassemble.

Also, make sure that the hose from the wall to the toilet is not some dumb Watts floodsafe thingy, which often malfunctions. If it is, replace it. Also make sure your wall valve is all the way open.

You really never have to replace a Korky valve, because the guts are all non-moving parts, except for the float and the replaceable cap, which contains all the parts that will wear out. Usually, cleaning the valve and replacing the cap are the only repairs anyone has to make on them.

It might just as readily be an issue with the connection from the wall to toilet as in the valve itself, if you have a floodsafe hose. We recommend against them.

Let us know how it goes.

And here's a video from Korky showing the maintenance steps:

 
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Jadnashua

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That sort of response is a common one for when the seal has reached the end of its useful life. WHen new, that seal is a nice smooth surface...as it gets older, it gets molded to the top of the mating surface and loses its resiliency. The quality of your water dictates how long that takes. In my case, they last maybe about 4-5 years. Have a nice clean well with untreated water, and it could last longer. Live in an area that heavily chlorinates (or whatever it is they are using these days), and it could fail sooner. Takes all of about 30-seconds once you've done it the first time with no tools required to replace it. HD sells it (Lowes used to, but stopped!?), and available on-line and at any good plumbing supply and many hardware stores...they're cheap (around $3).
 

Sonofawhatthe

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So...I'm wondering what happened.

I'm hugest loser for forgetting to report back. I initially was still stumped and stopped messing with it for awhile. Once I REALLY cleaned out the inside of the float area and made sure that drain hole was actually draining easily it now works fine. The tank has a lot of "floaties" in it from something or another and that was causing some clogging.
 

WJcandee

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Awesome! Thanks for the update! It helps us when giving advice to folks in the future. And it feels good to help.
 

Gary Swart

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There really just 2 things that can/will fail in a Korky. The previously mentioned M528 cap and the flapper. Both are very inexpensive and very easy to replace. Now, I suppose if you have foreign bodies of gunk that get into you water, you may have to clean the fill valve. I have the chain on the flapper pull out of the flapper once, easy fix once I got the new flapper. My M528 failed once, easy fix. I picked up an extra cap and flapper for future use. The M528 caps start to fail when the red rubber inside develops holes. You can tell that is the problem because the toilet will fill, then after a few second you will hear a brief refilling sound, Flapper failure is pretty obvious.

528_cap_in.jpg
 
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