Bowl fills, tank slowly drains into bowl but stops when tank is full

[TubeGuru]

I have a one-piece Kohler installed in 2005. About a year ago my plumber installed a new Fluidmaster fill valve and the correct Kohler flapper (he showed me how the part number is impressed on the inside of the tank wall). It worked perfectly, but a week ago it developed a problem that goes like this:

When you flush, the bowl fills quickly and levels off, and then water continues to drain into the bowl from the hole in the rear of the rim. This disturbs the surface of the water and it looks just like a leaking flapper. But as soon as the tank fills and the float shuts off the water, the water going into the bowl stops instantly. The water ripples into the bowl for 65 seconds, which is how long it takes for the tank to fill.

It does not appear to be the flapper, because I made sure it was centered and free to move, wiped the sealing surfaces, and held it down gently to see if the flow to the bowl stopped. I'm stumped!

Oh, and we do have hard well water which does a number on valves and showerheads.

Thank you for sharing your thoughts and expertise!

Walt

 

[LLigetfa]

Post a picture of the fill valve with the lid off the tank. My guess is that the small fill tube is directing a small stream of water down the overflow which is normal and by design on most fill valves.

 

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[TubeGuru]

Here's the stream while the tank fills. I agree that it is by design, but I don't know that it did this prior to week ago. I never heard it running or saw the water streaming into the bowl like it does now... which is why I posted.

What is the purpose of this stream, and is it adjustable?

Could/should the universal Fluidmaster be replaced by, say, a Kohler part, or something better?

 

[TubeGuru]

I read the "Small Hose in Toilet Tank" thread and now understand what is happening. The fill tube fills the bowl, but there is too much water going through the fill tube into the overflow tube. That's because the blue flow adjuster was not installed on the tube. It will fill the bowl quickly, but continue to dump water into the bowl, which maintains its waterline automatically.

The Kohler valves (presumably made by Fluidmaster) have a set of colored fill tube connectors which are used to adjust the amount of water that goes into the bowl. So I'll either get a Kohler fill valve or look for the blue flow adjuster part.

 

[LLigetfa]

I read the "Small Hose in Toilet Tank" thread and now understand what is happening. The fill tube fills the bowl, but there is too much water going through the fill tube into the overflow tube

That does not explain the change that purportedly only started a week ago unless something caused less water to enter the tank causing it to take longer to fill which in turn caused more water to enter the bowl. Perhaps it was like that since installation and just did not get noticed before. Perhaps there is a recent change in supply volume/pressure that affected the tank fill/bowl fill ratio.

 

[Jeff H Young]

change the small hose to one with an ajustment wheel and slow down the fill through small tube so that bowl fills slower (follow adjustment procedure)

 

[Reach4]

Maybe you had a roller clamp with the original install, and somehow it is now gone? Or you just never noticed the extra fill water before.

215 Water Saving Roller Clamp with Refill Tube

Attach the Fluidmaster Water Saving Refill Tube to your toilet’s fill valve to help control how much water refills the tank.

www.fluidmaster.com

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Fluidmaster-215-Water-Saving-Roller-Clamp-w-Refill-Tube

 

[Jeff H Young]

Maybe you had a roller clamp with the original install, and somehow it is now gone? Or you just never noticed the extra fill water before.

215 Water Saving Roller Clamp with Refill Tube

Attach the Fluidmaster Water Saving Refill Tube to your toilet’s fill valve to help control how much water refills the tank.

www.fluidmaster.com

https://www.supplyhouse.com/Fluidmaster-215-Water-Saving-Roller-Clamp-w-Refill-Tube

Exactly!