Buying a Toto Drake CST744SL; Best Replacement Fill Valve?

[Reach4]

That was the very first thing I did, before even replacing the cap. It's stained darkly but I scrubbed it with soap & water and it was clean.

How about holding a glass over the plastic to catch water, and turning on the stop valve that feeds the toilet. Water should come in vigorously.

 

[Melissa2007B]

I just opened it up again and tested everything on the way back to putting it together again. When I reinstalled the float and made sure it was moving loosely, I turned the water back on, and there was almost no flow into the tank, or out the refill tube pipe. So I tapped slightly on the float and the flow became huge, then slowed down again when I stopped. Wonder what's going on?

 

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[Jadnashua]

You may not have the float properly seated and it is binding. It should move up and down freely before you turn the water on, and the water level is below it.

 

[Melissa2007B]

Ok, I was wondering about this. There's been this red residue in the top of the tube piece, since I had to peel the old gasket out of there. It had become melded with that piece. So I don't know how to remove this stuff, without hurting the plastic. Obviously not with a wire brush or Xacto knife. Tried a stiff tooth brush and dish brush, but no.

So I just used a finger nail and scraped the red stuff off the very top edge, then put it back and tested it before closing it up. I got full fast flow again. Whew. Any idea why that red gasket residue needs to be removed, and a good way to do it without hurting the plastic? I HOPE not by doing a long hard fingernail scrape job.

 

[Melissa2007B]

You may not have the float properly seated and it is binding. It should move up and down freely before you turn the water on, and the water level is below it.

I did that, but see above.

 

[Jadnashua]

I'd just replace that cap if it doesn't wash off easily...not worth the effort (to me at least) to deal with it. At least I think that's the cap which is available for about $3. Are you on city water? Mine has never gotten that crudy before it leaked and/or cracked from age and pressure.

 

[WJcandee]

I'd just replace that cap if it doesn't wash off easily...not worth the effort (to me at least) to deal with it. At least I think that's the cap which is available for about $3. Are you on city water? Mine has never gotten that crudy before it leaked and/or cracked from age and pressure.

This has been a lengthy thread, and so you probably missed the giant picture and reference to the fact that she found an R528 cap at the HD that previously said they didn't carry it, and thereafter replaced it. (Oy. That's what I always say, "Never ever believe the people in the orange aprons.") Her old cap was pretty-well-used, as one can see in the photo, and some of the rubber seems to have come off on the top of the interior tube. That apparently was interfering with the flow (something I have never seen before), so she scraped it off and now is fine. Another good learning experience for us on the forum.

 

[Melissa2007B]

This has been a lengthy thread, and so you probably missed the giant picture and reference to the fact that she found an R528 cap at the HD that previously said they didn't carry it, and thereafter replaced it. (Oy. That's what I always say, "Never ever believe the people in the orange aprons.") Her old cap was pretty-well-used, as one can see in the photo, and some of the rubber seems to have come off on the top of the interior tube. That apparently was interfering with the flow (something I have never seen before), so she scraped it off and now is fine. Another good learning experience for us on the forum.

Thank you.

For some reason, the old gasket had stuck to that tube top piece and I had to rip it out to replace the cap.

So is there even a good way of getting the rest of that gasket residue out of the tube top piece?

 

[Reach4]

So is there even a good way of getting the rest of that gasket residue out of the tube top piece?

If it happened again, I think you would buy a new flush valve, and use the parts that you need.

 

[Jadnashua]

Your fingernail is probably softer than the plastic, so you wouldn't hurt it. I've not seen the cap degrade that much before needing replacement. FWIW, one of the first indications (I've seen, anyways), is a delay in the water starting after a flush. This may mean that the seal is starting to stick or is getting stiff...time to think about having a new one ready. How often this occurs depends on your water quality and water pressure (the higher the pressure, the shorter they last).

 

[Melissa2007B]

Thanks all! It's working very nicely now. I'm thankful for having this great forum here, and all you nice people!

 

[Melissa2007B]

Follow up on this.: These things seem to be sensitive to water temperature. When the water was warmer, the toilet refilled pretty fast. But when we have really cold weather ( the high Monday was around 18! ) it refills fast with the warm water under the house, and then as the water runs and brings colder water into the house, it REALLY slows down. Has anyone observed that?

We're in the Denver area and our water comes from mountain snow melt and reservoirs here on the east slope front range.

 

[Jadnashua]

That's an interesting observation, and no, not something I've experienced. My incoming cold water varies literally from slightly over freezing to maybe close to 65-70 degrees depending on the season and the last few days temperatures. FWIW, I have two Toto toilets with their Korky fill valve in them. I've only needed to replace the cap when they started to leak, not for other reasons. Mine seem to last 4-5 years, but my Mother's only last her maybe 3 years or so...different areas, different water quality.

 

[Melissa2007B]

I'm baffled, then, because sometimes it fills up very quickly and other times very slowly. It's the original valve, and per this thread, I just changed that cap last fall. I've also noticed that sometimes the tank fills slower than the bowl, too. So the bowl looks ready to flush, but if I do, not much water comes in from the tank to complete the flush, potentially causing problems. This is all since I changed that cap.

 

[Melissa2007B]

Did someone mention a way of adjusting how fast the bowl fills? The valve in the PEX line is already fully opened - I checked, but this thing takes something like 90 seconds to 5 minutes, and seems to depend on the incoming water temp.

 

[Reach4]

Clean the strainer if you did not do that recently.

If that doesn't do it, try holding a drinking glass over the valve with the strainer out, and turn the water back on. There should be big flow. I don't know if the glass should catch a stream of water, but I suspect it should.

 

[Melissa2007B]

There is a SERIOUS correlation between outside temperature here in Denver, and how fast this thing fills up! Last time I complained about it, the high that day was 18 and it was taking maybe 3 minutes to fill the bowl. For the last 2 days, we've had 55-60 degree temps and the bowl just filled in 22 seconds. It HAS to be the warmer water temps, caused by the outdoor temps. I just don't know how to fix it on the cold end.

 

[Melissa2007B]

I did some more looking at this. The float pad that pushes down to shut off the water, is worn looking. The float is moving freely, but if I flip it up and down with the water turned on, it goes anywhere between low flow and totally great flow. So I guess I should stop messing with this and just get the whole assembly and change it, already. It was fascinating and interesting, changing the cap, but I'm tired of messing with it all, and want the toilet working well all the time. And I think the whole assembly is under $20 anyway, so...

So what's the best replacement I can get for the CST 744?

 

[Melissa2007B]

I picked up that platinum Korky during the week and did it today. Took about a half hour. Nice to have a fine working toilet again.

Funny how things work though. It says to put a pot under the connector, when you remove the old flush valve. But a pot won't fit the space. So I used a 20 oz plastic mug. Worked ok. Just spilled over a little.

 

[Melissa2007B]

I replaced this valve post in my toilet, and it's seeping a little water down onto the floor and into the crawl space now. I couldn't tighten the connector tight enough at the time ( it's plastic and didn't want to break it ) and thought I had it, but it's seeping again.

Does this connector need teflon tape on it? Is that what I should have done?