Fill Valve Toto Ultramax Suggetions

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Cleaned out once and worked better going to try again on one of my two toilets that are about 12 yrs old

Blue top Toto Power Gravity fill valve 1.6 gal/flush toilet, the replacement top at HD wasn't the right version. If a 2nd time isn't a charm what is the best valve to replace with?

Possibly related I have rust in the tank and we are on city water and the flapper in the most used toilet appears to be dissolving around the edges. They did replace a valve last year near our house and a few years before that we had a water main break. Should I clean the tanks and assume that could have caused the extra iron or is it common for city water to be high in iron?

I don't have any filters on our water... Should I look into adding something on the main water supply entering the house?

Thanks again!

PS: Bought these toilets when we purchased this house and other then this once issue have been great... Ended up getting my folks some as well when they wanted to know why we didn't need a plunger at our house but did at their house.

 

[Jadnashua]

A picture of your fill valve would help. Toto sources more than one company for its fill valves. Many use one made for them by Korky, but that's a US company, and some of their toilets are sourced from other countries, depending on supply and demand, so they use a different valve. If you want to replace the whole valve, Toto's typical universal replacement is made by Korky, and it has an adjustable refill ratio to get the tank/bowl fill balanced. If the bowl doesn't get enough water, the toilet won't flush right. IF it gets too much, it gets wasted as it just flows down the drain and you use more to fill the tank up. Ideally, the tank and bowl finish refilling at exactly the same time, and that takes some adjustment on the refill hose. Normally, you'd not service the valve unless it didn't shut off. On the one made by Korky, there's a replaceable seal cap. The others, you can try cleaning them, but if that doesn't work, you have to replace the whole thing.

Flapper valves do wear out. It depends on your water quality. 12-years is over twice as long as mine last here. Probably time to replace it.

The tank attachment bolts should be brass, so iron is probably not from them. Yes, some places have iron in the water. It's not a carcinogen, but it is an aesthetic problem as you can start to get iron stains in sinks and other places the water is used. It might be harder to get your whites white in the washing machine, too.

 

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Well 2nd time cleaning didn't help. 528MP a good valve for replacement? Saw a 528PRO and another version as well... Wondered what the difference was and better yet what the group things a good replacement is for the Toto Ultramax G Flush 1.6 toilets is. Need the flapper too. Saw a universal 3" that noted Toto Ultramax by Korky as well.

 

[WJcandee]

Okay, so here's the deal.

On the fill valve, the easiest thing to do is replace it with the Korky MaxPerformance 528MP. This is the one with the silver top. You can adjust it to the proper refill percentage for your power gravity toilet by turning a little knob on it, and it comes with a little device to set it for the factory setting. This is also your least-expensive option because the 528MP is the most widely distributed of these Korky valves.

The 528PRO is basically the same setup, adjustable the same, has basically the same guts. It may be a little more robust or have a little more QC applied, but it uses the exact same moving parts (e.g. the R528 replaceable cap/seal) as the 528MP. It's positioned for use by Pros, and says PRO on it, and the black cap looks cooler. But seriously, those are the differences -- market segmentation to allow professionals not to have to explain why they're charging $20 for a valve one can get at the hardware store for $12. (Yes, Sir, it does look like the one with the silver cap, but this one is the PRO version!) AS does it as well with certain of its toilets, so pros don't have to explain why the price they're charging for a Cadet 3 isn't the price that Home Depot charges. (Yes, Ma'am, but this is the PRO version of that toilet.) Market segmentation. That said, when I help friends fix their toilets, I show up with the PRO version. Solely for ego/appearance purposes.

There is also a 528T that's available in some places with a blue cap, which doesn't have an adjustable refill percentage. That one is fixed at the proper percentage for the Original Drake. Probably would work on your original Ultramax, but the fact is that it's way more expensive than the 528MP because it isn't widely distributed, and it's no better, so you may as well get the 528MP.

The red-cap 528, and the white-cap 528, are the wrong ones for your toilet. You won't get the proper operation (in part because the refill percentage is wrong, so your bowl won't be properly-refilled). Avoid them.

On the flapper, if you indeed have the older Power Gravity flush rather than the later GMax flush on your Ultramax, then you need the blue flapper. If it's the GMax, then you can use the Korky 2021BP flapper, which is set for a tank with a higher level of water in the tank. Power Gravity used a little less water in the tank, so uses a different flapper, the blue 2022BP flapper. There have been later, "universal" flappers that will fit as well, and even some made of different material, but if you have gotten several years out of your flappers with no problems, then I would just use these. They are easy to install and they work. They're what I use on my toilets that take them. (When you search for these, just use Korky 2022, for example, because some vendors like Home Depot use a different suffix with the number for exactly the same product, for no good reason. BP in the model number on Korky flappers just refers to the packaging, "blister pack" in this case, but the flapper inside is the 2021 or 2022 or whatever.)