My toilet tank fill valve gave up the ghost at 3 AM Tuesday

I woke up to a constant trickling sound coming from the guest bathroom around 3 AM Tuesday. The old Fluidmaster valve finally just quit working and wouldn't shut off, and I ended up having to turn the water off at the wall for the night. Has anyone had luck replacing just the valve core inside these or do you always swap the whole assembly?

3 comments

3 Comments

patricia_lee2mo ago

My buddy had this exact thing happen to him last year and he tried just swapping the little rubber seal inside, thinking he could save a few bucks. Spent like an hour fiddling with it and it still dripped, so he ended up replacing the whole valve anyway lmao. Honestly for the $15 it costs for a new Fluidmaster assembly, it's so not worth the hassle of trying to rebuild it. Just shut the water off, unthread the old one, and throw a new one in there, you'll be done in 20 minutes tops. Plus you know the new one will work right instead of waking you up at 3 AM again lol.

anna_green482mo ago

Oh man, nobody's mentioned checking the water pressure first, that could be what's killing the seals.

adams.taylor2mo ago

And honestly? @anna_green48 might be onto something with the water pressure thing. If your house has high pressure it'll chew through those little rubber seals way faster. But even then, Patricia is right. For what a new Fluidmaster costs you're wasting time trying to rebuild the old one. I tried the seal swap trick once too. Same result. Still leaked. Just get the whole new assembly. The new ones have better seals anyway and they screw right in. You'll be sleeping sound by Wednesday night.