I was having the same problem. I spoke with the manufacturer (Fluidmaster) and they informed me that the white, spiral piece of rubber is used in their more expensive models to make the fill quieter. The water flows in a spiral motion (slowing the flow) through the rubber. There is no problem removing the piece. The basic replacement fill valve #400A does not have the piece installed.
Thanks! Good to know they had some reason, no matter how convoluted...LOL I have the same problem and am very grateful this guy posted this! All the American "expert plumbers" keep insisting there is debris in the fill valve, they don't address the issue of it being a new product.
I had the exact same problem with the same rubber piece, so I was combing through the comments to see if anybody was like "OMG don't remove this piece!", so good to know! Thanks! Now that I look at that piece I can see that that's likely what it was for, but if the rubber bends or kinks the water will slow to a crawl. My toilet us under 10 years old too...
I was waiting for that. Been doing remodels for decades and the first one I found I thought what the heck. Yep determined the swirl was to quiet it down. The first time will defiantly mess with you. LOL Great call Dave and thanks for helping many people out.
Very glad you said that, plus it has been four years and no ones toilet has 'exploded' in the comments so I am much more relaxed about leaving the house now!
Husband complained about toilet not refilling and about how long it would take him to fix it. While he was on an errand, I used your video and now I can surprise him. Thank you. Your video was so easy to follow
You have the best “How To” I’ve seen!! Your video got straight to the point and showed how to fix problem! You didn’t talk for 10 mins before starting and have loud rock music playing during video! More people need to follow your example on how to make a “How To” video. And it fixed the problem!!
An amazing quick fix...with a slight modification.... I removed the white stopper / fill control valve. Flushed: 35 seconds to fill.- but really noisy rush of water flowing through the house (cheap house build), SO, I cut about 1 full circle of rib off of the shaft of the white stopper / fill control valve. Used an exacto knife. I did not shorten the stopper, just trimmed one rib. I think I reached a happy mid point... with a short flush, it fills in about 45 seconds - but is much quieter, with a full 'hold it down until tank empties flush", a little over 1 min. The noise is much reduced vs the full removal of the stopper. Thank you again for your advice on this.
You sir are a genius. I was replacing a flush valve and decided to also replace the fill tube since I was in there. The toliet has always refilled much slower and the manufacturer advertised it as being extremely fast!? I was close to ordering factory parts and ripping that home depot brand unit out until I saw this... Thank you
I was having the same problem from 8 months. During this 8 months I used bucket water instead of flush. I was hesitating to bring a technician for money problem. Really your demo helped me. Now it works well, thank you very much sir...
I saw the white thing plugging the valve and thought, "why did they put this in there, where the hell did this come from?!" I was going to buy a new toilet valve tomorrow but now don't have to. Thanks for answering the question! Thank god for youtube fixit videos! I must say I had a great belly laugh watching this after struggling with a slow filling toilet and plugged valve for years!
Very Helpful! I watched your vid, and then within 30 minutes, I had it fixed (and Im terrible at plumbing). The only difference was that I couldnt get the valve apart because the lock ring seemed stuck and I didnt want to force it and break it... so instead I used a needle-nose pliers to pull out that rubber thing, and then it flushes fast again! Nicely done sir!
Great video. We've recently had the water company doing work around our neighborhood and our toilet started acting up. Eventually it was taking 10 minutes to fill. I tried everything else I could think of (clean under fill valve cap, flush supply line, etc), but I wasn't aware of this rubber piece. Completely removed the fill valve and popped out this piece and found that it was clogged with all sorts of debris. I re-installed the fill valve without the rubber piece, and the water flow was so strong and loud I could hear it downstairs. Decided to just clean the rubber piece of all debris and re-installed. Works great and toilet fills in 1.5 minutes now. Thanks for posting.
I just fixed my toilet thanks to this video! I can't believe it. My toilet recently started taking a very long time to fill and made a loud hissing noise as it tried to refill. I wasn't able to remove the bit of plastic from the fill valve as you did in this video, but I did find a large chunk of debris stuck in it. Removed it with some needle-nose pliers and problem solved! Thank you for this super helpful video!
Your video really worked for me. I watched Nathan Cox who does speak good English but he didn't tell me that all I needed to do was to remove that little piece of rubber like you said to do. His way I would have purchased new fill valves. Your way, I didn't have to buy any parts. I feel like a rock star because I fixed it myself while my husband watched in amazement. So far the toilets (2 of them) are filling faster and NO LEAKS! Yay!!! Thanks so much.
OMG! At first I thought there was no way this woulkd work for me, based on my luck, there is no way there will be some white rubber piece in that tube. I timed the fill on my toilet, 5 minutes and 18 seconds! Are you kidding me! It has been a huge pet pev of mine for the longest time. So, I followed your video and sure enough it was exactly what it was, that stupid little white rubber piece, out with it! I hve you beat now, 18 seconds to fill I cannot believe it! You have probably added no less than 3 plus months to my life that I am not sitting on the toilet waiting for it to refill. THANK YOU!
I have the exact same fill tube as this, and this also solved the problem. In our toilet it had always been slow, since we moved in, like 8 years ago. However this week it basically slowed to a trickle. We thought we’d have to replace the toilet, but I decided not to be lazy and to Google the issue. And the rest is history! Thank you!
OMG, this worked! Thank you so much! I have never fixed a toilet in my life, but my slow toilet was driving me nuts. It's so great that it was a simple problem; plumbing issues are always scary.
Dude, this is SO MONEY!!! I just did this to my sloooowly filling toilet and it's now turbo charged!! Thank you so much. And for once in this modern world, it was FREE!!!
That was the easiest fix of the most annoying problem! I'm sure that crazy thing is a water saver; I don't want to save water in the toilet! Thank you for helping someone who is NOT handy!
this was perfect! I fixed the toilet in 3 minutes. we're having a bunch of people over for new year's Eve tomorrow and a toilet that takes 5 minutes to refill is not exactly ideal when you have multiple people needing to use the bathroom... thanks for posting!!
Hope the party wasn't crappy...LOL Sorry, I couldn't resist! I am super grateful for this guys video! So many "experts" claim it's a clogged fill valve...UGH! They don't address the issue if it's a brand new product.
Great tip! My toilet did not want to fill in a reasonable amount of time, even after I flushed everything. I removed the spiral restrictor as you showed and now it fills to the proper level in 15 seconds after a flush. I used a scribe with a right angle bend at the end of it to grab and pull out the rubber restrictor.
Thank you. Thank you. My toilet was taking forever to fill. I removed that stupid piece of plastic/rubber and it fills super quick now. I don't notice it being any noisier either. I love that your video doesn't include words or music. Again, Thanks!!!
This was amazing. I have lived with the toilet taking forever and then half flushes for 10 years. No one every said anything and I just thought that's just how this particular one worked. A-freakin-mazing! I did not need a dude to come and fix it. I googled why does it take forever for my toilet to fill up and your video came up. It's like a new bathroom! Why the hell is that white thing in there. I don't even understand how it worked at all. Water can not pass through it, I guess that's why the shape is screw like to move through those twists and turns. Whatever the case, I feel so accomplished all because of this freaking awesome video! I know it's just a toilet but damn it feels good to be a gangsta! I want to open my own business now. Ha!
This worked out awesome. I had the same spiral looking piece of rubber in mine. I didn't have a long enough stick handy, so I ended up just using a small pair of needle nose pliers and was able to grab it and rip it out. I went from a fille time of over 5 minutes to a fill time of 47 seconds. Thanks for the video!
I have this problem long time ago, I was googled it and your video showed. I did everything what showed in the video and wallla magic happened. My problem solved and my wife won’t yell in the morning for help anymore.Thank you so much for the video 🙏
I just installed one of those universal flush valves from home depot in my toilet this week and I have the same problem...it takes forever for the tank to re-fill after a flush. Thanks for posting this video. I'm going to take it apart and start over.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I moved into the house 6 months ago and have been suffering with 3 slow fill toilets which had this blockage thanks to Fluidmaster. Fluidmaster needs to pay you as a goodwill gesture for pointing this issue out. I never timed the toilet that took the longest to fill prior to removing Fluidmaster’s piece of Styrofoam, but it now flushes in less than 1 minute. I did time our second slowest refilling toilet prior to removing the Styrofoam. It used to take 8 minutes 36 seconds to refill and it now takes 1 minute 1 second. The last toilet took 2 minutes 25 seconds to refill. It now takes 48 seconds to refill. I will add that house water pressure is 50 psi.
People go to 2:30 to see the fix. This video helped! Fluidmaster's video only shows disassembly at the top of the tube. Then I ran water to clear out the valve. That only worked one flush then it went back to no longer filling. Then I found your video and saw how easy it is to pull out the top tube half. I didn't remove the bottom half from the tank because I didn't want water spilling on the floor. The plastic tube comes apart very easily like you showed and it fixed it. I don't know if I have that rubber piece like you, I couldn't see inside. Thanks!
Ultimately not a plastic issue for me but apparently when the town had flushed their lines some time ago it had pushed a bunch of sediment down the line and there was a tiny tiny pebble that had mostly completely blocked internal line. So I'm glad I found this video because without it I probably wouldn't have checked. 2min fix and I have my toilet back so thank you :)
Thank you for this video. I didn't know what else to do, I took apart my valve and behold, 10 years worth of sediment all clumped at the bottom of the valve. I cleaned it out using a long wire brush and a can of air. Works bootiful!!
such an easy fix for such a dumb problem... just did this today and worked like a charm. Instead of the stick to push the rubber piece out, I used needle nose pliers and pulled it out.
I tried your repair and it worked like a charm! We had the plastic spiral inside our tube as well, I removed it and had instant results. Thanks for the tip!
So engineers just don't think! I would rather deal with a little louder refill for about a minute than to have to wait 4-10 minutes for it to refill "quietly" - Our toilet recently overflowed during the night while we were sleeping because the last person to flush the toilet didn't wait around to make sure it stopped running. Our toilet takes a long time to refill. So we ended up with a partially flooded house (3 rooms and a hallway) by the time we woke the next morning. Forget the LONG quiet refill and give me the SHORT not-so-quiet refill! Great video.
Good morning. Thank you for this video! I was at my parents house and there toilet was taking forever to refill after flushing and i brought over a new fill valve to replace theres-when i removed it-i looked up inside and seen this piece so i removed it-when flushing to refilling now takes about 45 seconds! A little bit louder but they older and it didn’t matter to them-they were happy it worked better! Can’t imagine what someone coming into there house would have charged them for this fix-there are people out there that would take advantage of the older folks I’m thinking!!!! Have a good day
Thank you so much! I just moved into my first house and I was listening to that toilet run and run. II timed it - 7 minutes. After your video, I was inspired. I went in there, took action (thanks to you!) and my toilet fills in about 1 minute! You are awesome!
Just wanna say thank you so much. I fixed my slow filling toilet by seeing this. It’s important to turn off water intake and remove the bottom screw before remove the inside part of the water filler . There’s a lot of sands and small stone and some debris . Removed them and Voila ! Water flow smoothly once again. And thanks for this video
Thank you so much for this! Followed along step by step and I was able to fix our valve so quickly! We had that same stupid piece in our toilet as you had. This gave me a lot of confidence that I can actually fix this kind of stuff myself!
Thank you. This fixed my problem. My kit was less than 4 months old. So it is very disappointing that the inside rubber governor deteriorated in such a short time. Poor material choice by the manufacturer. In my kit, the entire stem was not able to come out loose. It stopped at a certain point. So I was not able to push the rubber piece from the other side. I had to be try to push in thin pliers and get a grip to pull it out. Was fortunately successful after several attempts.
Very slow flow is due to the spiral insert, shown in this video, that clogs over time. But it isn’t necessary to remove it. Instead, I drilled a hole up the center of the insert to allow an additional new channel for the water to flow. I had two Koehler toilets installed 11 years ago. Tank refilling used to take ~1 min but grew to 4-5 min which couldn’t be ignored anymore. As other commenters pointed out, the purpose of that spiral insert is to make it quiet. Instead of a water jet shooting up inside the valve’s main hollow tube, the spiral insert causes the water to quietly spin upwards along the side of the tube. I didn’t want it to be too loud or too fast if I completely removed it. So I drilled a 9/64” hole in one assembly and 5/32” hole in the other one. It’s important to disassemble the tubes as shown in the video so debris from drilling is cleared out on both sides of the hole. When done, the valve assembly that was taking 4:10 to fill and got the larger 5/32” hole now takes 1:05 to fill. The valve assembly that was taking longer at 4:50 to fill but got the smaller 9/64” hole now takes 1:40 to fill. Btw, the insert in the video was plastic but mine were rubber.
This way you don't have to worry about a water hammer eventually damaging your valve or causing the tubing to blow off of the valve, which happens sometimes in the one my Father in law installed, I guess he took the reducer out all the way, lol. It's a fun practical joke when it happens to visitors tho. But I do need to drill a hole in the one in my bedroom which I installed, wondered why the same one I put in as my FiL took so much longer to fill.
Thanks for the video. I thought I was going to have to drill out an orifice or something but your video identified the culprit. I am posting this just to say I used an alternate method to remove the damn plug. I couldn't move the retention ring or bottom tube without thinking I was going to destroy it. I ran a 3" screw into the bottom and engaged the plug and pulled it out with pliers.
I appreciate your video. When my old valve failed last month, I bought a replacement only to feel like I bought the wrong one. With the new valve, my tank took forever to refill - and was too quiet. It would've been a bummer to buy yet another and still have the same annoying problem. Instead I took your advice. Popping out that white rubber baffle allows my tank to refill in half the time. I can also hear it flowing (about like any faucet in the house) and I can hear when it stops. Thanks!!!
Slovak American is a great accent. My best friend's ('76, Buffalo) parents were from Czechoslovakia and spoke Slovak. I loved to listen to them talk. Whenever we'd go to the store to get some milk, his mom would always say something that, to my ear, sound like "Tommynazat!" and "Doz pie dotitzi!". I never knew what she was saying but I loved her anyway.
Never would have figured this out. Exactly my problem and much thanks for showing us the way to increased flow. Why on earth that restriction was thought to be a good idea is beyond me.
Dude, you are pure genius. Thank you so much. Simple and straight forward video made my life easy, save me time and money. No big box store needed. Best hack video in UA-cam hands down. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
HOLY CRAP (pun intended) This has been driving us crazy since I put this "Kit" in a couple of years ago. So glad I found this, I even replaced my shut off valve with no improvement. After removing the superfluous "sound dampening insert". Tank fills quickly with a barely noticeable increase in noise. Thanks
My extremely slow filling toilet has had me concerned since I bought it new 3 years ago. I've tried many times to remedy it. Finally YOU solved it. Thank You!!! Ray from NH ps: the comments also helped...
Thanks very much for shedding light by providing video evidence of the slow filling issue. This was my very cause of slow filling as well. This issue was brought to my attention by my lovely bride. Also known as "She who must be obeyed". The first thought I had was some debris clogging the water inlet at the top of the valve. From past experience with these Fluidmaster valves, I knew to hold the tube with my right hand below the bulb lifting it up and turning the top with my left. Remember people lefty loosey, righty tighty. My inspection didn't see anything, Hmm. Got my stopwatch app and timed 3 of my 4 toilets. Guest bath 1 min 2 seconds. Kids bath, 1 min 7 seconds, Master bath 4 min 5 seconds. My times started when I press the flush lever. The master bath needed further attention. What does most everyone in the world do now? UA-cam. And once again a UA-cam search and I found your video. I took the valve assembly out just like you and I found that white plug. I got it out by using a stout paperclip and bending a little hook on one end. Ave would call this fabricobbleing a tool I believe. It popped out and solved my problem. It went from 4 min 5 seconds to 1 min 18 seconds. I can live with that and I predict she will too. BTW, no change really with the noise of it after removing the so-called (quiet plug). Thanks again for your video. My hat is off to you my foreign friend.
Oh my gosh! Bless you for an easy to understand video! I’m confident I’ll be able to repair my toilet myself now. I was afraid to touch it fearing I’d make matters worse.
Thanks for the simple and well done video. My toilet was taking over a half hour to refill. I found that the spiral plug with age had expanded at the open end which severely restricted water flow. All they would had to do is make this spiral plug out of hard plastic and there would have been no issues. I used an L shaped tipped pick to pull it out.
The rubber screen insert is used to block deposits from water supply also a sort of sound damper. Same as the shower head and kitchen/bathroom faucets. I took my shower insert out and OMG its goooood!!
Great video! Right to the point... No long, drawn out intro... Also I was able to pull out the spiral, rubber piece with needle nose plyers... and I saved twenty dollars. Thank You!
This is a great instructional video. Saved me $50 with a plumber. I took out the plastic garbage and it works great. I am happy it wasn't my water pressure. Go easy on the crap plastic screws... it's easy to strip the plastic trying to get down in there. I was lucky but worried it wouldn't rethread. Damn plastic BS on everything - glad I didn't have to buy a new one.
Man thank so much for this video....My toilet was trippen this morning but it was acting up for some time but this morning the tank was filling up very slow so I came on UA-cam and your video came up and I had that white thing in there as well. Popped it out and my tank fill up as warp speed now. I actually had to dial down the main water valve because the water was coming in way too fast LOL. Thanks man!
Thank you so much ! I got mine to fill in 30 seconds after I removed that cork screw rubber thing - What A PITA it used to take 10 minutes to fill - - now it literally filled in 30 seconds --- I don't have to wait all day to flush and wipe for 45 minutes Good lord! Thank you! relived in more ways than one
Great Video!!!!!!! Followed your instructions and pulled rubber "Governor" out with needle nose pliers. Fill time went from 5 minutes to 35 seconds. Even turn back the pressure a little on the cut-off valve to cut down on noise. Thanks for the video.
This was an excellent video. You helped me fix my water flow problem. Thanks for posting your video. My wife will be thrilled, and you made me look good. Thanks again!
Thank you for the video. I removed the valve, mine did not have that rubber stopper in it. So i soaked the valve in vinegar and that removed all of the calcium build up in the little holes. It now sounds like a jet engine taking off. Thanks again.
Hi skamravec, It happened to my toilet too , exactly the same model with the one in this video. After removed that white piece of rubber, it fills water up so quick, from ~5 mins to ~50 seconds ! Thank you very much.
I just about died laughing when i saw the timer on your phone!! I did the exact same thing to prove I wasn't going crazy only my toilet took 28 and a half minutes to fill!
Thank you sir!! Just like everyone here, mine was more on the 8 minute mark. Did your steps exactly and removed that rubber useless piece and viola, get full tank in 18 seconds.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Stupid FluidMaster product sucks!!! I just replaced mine, and, same problem, it takes forever to fill the tank!! I tried a zillion different sites, and all the "experts" insist you have dirt stuck in the valve and need to replace the rubber gasket, or, you need to replace the water line from the wall into the tank. Well, that's fine if the thing ISN'T BRAND NEW!!! I've read several poor suckers like us begging for help and keep trying to explain to these knuckleheads it's a new flush valve. So, thanks for the easy fix, what a crappy design! No pun intended!! Now, I have to drain the water and take this piece of junk apart again...UGH!
Thanks for this video. It took me about 15 minutes to do this and that made all of the difference in the world. I ended up using an old wire hanger to push the plastic piece out. I agree with your question, why is that there in the first place? It's not a water saver because the tank has to fill anyway whether it be slow or fast.
Thank you very much. I watched your video and picked up a few cheap parts from Home Depot. The job took me longer than what you show in your video :) - But I did it myself and saved a couple hundred by not having to hire someone.
Plumbing... one of the greatest mysteries of the modern world. Thanks for helping me to help myself. Now, if I can get the darn tub stopper to actually stop the water from draining before it's time! (ALMOST have it working, too)
Skamravec, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I've delt with this for 5 years, it drove use nuts! Every Sunday all our relatives come over for Sunday dinner. That toilet spent 6 hours filling! I shut water off and used a small Pick with a hook on it, pulled it right out. Thanks again!
Thanks worked perfectly. At first I thought I got a defective fill valve as it would take what seemed like forever about 5 minutes to fill the tank. Now like you said said it fills the tank in under a minute.
Thank you for posting your video. I had the exact same problem with the exact same plumbing setup. I followed your directions and easily fixed the problem. Now the toilet works fine. You saved me lots of time and money! Much appreciated.
Worked for me! Thanks so much! You skipped a step where you pulled back the ring that secures the valve depth (the one you point out putting back @6:48). Mine was super-hard to slip over, so I worried I was going to break it. Great helpful video.
🏆🏆🏆Great video!!!! Easy!!! My 4 year old KOHLER had the same issue but it was taking 15 minutes…rubber stopper was trashed. No need for it anyway!!! Now tons of water pressure and 30 seconds you can RE FLUSH 🏆🏆🏆🏆 thanks!!!!!
Just did this and it worked great 👍 had a hard time finding something thin and long enough. Eventually found a wire hanger , bent it straight and used it . Worked perfect . Anyone have issues with with it being too powerful? I now see water squirting out of places it probably shouldn't lol. Pressure cracks maybe , gonna keep an eye on it . Overall amazing fix !
Thanks for the video. My toilet had the same issue except that the flow restrictor was partially plugged. Went from 20 minutes to fill to about 20 seconds.
dude, freaking THANK YOU! i can finally flush twice whenever i take a dump! i mean, NOT waiting thirty minutes between flushes! such a novel idea right!? wasn't able to get the thing securing the big pipe to the toilet at 3:00 off, but i was still able to push the rubber thing out with a stick, thank god. man i even bought a bunch of pipe cleaners to try and get out clogs, but none of the pipes were clogged except by this rubber BS :/
Great video. Mine was taking 3 to 4 minutes to fill also. I have the same Fluidmaster setup but I had a different issue. Before removing anything, I smacked the big round float part down a few times that raises with the water level and felt some resistance. It didn't want to rise back to the top of the water. I kept pushing it up and down manually and a piece of something fell out and floated to the top and the resistance stopped. It looked like a piece of a O ring or some thin piece of black rubber. Not sure how much I need that part but everything works good now. It refills in 25 seconds.
1 minute to fill?! That's still slow! My other toilet which was only $85, takes just 10 seconds! It's so strong it shook! I almost got worried it was so strong. I thought it was too strong but I guess you can never have a "too strong toilet". The stronger the better.
I was having the same problem. I spoke with the manufacturer (Fluidmaster) and they informed me that the white, spiral piece of rubber is used in their more expensive models to make the fill quieter. The water flows in a spiral motion (slowing the flow) through the rubber. There is no problem removing the piece. The basic replacement fill valve #400A does not have the piece installed.
Thanks! Good to know they had some reason, no matter how convoluted...LOL I have the same problem and am very grateful this guy posted this! All the American "expert plumbers" keep insisting there is debris in the fill valve, they don't address the issue of it being a new product.
Jim & Jan
I do notice it is quite.
Takes 5 mts to fill😕😕
I had the exact same problem with the same rubber piece, so I was combing through the comments to see if anybody was like "OMG don't remove this piece!", so good to know! Thanks!
Now that I look at that piece I can see that that's likely what it was for, but if the rubber bends or kinks the water will slow to a crawl. My toilet us under 10 years old too...
I was waiting for that. Been doing remodels for decades and the first one I found I thought what the heck. Yep determined the swirl was to quiet it down. The first time will defiantly mess with you. LOL Great call Dave and thanks for helping many people out.
Very glad you said that, plus it has been four years and no ones toilet has 'exploded' in the comments so I am much more relaxed about leaving the house now!
Husband complained about toilet not refilling and about how long it would take him to fix it. While he was on an errand, I used your video and now I can surprise him. Thank you. Your video was so easy to follow
You have the best “How To” I’ve seen!! Your video got straight to the point and showed how to fix problem! You didn’t talk for 10 mins before starting and have loud rock music playing during video! More people need to follow your example on how to make a “How To” video. And it fixed the problem!!
Derrick Williams almost like ASMR.
Like the plumbing version of Peaceful Cuisine.
An amazing quick fix...with a slight modification.... I removed the white stopper / fill control valve. Flushed: 35 seconds to fill.- but really noisy rush of water flowing through the house (cheap house build), SO, I cut about 1 full circle of rib off of the shaft of the white stopper / fill control valve. Used an exacto knife. I did not shorten the stopper, just trimmed one rib.
I think I reached a happy mid point... with a short flush, it fills in about 45 seconds - but is much quieter, with a full 'hold it down until tank empties flush", a little over 1 min.
The noise is much reduced vs the full removal of the stopper.
Thank you again for your advice on this.
This modification is great if a louder fill might wake your housemates in the middle of the night.
You sir are a genius. I was replacing a flush valve and decided to also replace the fill tube since I was in there. The toliet has always refilled much slower and the manufacturer advertised it as being extremely fast!? I was close to ordering factory parts and ripping that home depot brand unit out until I saw this... Thank you
I was having the same problem from 8 months. During this 8 months I used bucket water instead of flush. I was hesitating to bring a technician for money problem. Really your demo helped me. Now it works well, thank you very much sir...
This is THE greatest fix-it video on all of UA-cam!!! No words or music to confuse this OldLadyInIowa! Thanks!
Thanks, :) I'm glad this video was helpful , perhaps it was too long but it did it's purpose. LOL
I agree.
Absolutely
I saw the white thing plugging the valve and thought, "why did they put this in there, where the hell did this come from?!" I was going to buy a new toilet valve tomorrow but now don't have to. Thanks for answering the question! Thank god for youtube fixit videos! I must say I had a great belly laugh watching this after struggling with a slow filling toilet and plugged valve for years!
Very Helpful! I watched your vid, and then within 30 minutes, I had it fixed (and Im terrible at plumbing). The only difference was that I couldnt get the valve apart because the lock ring seemed stuck and I didnt want to force it and break it... so instead I used a needle-nose pliers to pull out that rubber thing, and then it flushes fast again! Nicely done sir!
Great video. We've recently had the water company doing work around our neighborhood and our toilet started acting up. Eventually it was taking 10 minutes to fill. I tried everything else I could think of (clean under fill valve cap, flush supply line, etc), but I wasn't aware of this rubber piece. Completely removed the fill valve and popped out this piece and found that it was clogged with all sorts of debris. I re-installed the fill valve without the rubber piece, and the water flow was so strong and loud I could hear it downstairs. Decided to just clean the rubber piece of all debris and re-installed. Works great and toilet fills in 1.5 minutes now. Thanks for posting.
I just fixed my toilet thanks to this video! I can't believe it. My toilet recently started taking a very long time to fill and made a loud hissing noise as it tried to refill. I wasn't able to remove the bit of plastic from the fill valve as you did in this video, but I did find a large chunk of debris stuck in it. Removed it with some needle-nose pliers and problem solved! Thank you for this super helpful video!
Your video really worked for me. I watched Nathan Cox who does speak good English but he didn't tell me that all I needed to do was to remove that little piece of rubber like you said to do. His way I would have purchased new fill valves. Your way, I didn't have to buy any parts. I feel like a rock star because I fixed it myself while my husband watched in amazement. So far the toilets (2 of them) are filling faster and NO LEAKS! Yay!!! Thanks so much.
OMG! At first I thought there was no way this woulkd work for me, based on my luck, there is no way there will be some white rubber piece in that tube. I timed the fill on my toilet, 5 minutes and 18 seconds! Are you kidding me! It has been a huge pet pev of mine for the longest time. So, I followed your video and sure enough it was exactly what it was, that stupid little white rubber piece, out with it! I hve you beat now, 18 seconds to fill I cannot believe it! You have probably added no less than 3 plus months to my life that I am not sitting on the toilet waiting for it to refill. THANK YOU!
I have the exact same fill tube as this, and this also solved the problem. In our toilet it had always been slow, since we moved in, like 8 years ago. However this week it basically slowed to a trickle. We thought we’d have to replace the toilet, but I decided not to be lazy and to Google the issue. And the rest is history! Thank you!
OMG, this worked! Thank you so much! I have never fixed a toilet in my life, but my slow toilet was driving me nuts. It's so great that it was a simple problem; plumbing issues are always scary.
Dude, this is SO MONEY!!! I just did this to my sloooowly filling toilet and it's now turbo charged!! Thank you so much. And for once in this modern world, it was FREE!!!
That was the easiest fix of the most annoying problem! I'm sure that crazy thing is a water saver; I don't want to save water in the toilet! Thank you for helping someone who is NOT handy!
this was perfect! I fixed the toilet in 3 minutes. we're having a bunch of people over for new year's Eve tomorrow and a toilet that takes 5 minutes to refill is not exactly ideal when you have multiple people needing to use the bathroom... thanks for posting!!
Hope the party wasn't crappy...LOL Sorry, I couldn't resist! I am super grateful for this guys video! So many "experts" claim it's a clogged fill valve...UGH! They don't address the issue if it's a brand new product.
Great tip! My toilet did not want to fill in a reasonable amount of time, even after I flushed everything. I removed the spiral restrictor as you showed and now it fills to the proper level in 15 seconds after a flush. I used a scribe with a right angle bend at the end of it to grab and pull out the rubber restrictor.
Thank you. Thank you. My toilet was taking forever to fill. I removed that stupid piece of plastic/rubber and it fills super quick now. I don't notice it being any noisier either. I love that your video doesn't include words or music. Again, Thanks!!!
This was amazing. I have lived with the toilet taking forever and then half flushes for 10 years. No one every said anything and I just thought that's just how this particular one worked. A-freakin-mazing! I did not need a dude to come and fix it. I googled why does it take forever for my toilet to fill up and your video came up. It's like a new bathroom! Why the hell is that white thing in there. I don't even understand how it worked at all. Water can not pass through it, I guess that's why the shape is screw like to move through those twists and turns. Whatever the case, I feel so accomplished all because of this freaking awesome video! I know it's just a toilet but damn it feels good to be a gangsta! I want to open my own business now. Ha!
Yess I like that in a women, but if your man is trying, please give him some encouragement, please, u go girl
This worked out awesome. I had the same spiral looking piece of rubber in mine. I didn't have a long enough stick handy, so I ended up just using a small pair of needle nose pliers and was able to grab it and rip it out.
I went from a fille time of over 5 minutes to a fill time of 47 seconds. Thanks for the video!
I have this problem long time ago, I was googled it and your video showed. I did everything what showed in the video and wallla magic happened. My problem solved and my wife won’t yell in the morning for help anymore.Thank you so much for the video
🙏
I just installed one of those universal flush valves from home depot in my toilet this week and I have the same problem...it takes forever for the tank to re-fill after a flush. Thanks for posting this video. I'm going to take it apart and start over.
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. I moved into the house 6 months ago and have been suffering with 3 slow fill toilets which had this blockage thanks to Fluidmaster. Fluidmaster needs to pay you as a goodwill gesture for pointing this issue out. I never timed the toilet that took the longest to fill prior to removing Fluidmaster’s piece of Styrofoam, but it now flushes in less than 1 minute. I did time our second slowest refilling toilet prior to removing the Styrofoam. It used to take 8 minutes 36 seconds to refill and it now takes 1 minute 1 second. The last toilet took 2 minutes 25 seconds to refill. It now takes 48 seconds to refill. I will add that house water pressure is 50 psi.
People go to 2:30 to see the fix. This video helped! Fluidmaster's video only shows disassembly at the top of the tube. Then I ran water to clear out the valve. That only worked one flush then it went back to no longer filling. Then I found your video and saw how easy it is to pull out the top tube half. I didn't remove the bottom half from the tank because I didn't want water spilling on the floor. The plastic tube comes apart very easily like you showed and it fixed it. I don't know if I have that rubber piece like you, I couldn't see inside. Thanks!
Ultimately not a plastic issue for me but apparently when the town had flushed their lines some time ago it had pushed a bunch of sediment down the line and there was a tiny tiny pebble that had mostly completely blocked internal line. So I'm glad I found this video because without it I probably wouldn't have checked. 2min fix and I have my toilet back so thank you :)
Thank you for this video. I didn't know what else to do, I took apart my valve and behold, 10 years worth of sediment all clumped at the bottom of the valve. I cleaned it out using a long wire brush and a can of air. Works bootiful!!
such an easy fix for such a dumb problem... just did this today and worked like a charm. Instead of the stick to push the rubber piece out, I used needle nose pliers and pulled it out.
I tried your repair and it worked like a charm! We had the plastic spiral inside our tube as well, I removed it and had instant results. Thanks for the tip!
So engineers just don't think! I would rather deal with a little louder refill for about a minute than to have to wait 4-10 minutes for it to refill "quietly" - Our toilet recently overflowed during the night while we were sleeping because the last person to flush the toilet didn't wait around to make sure it stopped running. Our toilet takes a long time to refill. So we ended up with a partially flooded house (3 rooms and a hallway) by the time we woke the next morning. Forget the LONG quiet refill and give me the SHORT not-so-quiet refill! Great video.
Good morning. Thank you for this video! I was at my parents house and there toilet was taking forever to refill after flushing and i brought over a new fill valve to replace theres-when i removed it-i looked up inside and seen this piece so i removed it-when flushing to refilling now takes about 45 seconds! A little bit louder but they older and it didn’t matter to them-they were happy it worked better! Can’t imagine what someone coming into there house would have charged them for this fix-there are people out there that would take advantage of the older folks I’m thinking!!!! Have a good day
Thank you
Thank you so much! I just moved into my first house and I was listening to that toilet run and run. II timed it - 7 minutes. After your video, I was inspired. I went in there, took action (thanks to you!) and my toilet fills in about 1 minute! You are awesome!
Just wanna say thank you so much. I fixed my slow filling toilet by seeing this.
It’s important to turn off water intake and remove the bottom screw before remove the inside part of the water filler . There’s a lot of sands and small stone and some debris . Removed them and Voila ! Water flow smoothly once again. And thanks for this video
Thank you so much for this! Followed along step by step and I was able to fix our valve so quickly! We had that same stupid piece in our toilet as you had. This gave me a lot of confidence that I can actually fix this kind of stuff myself!
I like this guy!! He saved me at least$100,I was about to call a plumber..ty,ty,ty,Pal
Thanks so much for this guide. Can't wait to get home from work to fix my toilet. Mine is about 30-45 mins to refill.
Best video to date! Quick and easy. Went from 5 minutes to fill to about 40 seconds. Thanks!
Thank you. This fixed my problem. My kit was less than 4 months old. So it is very disappointing that the inside rubber governor deteriorated in such a short time. Poor material choice by the manufacturer. In my kit, the entire stem was not able to come out loose. It stopped at a certain point. So I was not able to push the rubber piece from the other side. I had to be try to push in thin pliers and get a grip to pull it out. Was fortunately successful after several attempts.
You may think your English isn't great, but you communicate very well! This video was incredibly helpful. Thank you so much for uploading it.
Very slow flow is due to the spiral insert, shown in this video, that clogs over time. But it isn’t necessary to remove it. Instead, I drilled a hole up the center of the insert to allow an additional new channel for the water to flow.
I had two Koehler toilets installed 11 years ago. Tank refilling used to take ~1 min but grew to 4-5 min which couldn’t be ignored anymore. As other commenters pointed out, the purpose of that spiral insert is to make it quiet. Instead of a water jet shooting up inside the valve’s main hollow tube, the spiral insert causes the water to quietly spin upwards along the side of the tube. I didn’t want it to be too loud or too fast if I completely removed it. So I drilled a 9/64” hole in one assembly and 5/32” hole in the other one. It’s important to disassemble the tubes as shown in the video so debris from drilling is cleared out on both sides of the hole.
When done, the valve assembly that was taking 4:10 to fill and got the larger 5/32” hole now takes 1:05 to fill. The valve assembly that was taking longer at 4:50 to fill but got the smaller 9/64” hole now takes 1:40 to fill. Btw, the insert in the video was plastic but mine were rubber.
This way you don't have to worry about a water hammer eventually damaging your valve or causing the tubing to blow off of the valve, which happens sometimes in the one my Father in law installed, I guess he took the reducer out all the way, lol. It's a fun practical joke when it happens to visitors tho. But I do need to drill a hole in the one in my bedroom which I installed, wondered why the same one I put in as my FiL took so much longer to fill.
Thanks for the video. I thought I was going to have to drill out an orifice or something but your video identified the culprit. I am posting this just to say I used an alternate method to remove the damn plug. I couldn't move the retention ring or bottom tube without thinking I was going to destroy it. I ran a 3" screw into the bottom and engaged the plug and pulled it out with pliers.
Thank you! Brand new toilet we just installed last night and it took 5 min to fill. Husband is removing the rubber piece right now. 👍
I appreciate your video. When my old valve failed last month, I bought a replacement only to feel like I bought the wrong one. With the new valve, my tank took forever to refill - and was too quiet. It would've been a bummer to buy yet another and still have the same annoying problem. Instead I took your advice. Popping out that white rubber baffle allows my tank to refill in half the time. I can also hear it flowing (about like any faucet in the house) and I can hear when it stops. Thanks!!!
I am a foreigner with heavy accent, that's why I don't talk. I'm just helping Americans to help themselves, lol
skamravec I'm English
Slovak
skamravec most Americans love accents lol
Slovak American is a great accent. My best friend's ('76, Buffalo) parents were from Czechoslovakia and spoke Slovak. I loved to listen to them talk. Whenever we'd go to the store to get some milk, his mom would always say something that, to my ear, sound like "Tommynazat!" and "Doz pie dotitzi!". I never knew what she was saying but I loved her anyway.
the inner tube won't slide out with that back and forth twisting motion .any advice?
Never would have figured this out. Exactly my problem and much thanks for showing us the way to increased flow. Why on earth that restriction was thought to be a good idea is beyond me.
Dude, you are pure genius. Thank you so much. Simple and straight forward video made my life easy, save me time and money. No big box store needed. Best hack video in UA-cam hands down. 👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏👏
HOLY CRAP (pun intended) This has been driving us crazy since I put this "Kit" in a couple of years ago. So glad I found this, I even replaced my shut off valve with no improvement. After removing the superfluous "sound dampening insert". Tank fills quickly with a barely noticeable increase in noise. Thanks
My extremely slow filling toilet has had me concerned since I bought it new 3 years ago. I've tried many times to remedy it. Finally YOU solved it. Thank You!!! Ray from NH ps: the comments also helped...
Thanks very much for shedding light by providing video evidence of the slow filling issue. This was my very cause of slow filling as well. This issue was brought to my attention by my lovely bride. Also known as "She who must be obeyed". The first thought I had was some debris clogging the water inlet at the top of the valve. From past experience with these Fluidmaster valves, I knew to hold the tube with my right hand below the bulb lifting it up and turning the top with my left. Remember people lefty loosey, righty tighty. My inspection didn't see anything, Hmm. Got my stopwatch app and timed 3 of my 4 toilets. Guest bath 1 min 2 seconds. Kids bath, 1 min 7 seconds, Master bath 4 min 5 seconds. My times started when I press the flush lever. The master bath needed further attention. What does most everyone in the world do now? UA-cam. And once again a UA-cam search and I found your video. I took the valve assembly out just like you and I found that white plug. I got it out by using a stout paperclip and bending a little hook on one end. Ave would call this fabricobbleing a tool I believe. It popped out and solved my problem. It went from 4 min 5 seconds to 1 min 18 seconds. I can live with that and I predict she will too. BTW, no change really with the noise of it after removing the so-called (quiet plug). Thanks again for your video. My hat is off to you my foreign friend.
Wow, I was expecting the water to blow the top off that thing when you hooked it back up, but no, it ran wonderfully! Thank you!!!!!
I just did this modification to my cadet 3 and now it refills fast and flushes more strongly. You sir are a genius! 👍
Only 4 minutes? Mine suddenly started taking half an hour
Oh my gosh! Bless you for an easy to understand video! I’m confident I’ll be able to repair my toilet myself now. I was afraid to touch it fearing I’d make matters worse.
Thanks for the simple and well done video. My toilet was taking over a half hour to refill. I found that the spiral plug with age had expanded at the open end which severely restricted water flow. All they would had to do is make this spiral plug out of hard plastic and there would have been no issues. I used an L shaped tipped pick to pull it out.
I couldn’t stop laughing at 6:05 😂😂😂 “oh, I know. So that the next person has to wait for 5mins before taking poop.”
The rubber screen insert is used to block deposits from water supply also a sort of sound damper. Same as the shower head and kitchen/bathroom faucets. I took my shower insert out and OMG its goooood!!
Great video! Right to the point... No long, drawn out intro... Also I was able to pull out the spiral, rubber piece with needle nose plyers... and I saved twenty dollars. Thank You!
Dude, you helped almost 10 thousand people, not just Americans.
This is a great instructional video. Saved me $50 with a plumber. I took out the plastic garbage and it works great. I am happy it wasn't my water pressure. Go easy on the crap plastic screws... it's easy to strip the plastic trying to get down in there. I was lucky but worried it wouldn't rethread. Damn plastic BS on everything - glad I didn't have to buy a new one.
$50 would've covered the plumber answering the phone. To actually turn up and fix would be another $250😂
Let's see if you're still around to see a comment 5 years after your post...
Man thank so much for this video....My toilet was trippen this morning but it was acting up for some time but this morning the tank was filling up very slow so I came on UA-cam and your video came up and I had that white thing in there as well. Popped it out and my tank fill up as warp speed now. I actually had to dial down the main water valve because the water was coming in way too fast LOL. Thanks man!
Thank you so much ! I got mine to fill in 30 seconds after I removed that cork screw rubber thing - What A PITA it used to take 10 minutes to fill - - now it literally filled in 30 seconds --- I don't have to wait all day to flush and wipe for 45 minutes Good lord! Thank you! relived in more ways than one
Great Video!!!!!!! Followed your instructions and pulled rubber "Governor" out with needle nose pliers. Fill time went from 5 minutes to 35 seconds. Even turn back the pressure a little on the cut-off valve to cut down on noise. Thanks for the video.
This was an excellent video. You helped me fix my water flow problem. Thanks for posting your video. My wife will be thrilled, and you made me look good. Thanks again!
I'm a Licensed Plumber in NY State. I now live in Canada- up here they think I have a funny accent. Great job man; fixed my problem in 30 seconds.
Thank you for the video. I removed the valve, mine did not have that rubber stopper in it. So i soaked the valve in vinegar and that removed all of the calcium build up in the little holes. It now sounds like a jet engine taking off. Thanks again.
Hi skamravec,
It happened to my toilet too , exactly the same model with the one in this video.
After removed that white piece of rubber, it fills water up so quick, from ~5 mins to ~50 seconds !
Thank you very much.
my toilet was taking 10-15 min to fill and this video helped so much now that i took out that white rubber thing the tank fills in 1 min… 😊😊
Many thanks. I did your fix and worked perfectly. That spiral piece of rubber was the culprit
As far as I'm concerned this is the nest video I have ever seen on UA-cam
Your video is why my toilet is now working correctly. Thank you Sir!
Thanks bud, went from 5 mins per flush to 30 seconds. 10/10
I just about died laughing when i saw the timer on your phone!! I did the exact same thing to prove I wasn't going crazy only my toilet took 28 and a half minutes to fill!
Damnnn. For real.
Thank you sir!! Just like everyone here, mine was more on the 8 minute mark. Did your steps exactly and removed that rubber useless piece and viola, get full tank in 18 seconds.
THANK YOU! THANK YOU THANK YOU!!! Stupid FluidMaster product sucks!!! I just replaced mine, and, same problem, it takes forever to fill the tank!! I tried a zillion different sites, and all the "experts" insist you have dirt stuck in the valve and need to replace the rubber gasket, or, you need to replace the water line from the wall into the tank. Well, that's fine if the thing ISN'T BRAND NEW!!! I've read several poor suckers like us begging for help and keep trying to explain to these knuckleheads it's a new flush valve. So, thanks for the easy fix, what a crappy design! No pun intended!! Now, I have to drain the water and take this piece of junk apart again...UGH!
Thank you! Just saved me a plumbing bill for a simple fix!!! God bless you!
Thanks for this video. It took me about 15 minutes to do this and that made all of the difference in the world. I ended up using an old wire hanger to push the plastic piece out. I agree with your question, why is that there in the first place? It's not a water saver because the tank has to fill anyway whether it be slow or fast.
Raymond Arcadu it was there to quiet the noise down. Big deal about noise. Who gives a fuck. Id rather a fast fill
I was using 4 gallons per flush because of this. Thanks for the info! It's working the way it should now.
Years after this video was posted, its still usefull, i was able to 'fix' my toilet because of this video. Thank you!!
Thank you very much. I watched your video and picked up a few cheap parts from Home Depot. The job took me longer than what you show in your video :) - But I did it myself and saved a couple hundred by not having to hire someone.
Thanks for the video ---- it fixed the problem. I was unable to push the rubber roll out, so I drilled it out. Toilet works fine now.
Three years later this is still very helpful. Many thanks!!
Thank you. Great video and worked perfectly. Fills in 30-40 seconds now. Total design flaw!
Plumbing... one of the greatest mysteries of the modern world. Thanks for helping me to help myself. Now, if I can get the darn tub stopper to actually stop the water from draining before it's time! (ALMOST have it working, too)
Skamravec, THANK YOU SO MUCH! I've delt with this for 5 years, it drove use nuts! Every Sunday all our relatives come over for Sunday dinner. That toilet spent 6 hours filling! I shut water off and used a small Pick with a hook on it, pulled it right out. Thanks again!
Thanks worked perfectly. At first I thought I got a defective fill valve as it would take what seemed like forever about 5 minutes to fill the tank. Now like you said said it fills the tank in under a minute.
Thank you for posting your video. I had the exact same problem with the exact same plumbing setup. I followed your directions and easily fixed the problem. Now the toilet works fine. You saved me lots of time and money! Much appreciated.
Worked for me! Thanks so much! You skipped a step where you pulled back the ring that secures the valve depth (the one you point out putting back @6:48). Mine was super-hard to slip over, so I worried I was going to break it.
Great helpful video.
🏆🏆🏆Great video!!!! Easy!!! My 4 year old KOHLER had the same issue but it was taking 15 minutes…rubber stopper was trashed. No need for it anyway!!! Now tons of water pressure and 30 seconds you can RE FLUSH 🏆🏆🏆🏆 thanks!!!!!
I only saw a little bit of buildup but following your instructions fixed it nonetheless!!! Thank you sooo much!!! 🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️🙇🏾♂️
That white screw is a water restrictor for areas that have high water pressure, it can be removed if your home has a pressure regulator.
What is a pressure regulator and how would one know the home has one or not?
Just did this and it worked great 👍 had a hard time finding something thin and long enough. Eventually found a wire hanger , bent it straight and used it . Worked perfect . Anyone have issues with with it being too powerful? I now see water squirting out of places it probably shouldn't lol. Pressure cracks maybe , gonna keep an eye on it . Overall amazing fix !
Awesome! I took that POS rubber out too and it fills fast as hell now. No more slow filling toilet there! Thanks!
Thank you I took that stupid part out and now have major water pressure better than new 😊
Thanks for the video. My toilet had the same issue except that the flow restrictor was partially plugged. Went from 20 minutes to fill to about 20 seconds.
dude, freaking THANK YOU! i can finally flush twice whenever i take a dump! i mean, NOT waiting thirty minutes between flushes! such a novel idea right!?
wasn't able to get the thing securing the big pipe to the toilet at 3:00 off, but i was still able to push the rubber thing out with a stick, thank god.
man i even bought a bunch of pipe cleaners to try and get out clogs, but none of the pipes were clogged except by this rubber BS :/
LOL, it's the simple pleasures, right?! LOL LOL
Great video. Mine was taking 3 to 4 minutes to fill also. I have the same Fluidmaster setup but I had a different issue. Before removing anything, I smacked the big round float part down a few times that raises with the water level and felt some resistance. It didn't want to rise back to the top of the water. I kept pushing it up and down manually and a piece of something fell out and floated to the top and the resistance stopped. It looked like a piece of a O ring or some thin piece of black rubber. Not sure how much I need that part but everything works good now. It refills in 25 seconds.
1 minute to fill?! That's still slow! My other toilet which was only $85, takes just 10 seconds! It's so strong it shook! I almost got worried it was so strong. I thought it was too strong but I guess you can never have a "too strong toilet". The stronger the better.
thanks! my refill time went from 20 minutes to under 1min. worked exactly as showed
Thank you! My toilet was taking over 4 min. to fill.Took the rubber piece out and now 45 sec. Thanks for the fix.