there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.

anyhoo, the letter said they are sending two 400a valve kits
as thanks for the feedback. just fyi, --Loren

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:39:59 GMT, Loren Coe
wrote:

there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.

anyhoo, the letter said they are sending two 400a valve kits
as thanks for the feedback. just fyi, --Loren

I thought the box says you're supposed to get 2 million flushes?
That's gotta work out to over 500 years, give or take :^).

John

Please note that my return address is wrong due to the amount of junk email I get.
So please respond to this message through the newsgroup.

In article , John Flanagan says...

I thought the box says you're supposed to get 2 million flushes?
That's gotta work out to over 500 years, give or take :^).

This is a strong function of some scaling number.
You need to take divide the number of females
in the house by the number of males, and then multiply
that by the BMC [1] to scale properly.

Jim

[1] bran muffin coefficient

==================================================
please reply to:
JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com
==================================================

Loren Coe wrote:

there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.



This is the unit with the coaxial float, and a twist-extendable main
"stem"? Not with the arm with float on the end? I have converted
pretty much all the toilets, including at relative's houses, to these,
and they seem to last a long time. I'm just starting to see the wearout
of the first ones I put in about 12-14 years ago. This is in the
St. Louis, Missouri area,
much of our water is well, but some is river water. We have pretty
hard water, and get lots of calcium-like deposits on everything. The
toilet tanks look like they have 1/4" of dissolved chalk in them, and
the water heaters fill up with stones and weigh 400+ pounds when
you haul them out (that's AFTER draining all the water out).

Some other toilet tank valves, sink faucets, etc. have either failed, or
needed internal cleaning due to all this calcium, but the fluidmaster
seems to handle what our local water utilities throw at it with no
trouble at all.

So, that's my experience with 3 water utilities in this region.

Jon

In article , Roy wrote:
On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:39:59 GMT, Loren Coe
wrote:

x-there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
x-their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
x-them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
x-life.
x-
x-today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
x-i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
x-they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
x-chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
x-i am getting 18mos or less.
x-
x-this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
x-this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
[....]

I get about 2 or 3 years out of them myself. The biggest problem maker
for me is the flapper valves, no matter what brand I buy only lasts 6
to 9 months MAX. The thing just starts to curl up on the edges and
leaks. I now keep 2 or 3 of them in the shop as spares.

i have been here for 13yrs and never have had to replace the flapper,
well, maybe once, and have tossed a couple. out in NM the flapper
lasted okay but if you didn't stay right on top of it, the seat
pitted and then you had a retrofit job. i had guessed at one time,
1/2 of the rental houses in Alamogordo had the "spontaneous fill"
syndrome. grin --Loren

Roy wrote:


I get about 2 or 3 years out of them myself. The biggest problem maker
for me is the flapper valves, no matter what brand I buy only lasts 6
to 9 months MAX. The thing just starts to curl up on the edges and
leaks. I now keep 2 or 3 of them in the shop as spares.


I wasn't sure whether he was talking about the fill valve or the
flapper. The flappers also last a long time, 12 years at least. I have
replaced only one that I put in here in our new (to us) house, and it
had been in there a long time. So, it must be something in the water.
There is a state (MO) law that all utility water must be neutralized
so it is not acid, to prevent leaching of lead from pipes.

Jon

On Thu, 04 Sep 2003 12:27:35 -0500, Jon Elson
wrote:



Roy wrote:


I get about 2 or 3 years out of them myself. The biggest problem maker
for me is the flapper valves, no matter what brand I buy only lasts 6
to 9 months MAX. The thing just starts to curl up on the edges and
leaks. I now keep 2 or 3 of them in the shop as spares.


I wasn't sure whether he was talking about the fill valve or the
flapper. The flappers also last a long time, 12 years at least. I have
replaced only one that I put in here in our new (to us) house, and it
had been in there a long time. So, it must be something in the water.

It's always the fault of something in the water :^).

There is a state (MO) law that all utility water must be neutralized
so it is not acid, to prevent leaching of lead from pipes.

Jon



Please note that my return address is wrong due to the amount of junk email I get.
So please respond to this message through the newsgroup.

I have a toilet I moved to FluidMaster in 1998 or 99 with no problems.
Our municipal water (Southwest Michigan) is chlorinated heavily due to
old pipes and trying to keep Zebra mussels off the filtration plant's
intake pipes. So far, so good with the Fluidmaster.

Maybe the unit(s) you bought were a defective lot. I guess time will
tell with the new ones you get.

--G--

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:39:59 GMT, Loren Coe
wrote:

there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.

anyhoo, the letter said they are sending two 400a valve kits
as thanks for the feedback. just fyi, --Loren

In article , Jon Elson wrote:


Loren Coe wrote:

there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.



This is the unit with the coaxial float, and a twist-extendable main
"stem"? Not with the arm with float on the end? I have converted

yes, exactly.

pretty much all the toilets, including at relative's houses, to these,
and they seem to last a long time. I'm just starting to see the wearout
of the first ones I put in about 12-14 years ago. This is in the
St. Louis, Missouri area,
much of our water is well, but some is river water. We have pretty
hard water, and get lots of calcium-like deposits on everything. The
toilet tanks look like they have 1/4" of dissolved chalk in them, and
the water heaters fill up with stones and weigh 400+ pounds when
you haul them out (that's AFTER draining all the water out).

Some other toilet tank valves, sink faucets, etc. have either failed, or
needed internal cleaning due to all this calcium, but the fluidmaster
seems to handle what our local water utilities throw at it with no
trouble at all.
So, that's my experience with 3 water utilities in this region. Jon

thanks for the detail, Jon. i have been "rehabing" the valve assy's and
am still on a learning curve. i refuse to buy another, either valve kit
or complete assy. however, if i get the two additional assy's from the
company, i will keep using Fluidmaster (i should have a lifetime supply
of valves ;-).

what gets me is that Peerless is sold here thru Walmart and they carry
a lifetime warranty. of course i have no idea of any "shipping/handling"
charges they may demand, or if Walmart would exchange them.

the problem seems to be "friction" in the valve (a metal pin and butyl
rubber/venturi gizmo) that develops w/use. it's not crud from the water
which is very good here in Plano. magnification indicated that some of
the rubber deposits on the pin. very little however, but cleaning it
and the rubber valve restores operation for some period.

if i can still find "silcone spray", i will try applying it next time.

Regards, --Loren

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:39:59 GMT, Loren Coe
wrote:

there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.

anyhoo, the letter said they are sending two 400a valve kits
as thanks for the feedback. just fyi, --Loren


I once bought a white pilot valve disc that lasted 4 times longer than
the black rubber part. Have never seen them again. This disk is about
1" D with hole for SS pin from float linkage.

In article , R. Duncan wrote:

"pilot valve" is a new term for me, it sure gets a lot of hits on google.

white makes me think of teflon, maybe too expensive? more likely a
cheaper compound replaced it for "economy". --Loren

On Wed, 03 Sep 2003 17:39:59 GMT, Loren Coe
wrote:

there was a thread here a few months ago and folks voiced
their experience/s w/FluidMaster valve kits. some loved
them, some hated them (including me) because of a short
life.

today i got a letter from them, responding to a "survey"
i submitted that included my comments about the short life.
they blame it on "Tejas" water(!), too many chloramines and
chlorine, and say two years is a very good result for Texas.
i am getting 18mos or less.

this is a big state but most municipal water is surface, so
this makes some sense to me, but i almost never smell chlorine
in the water, maybe once or twice in the past 10yrs. i test
water for my aquarium and it never registers chlorine strait
out of the tap.

anyhoo, the letter said they are sending two 400a valve kits
as thanks for the feedback. just fyi, --Loren


I once bought a white pilot valve disc that lasted 4 times longer than
the black rubber part. Have never seen them again. This disk is about
1" D with hole for SS pin from float linkage.