I work in apartment maintenance and have discovered a shortcut, but I want to make sure its not going to cause problems in the future. When replacing a fluidmaster fill valve, is it OK to remove it at the height adjustment ring, rather than removing the whole thing? It's not so much to be lazy, a lot of our shut offs don't hold all the way even after tightening the packing nut there is still a trickle, but this way any water would stay in the tank.

To remove the top part of the valve you still have to turn the water off, but if you turn the water off it would be OK for you to do it the way you said.

Hey Jimmy fixitall...

YUP! I do this all the time at apartment buildings.. works like a charm! There are no working parts on the stub left. Just be sure to hear/feel the CLICK of the snap ring and you should be all set!1

MARK

Thanks guys! I didn't think it would be a problem, but I'm glad to hear it from some experts. I've been replacing these things for 10 years now, I wish I would have thought of this sooner! - Jimmy

For what it is worth...

Fluidmaster changed the size of the stubbed pipe so you may not be able to swap the newer ones out with older models...

But as we all know, you can swap out new with newer types... at least until they change the size of the stubbed piece again! ;)

I swear :rolleyes:

Great info here. Ive been changing top part only for quite some time(untill they changed pipe size, argh!! Why change a good thing.

Have any of you guys seen the original Fluidmaster ballcock, it is the 400 model. It was somewhat like the 400-A except all of the top was stainless steel and the diaphram was different, I installed a lot of these back in the late 60's and through the 70's a lot of them were still working until it became so hard to get the diaphrams.

Nope, haven't run across that monster yet. Course I was just a baby when you were installing them. Lol.