Customer Reviews

Fluidmaster 555C Flusher Fixer Kit

5 star:		(8)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(6)

 

 

Fluidmaster makes some of the best valves for toilets on the market. In fact, Fluidmaster redefined the toilet tank water valve, did away with the old ball floats and gave us positive water shutoff, all in one compact upright unit that will work without failure till the cows come home.

Some major toilet manufacturers have adopted Fluidmaster valves for their toilets. They must feel that they can't beat Fluidmaster at the valve game, and so joined them.

This repair kit has some outstanding features. It will fit ANY toilet tank. It has a little bowl attached to the flapper. Full of water the bowl acts as a counterbalance and holds the flapper open to allow a longer flush. You can even adjust the little drain holes in the bowl to affect how long the flapper stays open. A very functional and worthy feature, one that illustrates the inventiveness up there at Fluidmaster.

Why, then, did this formidable hands-down expert on the insides of toilet tanks add two parts to this assembly that would guarantee the flapper would fail repeatedly and often? The parts are so incidental that they could not affect the cost of manufacture at all. They are:

1. The plastic chain that connects the flapper to the flush lever has coarse, open links, and it FLOATS. So when the toilet is flushed and begins to refill, the slack in the chain, busily floating around on the rising water, often snags on things it encounters. It will even occasionally throw a loop in itself. These events shorten the effective length of the chain and hold the flapper open.

2. The large clip that attaches the chain to the flush lever is much too large for the purpose. It is long enough to get flipped over during a flush and hang the flapper in the open position. Another defect in the clip is an end bent out to allow easy fastening of the chain. That bent-out end often snags a link in the floating chain.

There are many ways for this item to malfunciton, so it happens often -- once in 20 flushes at least! When it does, you have a wide-open water valve. Once I left a toilet in this state undiscovered overnight and my water bill jumped $40 that month. In all, I'd guess my excessive water costs laid to this product's malfunctions have been over $200, easy.

So, if you take my advice and avoid the Fluidmaster kit, what do you do? If your toilet is so outdated that you can't find for it a flapper assembly made by Chicago or someone else, it deserves to be retired. So do what I finally did and get a new toilet.

The new 1.5 gals-per-flush toilets can be bought starting at little over $100 (less than I've spent on water down the drain), and a new toilet will make you smile every time you walk into the bathroom. You don't notice how weary-looking something has become until it's replaced with a shiny new one. You'll no longer have to work in this thing (and malfunctions have a way of happening when you have company).

Most any do-it-yourselfer can install a toilet -- a water line connection, two hold-down bolts (replace with brass) and a wax ring. After installation, adjust the filler valve until it fills almost to the overfill tube, thereby allowing it to use another quart or two of water. These new designs throw the water into a positive swirl to flush much much more efficiently than the old kind, and do so with much less water. Another advantage to using less water is that they refill in no time.

It is a kind of product designed for particular situation, and for other situations, it probably has to be thrown to trash can if it cannot be refunded.

First, this is not just snap-in type of flapper, but it uses sticky water sealant ring to stick into, so if you don't do it properly, it is a design that could allow leakage.

Let's say you can do that properly. The flapper has to be installed so that it moves different angle than original way as it has its own hinge mechanism. So you need to find space in you toilet water tank that would allow the movement in a direction it is not designed for.

On top of that, it has a bulky timing cup attached on top of the moving flapper, so your toilet water tank has to have even more room, and because of this cup, you cannot just use flapper without the hinge the usual way.

In my regular size toilet, I realize that there is just no room with floater in the tank after I opened the package to try out. I am not sure if I can even refund it after I applied the sticky sealant ring and it would not come off easily. If you are worried about the space, do not buy it.

I tried to replace the old one because the old flapper tries to save water and prematurely shut off water, asking for 2nd flush consuming more water. Does toilet flapper have to be imported from Germany or some foreign country too? Can't they make a really functional one here? I would pay double the price if it really works.

I ordered this product and it arrived with missing pieces and (mispacked, I think?) with the incorrect pieces. I was unable to assemble it and, upon calling the manufacturer, I was either a) on hold or b) hung up on. It was almost like they had no one manning their phones (I called during business hours.) I would not recommend ordering this product and I would think twice before ordering from this vendor.

This product may not be for everyone, but it sure helped us out of a big problem! We still have the original 1937 stool in the bath, and love it. But over time the brass drain seat gets pitted and leaks like a sieve. Those are some expensive water bills. The tank is very difficult to change the drain seat on because of it's old fashioned two peice style where the tank hangs on the wall. So its difficult to get the drain pipe from the tank to the back of the stool exact so it won't leak there also.

This drain seat kit is a life saver. It's been over a year now since we installed the seat and its still not leaking a drop. We were concerned we'd need another replacement seat someday, and would not be able to find these kits any longer, so we bought a couple extra.

This may not be the answer for everyone, but when it works, IT WORKS!
We only actually needed the round seat part of the kit to have a smooth seat, and are still using the standard ball for the flapper.

A few days after applying the ring we still had the water leak a little, and noticed bubbles around the ring, where it meets the drain seat. We knew we must not have gotten the ring attached well enough.
We removed the ring, did the following and reattached it. We haven't a water leak for over a year now.
We learned you really need to --
1. Have the old seat DRY.
2. Be SURE you have the sealant rind CENTERED.
3. What they don't tell you is that it works much better if you let the tank get room temperature before you add the sealant ring, preferably over night. Then the ring will stick on much better.
As an extra precaution we waited an hour before filling the tank with cold water.
That did the trick for us.

Yes, I didn't read all the terrible reviews, but rather went and picked this thing up at the local hardware store since NOTHING else I'd tried was silencing the "phantom flush" problem with our old toilet (circa 1941). Anyway, it installed super-quick and I was braced for the worst, but so far it has worked perfectly. Never come loose, never gotten stuck open. Just works.

FYI, it was installed on a brass drain valve and purchased in 2009, so maybe it was somehow improved...

This product provided the fix I needed which was a situation where the flapper valve and brass seat was leaking. Installation was very easy.

I have used this kit on several toilet repairs over the last 10 years. I kept getting it because I found it has the best design for adjusting the length of flush over any other design I have tried. However, after reading Doug's review, I realized that all these years I have been struggling with the plastic chain problem and large hook problem exactly as he has described them. If you don't want to risk running your well dry I suggest you avoid this kit until Fluidmaster replaces the plastic chain with a metal one.

I didn't have quite the same problem as other reviewers...
The 555C comes with a "no wait drain seat sealant", which is basically a pliable rubber (like hard chewing gum). The sealant might work well on brass drain seats, but I could not get the rubber to create a tight seal around my pvc drain seat (even after several tries). My toilet actually leaked worse after installing this 555C.

If you are just repairing a slow leak around the flapper, skip this product, and try this: Get a new Fluidmaster flapper and add some weight inside the flapper hole (pennies, a rock, whatever) or use a water-safe glue to attach weight on the exterior of the flapper... I'm sure that would not be a recommended solution from a plumber, but it worked for me, anyway!

Unit arrived with PVC joint unglued -- burst apart the first time I put water pressure to it. Also, the little jet head that was supposed to swivel was simply crimped into the aluminum tube and frozen tight.

The seller was most accomodating and sent me another unit. This time the swivel head swiveled, but the PVC joint was STILL not glued together. I glued it myself with PVC cement, but haven't tried it out yet. It may yet do what I need, but way too much hassle.

With rental properties, huge remodels and a number of personal homes, I have had to replace dozens of flappers. Unfortunately it took me a bit to find the Fluidmaster 555. But now I am convinced this is the best flapper for all kinds of toilets. I have used it in one piece, two piece, old and new toilets. I recently had a Kohler one-piece 70's style toilet (Rialto, I think) that specifically said this kind of flapper would NOT work. I special ordered the Kohler part and it was WORSE. I finally went out to the store and bought the Fluidmaster 555c. Despite the tight space, it worked great. Installs in minutes and ALWAYS works.