Equilibrium valves for toilet cisterns - reliablity?

[nmg196]

Hi all,
I've noticed that it's getting harder to find normal ball valves for toilet cisterns in DIY shops etc.. Everyone seems to be moving towards "equilibrium valves" which just have a small blue 'pot' rather than a proper ball float.

Does anyone have any experience of the reliability of this type of valve? The only thing I've used which was similar was a Fluidmaster 400 Quiet Fill valve, which just used to overflow all the time due to a tiny grain of sand or something in the water (they have no filter). I ripped it out and put a normal ball valve in instead after it overflowed a 5th time in a month (I have a lot of sand/grit in my water - despite an amazingly cleaning looking loft tank). I like the quiet nature of them (as it's for an ensuite) but am worried that it will be just as unreliable as a Fluidmaster.

Thanks
Nick

 

[kevplumb]

nothing wrong with them

they have been in use for years

if you have grit in the incoming main fit a strainer

otherwise it won't make any difference what you use

 

[doitall]

Torbeck valves are as good as any until they start whinning in 10 years time.

You can still buy brass ballvalves

 

[nmg196]

Yeah but my brand new brass ball valve takes about 10 minute to stop dripping. It's really irritating! The cheap fix is to direct the water output into a sloping tube to catch and silence the drips, but hardly a nice solution. Some valves have a sleeve the water runs down to keep it quiet, but I'm unable to find a normal ball valve which has this - only the equilibrium types I have little experience of.

 

[doitall]

That's because of water regs and backflow prevention. If you want a quite life get the Torbec.