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In this video we have a WaterRidge Toilet that won’t flush. After investigating a little I can tell it’s not filling up.

I start troubleshooting by eliminating some obvious issues. Sometimes the flush valve itself or the buttons on these water-saving toilets get stuck.

I however, am facing a different problem. This issue slowly developed and worsened over time. I have verified the supply valve is fully open and as you can see here the tank isn’t filling. I manually cycle the float to see if it’s sticking but that isn’t the problem either.

The next suspect is the fill valve diaphragm located inside this fill valve stack assembly. Most of these fill valves will come apart with a 90° turn. MAKE SURE YOU TURN THE WATER OFF FIRST, OTHERWISE YOU’LL HAVE A GEISER OF WATER SHOOTING UP OUT OF THE VAVLE!

There was no evidence of a clog here and I even cracked the supply valve slightly to flush any trash out.

I then moved to the supply line and valve. I disconnect the line from the toilet, point it into a pail and crack the valve open. – no restrictions here either.

Last suspect is the fill valve assembly itself. I flush all of the water that I can out of the tank and use a sponge to sop up the remaining water. I then remove the fill valve assembly for inspection.

The nut on the bottom of this fill valve is extremely difficult to get to. Even with specialty tools I had a hard time. I wound up hold the nut underneath and turning the valve from inside the tank. This isn’t ideal but it was the only way to break the nut loose.

After getting the valve assembly out I noticed a screen filter in the bottom. I pull this out revealing a giant buildup of rust, sediments, and sand that were nearly blocking the screen completely. I rinse the majority of the contaminates out and then blow it clean with compressed air.

One of the seals on the screen seemed too damaged to go back in correctly so I left it out. I can’t tell that it really does a whole lot anyway. After re-assembling the unit I had a premonition – I should have left this screen out completely.

Worst case scenario is that you have to take the top half of the fill valve assembly apart and clear it. That’s a hell of a lot easier than having to drain the tank, reach up behind the toilet in the impossible position, disconnect the supply line, then remove the screen or the entire fill valve just to get to the screen, clean it, and put it all back together. I wonder if it would cause any damage without this screen in place. My guess is no, it would be fine without it. Maybe the debris would pass right through.

Anyway, I hope this helps you if you’re struggling with a WaterRidge toilet that won’t fill or flush. Thanks for watching and I’ll see you in the next video.