TIL I was installing commercial urinal flush valves backwards for 3 years

I've been doing commercial plumbing for about 8 years now, mostly schools and office buildings. Last month I was swapping out a Sloan Royal flush valve at a high school in Tulsa and the maintenance guy walks over and goes, 'you know the diaphragm goes in the other way, right?' I laughed it off at first, but after he showed me the manual I felt like a total idiot. Turns out I had been flipping the diaphragm upside down on every single job since I started. The valves worked fine most of the time, but I did get a few callbacks for weak flushes I never could figure out. Anybody else have one of those 'wait, I've been doing it wrong this whole time' moments?

2 comments

2 Comments

abbyk101mo ago

Oh man, I totally used to think those diaphragms only went one way too. But after reading this I'm gonna check every single one from now on, thanks for the heads up lol.

iris3941mo ago

abbyk10 right?? i did the exact same thing on a job last week and felt so dumb after i realized i was looking at it wrong. it's one of those things where once you know you just always double check from now on. glad the post helped cause i woulda never thought to check either.