Plumbing Question

[Lance Norris]

Can I replace the shaft seal in this type valve? Its right above my planer and it drips out of the shaft. If a seal is a buck. and all I have to do is open the valve and slide a new seal on, Id be stupid not to.

http://i204.photobucket.com/albums/bb97/weblance/woodshop119.jpg

[John Cooper2]

Just unsweat the valve and replace it. $10.00 and it will be fixed. Looks like you have a union real close so that makes it even easier.

Propane or Mapp torch
Solder
New Valve
Little flux and some sandpaper is all you need

[Jason Beam]

I believe you can, Lance.

If I were doin' it, I'd wait for a nice stretch where nobody'd be in the house. Turn off the water, pull open the valve and take the whole mess with me to the hardware store. Hold it up to the resident plumbing expert and say "Fix! Leaks!" :P

[Al Willits]

If your gonna solder it, make sure you pull the guts out and wrap the body with a wet rag, depending on what its all made of you could heat the valve enough to damage parts of it.
Go to a ball style valve maybe also.

Al

[Prashun Patel]

If you've sweated copper before, I'd unsweat the valve and replace the whole thing.
Use a 1/4 turn ball valve. Keep it in the open posn when soldering and use a wet rag around the valve. You gotta drain ALL the water out else it won't work.

If sweating makes you sweat, then yes, you probably can replace the gasket or packing in the existing valve.

[David G Baker]

Lance,
I would give replacing the packing a try. If that doesn't work then replace the valve. I don't use valves that are soldered, I sweat threaded fittings on to the pipe and use screw thread type ball valves. I also use nothing but ball valves and have been doing so for around 15 years and haven't had one fail or leak on me yet.

[Chris Holder]

I'm with the others. Just unsweat the valve and replace it. Make sure you shut the water off first:)

[Lee Schierer]

Many times you can just tighten the packing nut. If the packing nut is already completely tight, back it all the way off and get some valve stem packing from the local hardware center. Wrap a few turns around the stem and then tighten the nut.
http://www.aathread.com/products/ValvePacking/images/ValveStemPacking.jpg

[Kyle Kraft]

Lance,

If you decide to sweat in a new valve, as others have said, make sure there is absolutely no water near the soldering zone.

But your pipes have a slow drip even after draining for several hours.

Get some fresh, white bread. Not stale hot dog buns. Not freezer burned wheat bread. Not some leftover grands biscuits. Fresh, white bread. Go to the store and buy a nice, fresh loaf if you have to. Tear the crusts off of a couple of slices (kids love to do this). Roll the remaining crustless bread into some firm dough balls...kids also like to do this. Make the dough balls nice and hard and about the size of the inside diameter of the pipe. Shove the dough balls into both pipes about 4" away from the solder zone. In your case, you probably wouldn't have trouble draining the short pipe with the union, so no bread is needed there.

Make sure all your prep work is done, pipes polished and fluxed, valve polished and fluxed, solder ready, torch ready, damp rag for wiping the joint ready.

Assemble the fittings and solder away!!!

Tighten up your unions or whatever and turn the water back on.

The dough balls will dissolve and pass through the pipes. The only problem you may encounter is a plugged aerator on a faucet, so simply remove it before turning the faucet on. The dough balls will shoot out of there like one of Grandpa's snot rockets.

This method will work on pipes of any diameter within reason, easily up to 6".

[Cliff Rohrabacher]

Replace with a Ball valve.

Those old school rising stem valves are horrid, they leak (as you've seen there), the restrict water flow something fierce, and I'd not wish one on my worst enemy.

Well maybe my worst enemy.

[Ken Garlock]

If the valve works, don't "fix it".

If I read you post correctly, you are having some leaking around the valve stem, and not at the valve seat.

IF it is the valve stem, it is a very simple fix. Close the Valve. Remove the handle on the top of the valve stem. loosen and remove the nut on the stem. DO NOT allow the valve stem to turn. NO, this will not cause water to shoot across the room. What you have done is to remove a packing gland that is meant to be serviced. Any good hardware store will have valve packing material, usually in the form of a teflon string. Clean the valve stem and the inside of the packing nut. Wrap the packing around the valve stem as explained on the packing material container. Replace the nut and snug down, but remember this is NOT an engine head bolt. IF there is still a leak, tighten a little more. Tighten as required to stop the leak. If it still leaks and you can't tighten it any further, you need to put more packing around the valve stem and re-tighten.

While you are repairing the valve stem packing, take a wire brush and clean the corrosion away. Put a light coating of oil on the valve to inhibit the corrosion in the future. IF you get the valve stem packing is working, you will not have a corrosion problem, anyway.

[David G Baker]

Kyle,
I was in the plumbing area of Menard's not long ago and they have an item that replaces the old bread in the copper pipe trick. It comes in two sizes, one for 1/2" and one for 3/4" pipe. It looks like a gel filled pill that is a little bit larger than the inside diameter of the pipe and is flexible enough to force into the pipe and block the water drip. When the line is pressurized the pill dissolves like the piece of bread and leaves the line via an opened faucet.

[Lance Norris]

Kyle... interesting trick, thanks.

Ken, thats the info I was looking for. I figured they were fixable, but just wanted some reassurance before the water starts to fly. Thanks.

[Kyle Kraft]

Hey Dave,

I saw those things at Menards also. They remind me of those pus filled "Golden Nugget" things that are in a box of Mrs. Grass chicken noodle soup mix.

I'm just too cheap to buy them.

[JohnT Fitzgerald]

Use a 1/4 turn ball valve. Keep it in the open posn when soldering and use a wet rag around the valve.

excellent advice all around. Ball valves seem to me to avoid this 'leaky valve' problem more than this standard valve. and wrapping a wet cloth around the valve helps prevent any "thermal problems" (read: melting) with any internal parts.