Gate Valves

[RT66DOC]

Is it possible to repair or rebuild gate valves like the one in the pix? I have seven of these 1 1/2" beauties that drip, leak and squeek when turned on and off. I'd rather not have to replace them but will if these are hopeless.



Any info much appreciated, as always.

 

[Stroker Smoker]

Are those for your pool? My dad and I have been through that before. It is worth the money to buy ball valves. The ones we have are 15 years old now with no problems. Dad said that he was lucky to get 7 years from the gate valves.



Phill

 

[RT66DOC]

Are those for your pool? My dad and I have been through that before. It is worth the money to buy ball valves. The ones we have are 15 years old now with no problems. Dad said that he was lucky to get 7 years from the gate valves.



Phill

Good call, Stroker. Yes, they are for the pool. I was thinking about changing them for PVC ball valves but the hook up is a real nightmare and it would be tough to get these out and the new ones back in. I'll try to get a pic of the whole mess to illustrate the genius of the PO who installed it.

 

[RT66DOC]

Here's the big picture. Should I cut it all out and put in PVC ball valves or take my 18" Ridgid pipe wrench and attempt to quench the drips?

 

[RDusch]

As long as the bonet is not craked you can repack the valve steams with a teflon valve packing material, if you can't find any i've used teflon tape in a pinch.



Just peel off a few feet double over 4 or 5 times and twist into rope, then use this to repack stems



Rick D

 

[supeerman4422]

do yourself a favor and put a ball valve in if you can... i hate those gate valves... i just had to replace one today because the stem broke off the gate in the off position



-Tom

 

[Slow Six]

I would cut the old valves out and install plastic ball valves. It looks like they have used PVC pipe. You can get PVC unions to put on the pipe to make installation of the new valves an easy task. This would also make it easy to change valves in the future if necessary. My experience with a gate valve is once they start giving trouble it is time to change them. There is also repair couplings available if you do not want to use a union.

 

[sstefanini]

The installer didn't leave you much room to work with. Spears PVC ball valves come with a "union" adapter on each end, this gives you the option of using a glue joint or a NPT threaded end. You can find them @ a pipe supply house like Fergusons or an industrial supply. You might get lucky and be able to squeeze them in but I doubt the valves have the same takeout.

 

[RT66DOC]

The installer didn't leave you much room to work with. Spears PVC ball valves come with a "union" adapter on each end, this gives you the option of using a glue joint or a NPT threaded end. You can find them @ a pipe supply house like Fergusons or an industrial supply. You might get lucky and be able to squeeze them in but I doubt the valves have the same takeout.

Thanks for the tip. I googled "Spears PVC ball valve" and came up with a site that sells them. They also have another valve - Jandy - that looks like it has a screw-on coupler on one end. Whaddya think?



http://www.h2opoolproducts.com/catalog/product_info.php/products_id/540

 

[sstefanini]

The Jandy valve looks good too as long as it has the option of being able to use a pipe thread on one side. It looks like you can use the male adapter(pipe threads) on one side of the valve and glue a short piece of pipe and a coupling to the other side in order to take up the space the gate was occupying. I wouldn't try to cut off both male adapters as you don't have enough pipe showing to bottom out in the fitting on one side. Another option is to cut carefully to the depth of the socket in the fitting (without cutting the pipe) on quarters and break the male adapters off the pipe (this can be time consuming). Its a PITA but has been done when you have tight quarters and can't break the rest of the assembly apart.

 

[RT66DOC]

Thanks to input from all you Gents, I've been able to search around and discover "Slip Fix Telescoping Repair Couplers. " These should make the job alot less complicated. Thanks again for all input.



http://www.dripworksusa.com/store/pvcrepair.html

 

[donnier]

Looks like Im late in giving an answer but I agree with the majority that you would be happier in the future with ball valves.



I work for a local water company and get asked by customers al the time if the ball valves are a better replacement.