Inline compression shutoff valves


  #1  
Old 11-10-17, 08:31 PM
J
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 164
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
Inline compression shutoff valves

These two valves are not doing their job. Trying to shut off the water to exterior spigots for the winter, I close the shutoffs and open the bleeders to drain the pipes, and they just keep slowly dripping. A tiny bit of water is getting through. If I just slightly open them, I can get it to almost stop, but not completely, so the ball is not fully sealing.

I'm thinking to replace with some Dahl 1/4 turn compression valves. Problem is I don't have a torch to remove these Apollos. I guess I've got two choices - I can buy a torch and learn to desolder, and then either install compression valves or try sweating on sweat valves. Or I can call a plumber and have him put on new sweat or compression valves. I'll have to think about that, but what's the consensus on inline valves? Once these are off, should I replace with sweat fittings or is compression ok here?

Name:  valves.jpg
Views: 135
Size:  32.6 KB
 

Last edited by PJmax; 10-27-19 at 12:49 PM. Reason: resized pictures
  #2  
Old 11-11-17, 08:58 AM
S
Member
Join Date: May 2006
Location: upstate New York
Posts: 373
Received 3 Upvotes on 3 Posts
How much straight pipe do you have above those valves? How about leaving the existing valves and installing your compression valves above them? Steve
 
  #3  
Old 11-11-17, 09:01 AM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,928
Received 3,947 Upvotes on 3,540 Posts
It's pretty rare for a ball valve to not shut off and you have two of them.
 
  #4  
Old 11-11-17, 09:33 AM
Handyone's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: U.S.
Posts: 4,807
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
You could use a combination of sharkbite valves and sharkbite slip repair couplings. The slip couplings give you a gap of ~2" to play with.
You would have to plan your cuts carefully and decide where you want the valves and slip fittings.
Like said how much pipe is above. Also the pipe needs to be round and fully deburred inside and out.

1/2", 3/4", & 1" Slip Couplings: SharkBite U3008LF, U3016LF, U3020LF

Ball Valve w/ Drain/Vent & Mounting Bracket in 1/2", 3/4", 1" Sizes
 
  #5  
Old 11-11-17, 01:49 PM
J
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 164
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
I had a plumber put these on I think about 18 months ago, and I'm thinking maybe he used too much heat when sweating these on. Don't you need to be careful of that, and it's also recommended to put them on in the fully open position, isn't it? Perhaps he didn't do that, and there was some internal damage done. I don't recall if these had any internal plastic or not.

I put up with this extreme fine tuning to get them fully off last year, but this time no matter how much fiddling I do, they just won't seem to stop, and besides, it's silly to have to do that. I should just be able to flip them off.

I didn't think of leaving them in place and putting new ones above. There is enough pipe above to do that. And the Sharkbite repair couplings would allow me to cut out the faulty valves. I've never used Sharkbite stuff before - would such a repair be reliable long term?
 
  #6  
Old 11-11-17, 02:06 PM
PJmax's Avatar
Group Moderator
Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Jersey
Posts: 64,928
Received 3,947 Upvotes on 3,540 Posts
Yes... sharkbite fittings are a long term repair and they can be removed again in the future with the release tool.
 
  #7  
Old 11-11-17, 03:07 PM
J
Member
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: USA
Posts: 4,463
Received 128 Upvotes on 113 Posts
#1. I never would have installed them like that.
The way that's installed the only way to drain the water out of the line is to open that cap and have water spraying out all over the insulation.
Do you have freeze proof sill cocks?
The shut off would have been better placed in the horizontal line where the pipe runs out the wall so it would self drain when shut off.
Did you remove that cap and drain the water out of the line that's left in there?
 
  #8  
Old 11-14-17, 09:05 PM
J
Member
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jun 2015
Location: Northern VA
Posts: 164
Received 1 Upvote on 1 Post
OK, so I'd decided to put on new valves, and to cut out the old and use the sharkbite repair couplings. Thanks for that suggestion. But...when I went to look more closely, the cut out section would be just a bit more than 2". Looks like the smallest I could possible make it would be about 2 1/8". Would that make the sharkbite solution a no-go? In addition, I realized the left shut off is so far down close to the elbow that, after cutting, there won't be any straight pipe left for the coupling to grab onto. Even sweating on a repair coupling wouldn't work here, would it?

Name:  valves2.jpg
Views: 184
Size:  42.6 KB
 

Last edited by PJmax; 10-27-19 at 12:51 PM. Reason: resized picture
  #9  
Old 11-15-17, 08:34 AM
Handyone's Avatar
Member
Join Date: Aug 2000
Location: U.S.
Posts: 4,807
Upvotes: 0
Received 0 Upvotes on 0 Posts
2" is the max for slip repair AFAIK, the less gap the better.

It looks like the right valve can be cut off just below the valve. Install the SB valve with a short pipe inserted above, then use the slip coupling to connect short piece with pipe above. You will need to measure carefully to ensure you can fit the slip coupling in or the pipe can flex a little.

For the left side I would cut the pipe about 1-1/2" left of the tee and then install a short pipe and elbow going up to the valve. You can use a SB coupler and elbow.

A tip: before pushing on a sharkbite fitting, mark the pipe with a pencil at ~7/8". That way you're not guessing later if it was pushed on far enough.
The fittings seat at ~3/4"
 
Attached Images  
 

Thread Tools
Search this Thread
 
Ask a Question
Question Title:
Description:
Your question will be posted in: