zone valve questions
#41
10-18-11, 06:01 PM
Well my friendly local plumber/heating man (not the installer) has me believing that what little I thought I knew about this stuff, I was misled about. He thinks the valve should hold easily with the pump I'm using. He said he regularly uses the same valves on systems with even larger pumps. And I believe him.
All of which caused me to go back inside the valve just one more time. I looked at the tip of the shaft that the ball rides on under a microscope-the tip is obviously chipped. So that means there must be some damage in the valve body from the two slamming into each other. And it was not easy to find it because of where the valve is located, but I finally got the seat cleaned up with a wire brush and got my eye within a couple inches of it. Sure enuff, that seat is trashed. I could see all sorts if little serrations. It feels smooth to my finger, but when I dragged a fine tipped screwdriver across the lip it hung up like crazy.
Thankfully, this saga is almost over (I hope). I bought a new valve body and top plate kit and I should be good to go now (I hope). Hopefully my many troubles recounted here will help someone out someday.
All of which caused me to go back inside the valve just one more time. I looked at the tip of the shaft that the ball rides on under a microscope-the tip is obviously chipped. So that means there must be some damage in the valve body from the two slamming into each other. And it was not easy to find it because of where the valve is located, but I finally got the seat cleaned up with a wire brush and got my eye within a couple inches of it. Sure enuff, that seat is trashed. I could see all sorts if little serrations. It feels smooth to my finger, but when I dragged a fine tipped screwdriver across the lip it hung up like crazy.
Thankfully, this saga is almost over (I hope). I bought a new valve body and top plate kit and I should be good to go now (I hope). Hopefully my many troubles recounted here will help someone out someday.
#42
10-18-11, 06:27 PM
Well my friendly local plumber/heating man (not the installer) has me believing that what little I thought I knew about this stuff, I was misled about. He thinks the valve should hold easily with the pump I'm using. He said he regularly uses the same valves on systems with even larger pumps. And I believe him.
All of which caused me to go back inside the valve just one more time. I looked at the tip of the shaft that the ball rides on under a microscope-the tip is obviously chipped. So that means there must be some damage in the valve body from the two slamming into each other. And it was not easy to find it because of where the valve is located, but I finally got the seat cleaned up with a wire brush and got my eye within a couple inches of it. Sure enuff, that seat is trashed. I could see all sorts if little serrations. It feels smooth to my finger, but when I dragged a fine tipped screwdriver across the lip it hung up like crazy.
Thankfully, this saga is almost over (I hope). I bought a new valve body and top plate kit and I should be good to go now (I hope). Hopefully my many troubles recounted here will help someone out someday.
All of which caused me to go back inside the valve just one more time. I looked at the tip of the shaft that the ball rides on under a microscope-the tip is obviously chipped. So that means there must be some damage in the valve body from the two slamming into each other. And it was not easy to find it because of where the valve is located, but I finally got the seat cleaned up with a wire brush and got my eye within a couple inches of it. Sure enuff, that seat is trashed. I could see all sorts if little serrations. It feels smooth to my finger, but when I dragged a fine tipped screwdriver across the lip it hung up like crazy.
Thankfully, this saga is almost over (I hope). I bought a new valve body and top plate kit and I should be good to go now (I hope). Hopefully my many troubles recounted here will help someone out someday.
