Lever Ball Valves

[John Carroll]

I had a inside 1/2 ins (+NRV) isolating gate valve on a  supply to a outside hose used to wash the car, after ~ 45 years I decided to splash out and installed a 1/2 ins (reduced bore) ball valve, this valve is either just fully open or fully shut say once/week. After around 4 years this valve started leaking slightly so I just replaced it with another ball valve but, this valve is again leaking slightly after 3.5 years. My mains pressure is a very constant 3.4/3.6bar.

Do all ball valves behave like this?

[dpmiller]

is it leaking at the gland, or is it passing? Is your water hard?

[John Carroll]

Its passing, gland fine, water is perfectly soft. I also have a few gate valves, ~ 20 years old around the place which don't pass a single drop of water.

[Nickfromwales]

Just fit a brass stopcock. Then you only have to replace a 50p washer.

 

None of these are designed to be turned on and off with much frequency, and yup……”they don’t make them like they used to”.

 

Lever valves have nylon (iirc) internals so will wear out quite quickly, especially susceptible to ‘passing’ vs leaking externally. 

[Alan Ambrose]

That’s interesting, I use ball valves everywhere for extra convenience. Never had a problem. Was yours a Peglar valve or someone elses?

[Nickfromwales]

2 hours ago, Alan Ambrose said:

That’s interesting, I use ball valves everywhere for extra convenience. Never had a problem. Was yours a Peglar valve or someone elses?

I've used them for decades, but admittedly not for turning on/off a supply for an outside tap. 

 

@John Carroll, how many times do you turn this on/off? Seasonally?

 

With a Frosti tap you don't need to drain or shut off for winter. Cracking little gadgets.

 

One of it's cheaper relatives here LINK

[John Carroll]

52 times turned on/annum & 52 turned off/annum. they are Chinese V&G  valves but do feel fine and "stiffish" in operation which is indicative of little or no wear?, when I installed them I left the outlet disconnected and they were both drop tight. I had another one somewhere which was permanently closed (3.6bar mains) and this started dripping after ~ 5 years even though it was probably ony opened about a total of 4 or 5 times during this period for a few hours.

 

[Nickfromwales]

17 minutes ago, John Carroll said:

52 times turned on/annum & 52 turned off/annum. they are Chinese V&G  valves but do feel fine and "stiffish" in operation which is indicative of little or no wear?, when I installed them I left the outlet disconnected and they were both drop tight. I had another one somewhere which was permanently closed (3.6bar mains) and this started dripping after ~ 5 years even though it was probably ony opened about a total of 4 or 5 times during this period for a few hours.

 

It's just you then.

 

The water-lords have clearly decided that you should live a life of eternal H2O-based hell and damnation.

 

There is no amount of PTFE tape that can save you, I'm afraid.

[John Carroll]

7 hours ago, Nickfromwales said:

It's just you then.

 

The water-lords have clearly decided that you should live a life of eternal H2O-based hell and damnation.

 

There is no amount of PTFE tape that can save you, I'm afraid.

 

Not quite that prolific, I've used just a bucket of rain water with a teaspoon of that car wax for the past 60 years and just hose it off for 5 minutes or so, people often congratulate me for polishing my car, can any one think of a more wasteful obsession?

[Alan Ambrose]

Maybe try a Pegler valve. I like the newish Plasson artic taps but haven’t run them through a cold winter yet.

[dpmiller]

Any chance the handle is slightly bent and not closing completely before hitting the stop?