Sticky Hep2O Manifold valves

[TerryE]

I installed my HEP2O system courtesy of @Nickfromwales guidance about 9 years ago.  I have a one pipe-per-tap/appliance design, all fed from a central manifold setup (see image below).  It works brilliantly: no hidden pipe joins to fail, any tap or appliance can be isolated at the central manifolds. 

 

I have one bugbear: the "easy to turn" taps are no longer easy to turn.  So once every few years, I have to go through every isolation valve and crank it through the full travel using a rubber strap wrench - but with only perhaps a 30° stroke, this is a time consuming total pain.   (Luckily, all potable water goes through a Harvey filter, so there is pretty much no pipe fur problem.)  I started doing this because I needed to isolate one tap urgently after a failure and found I could no longer turn the value by hand, so ended up isolating the entire cold side, losing head at a tap then I could crank it in slow time, before turning the isolator open again.  

 

So my Q to all those out there who have the same HEP2O manifold setup:  what do you do here?    Do you bother doing an annual travel cycle?  Do you have a key to turn these?  If so what? 

 

I can't find a suitable turnkey online and Waverin doesn't seem to sell one.  I did think about 3D printing a F/F key cap to ½" socket adaptor, so I can use a socket wrench on them.

Suggestions gratefully received.  Thanks.

Edited 6 hours ago by TerryE

[JohnMo]

Not so good. But it prompted me to do an exercise on my non Hep2O manifolds valves (after 5 years).

 

Sorry can't help answer the question. But have you tried a socket or ring spanner?

 

 

[TerryE]

@JohnMo.  I've taken off one of the taps to have a close look. It is ~26mm in outer dia with a 8×2mm step knurl on it for "easy grip" (giving a 22mm smaller dia) .  It would be easy to turn a singleton by hand because I could get a finger lock on it, but this isn't the case  in-situ where I have 8+ in a row with return pipework in the way and in the case of the hot manifold a lagged box surround, so at best I can get end-finger access, giving bugger-all torque and not enough to overcome stiction. 

 

As I said, a rubber strap wrench works but only has a 25-30° in-place travel. The taps themselves are injection-molded plastic, so clamping with a normal adjustable will just wreck the tap surface.  The ×8 step knurl is a poor match to standard spanners and adjustable wrenches which are designed for 120° / ×6 or ×12 symmetry.

 

One option for "annual" maintenance is to unscrew/remove each plastic tap and just use the steel ¼" square spigot, but I really need a tap female-female square so i can turn it with one of my ratchet wrenches.

Edited 5 hours ago by TerryE

[SimonD]

That's an annoying problem. I can't really help other than for others to say that as far as I can, I avoid gate valves and other valves that require turning like these as they always seem to foul and stiffen up. I use full bore lever ball valves nowadays, even they are sometimes stiff to close.

[Oz07]

I never had this problem after 5 years. Even more annoying for you if you're softening the water prior. What is likely cause? Suppose you could swap the manifold after 10 years and consider it a consumable. 

[dpmiller]

3d print a tool to sit over the head like a socket?

[Nickfromwales]

@TerryE, I think it’s just ‘life’ and would be far less problematic if you had better access to get your kits on it more robustly. 
 

Beware using a ratchet as that apply way too much torque and wreck the manifold, but I’d certainly look at getting a long screwdriver and welding on a tip that fits the square shaft, or, as above, 3D print a key.

You could probably buy some aluminium tube and just hand cut some castellations into the end of it to create a Hep-spanner. I doubt those teeth would need to be more than 5mm deep vs the full depth of the tap heads.
 

Have you emailed Wavin to see if they do a spanner for this?  

[TerryE]

29 minutes ago, Nickfromwales said:

I think it’s just ‘life’ and would be far less problematic if you had better access to get your kits on it more robustly. 

This is a bit of a 20-20 hindsight thought.  The layout is what it is: all neatly boxed in and decorated.  For repeat or about-to offenders, I  would add ease of access to the tap line as a checklist item.  This really wasn't as issue for me during commissions as they were easy to turn then.  

 

3D printing sound like an easy solution -- at least for my son-in-law who has a 3D a pinter -- until you add in the learning curve and hassle of doing the 3D cad etc. for the key (it isn't on Thingiverse).

 

Gemini suggested putting a bolt in the end of a 28mm end-feed cap and using 2-part epoxy plus a greased tap to make a female.  I also though about using 22 mm endfeed T and toothing the middle branch as you suggest to form a T bar overkey -- except that Jan had a clear-out,  and gave away all my odds and sods plumbing bits on the rationale: "we'll never be doing any more plumbing ourselves, but if nec, then Screwfix 
is only a 10 min drive away".

How do you deal with sticky 10-year old HEP2O manifold jobs? 

Edited 2 hours ago by TerryE