Hello all, following up on my plumbing adventures. I bought some 1/4 turn ball valves to replace all of the multi turn shut off valves of the house that do not work anymore.

However, after sweating all the valves, they all leak (but one) at the valve assembly (water dripping from the handle that shut off the water.

Did I apply too much heat?

Thank you all.

Hydro.

yes


best practice is to solder on a male adapter then thread on a stop

since you will need to redo the job anyway ....................

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

some ball valves have a packing nut under the handle while some rely on an 'O' ring.
if you remove the handle from your valves and see a hex shaped nut, simple tighten it.
if there is no nut you are in trouble.
open and close the valve a couple of times and hope the 'O' ring swells up.

have to redo the job ?????
come on bernabeu !!!
i have installed so many valves both threaded and sweat that the packing nut needed to be tightened. that's far from having to RE-DO..
in fact i make it a habit to remove the ball valve handle and packing nut (after soldering or threading it on) and apply a touch of silicone grease and tighten it all back up. yeah, i even put the grease onto the threads where the steel handle nut is located.
when someone follows me in 10 or 12 years and needs to shut off that valve, if the packing starts to leak (which is very common), the nut and handle are easily removed rather than rusted in place.
that, my friend, is my best practice..

...big box store valves ?

good luck with packing nuts

IF you need to replace, repeat if, use adapters and thread stops

Packy:

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I agree with packy, the packing sometimes takes a set from the time of manufacture to the time of installation of the valve, which could be years. Tightening the packing nut usually eliminates the leak from under the handle.

I really hope y'all are correct

but

the OP probably did NOT purchase 'quality' valves

more than likely they are 'O' ring sealed and the 'nut' is merely for assembly purposes

BEST OF LUCK

ps. good practice, ie. use of adapter, would have rendered this issue irrelevant as the OP could SIMPLY return the valves and purchase better ones w/o having to resolder

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

This whole discussion shows why the majority of us prefer compression valves. You do not have to worry about damaging them with heat and they look a whole lot better than a male adapter with a valve screwed to it.

Hello all, I did not expect to stir up some heated discussion. I went to home depot and they told me to use 1/4 turn compression valves (Brasscraft G2CR19X C1). However, I feel that the copper type is not really thick wall (maybe because it aged).

Should I rather sweat a 1/2 " male copper fitting and then screw in the shutoff valve onto it?

Why so many options in shutoff valves for the bathroom? I mean we have the all sweat, the compression, the option I mentioned above and then the sharkbite.

what is best for my application? I think I overheated the shutoff valve because it has to be soldered in a tight spot. I cannot unpack the valve or I would have done it.

Waiting for your answers. No water running in the house now.

Best to all.

As a DIYer I prefer compression in this case.

I like the solder connections but for a stop valve I feel a compression 1/4 turn is more flexible if you have a copper stubout.

With compression no need to solder in tight quarters.

You can also replace the valve easily if you need to add a dishwasher, or tee off to an ice maker.

Once you solder on the male adapter, if you have forgotten to put on a trim plate first, you are out of luck, now all you can use are those $2 ugly hinged ones I hate.

bell escutcheon:



measure

cut

solder on male adapter

slip on bell escutcheon

(only threads will show if accurately measured)

thread on stop valve

BEAUTIFUL finished job

different application, picture used to show the principle:


next time all you need do is unscrew - screw on

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638



Edited 1 times.

Another way to skin a cat:
1/2" sweat x 3/8" female adaptor(or drop ear 90), short 3/8" chrome nipple, bell escutchon, threaded 3/8" stop.
Good luck!

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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I have not seen it done that way since the 50s.

it is still done in HI END pedestal sink installations today

what was SOP in 1955 is now custom Hi-End

? sad, is it not ?



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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

When I said I had not seen it since the 60s, I did not mean that is how we did it. We used 1/2" ips connections rather than carry a bunch of 3/8" stuff around, since we already had the 1/2' pieces.

oh

you were addressing the 3/8 vs. the 1/2

if one is doing a hi rise then the difference in cost 'may' be worth going to 3/8

for the usual type of work why bother with the 3/8



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"Measure Twice & Cut Once" - Retired U.A. Local 1 & 638

I feel your pain. I just installed 4 Brasscraft KTR19 1/2" sweat ball valves, purchased from Home Depot, and they all weep around the ball when closed. I bought another (same KTR19) from Menards and it sealed fine. I think there is a quality issue with the finish on the ball. Upon disassembly I can see scratches and nicks on the ball.

You can also try removing the handle, and rotating the shaft 180 degrees, and re-installing the handle. That way we would be sealing on the other side of the ball.

-Brian







Edited 2 times.

I've had 75% of the brassctaft 1/2" sweat ball valves bleed over time.
At first I would unsweat and take back to home depot saying it's defective.
It's annoying definitely. Would like to try an alternate brand but can't find something equivalent.

@bjordan
I tried taking off that ball valve cap, felt like I was going to damage it.
Did you use anything special to open it?