On Feb 19, 7:37�pm, "Only Just" ifixit2@hotmail(dot)com wrote:
"Donna Ohl, Grady Volunteer Coordinator" wrote in
digy.net...



On Tue, 19 Feb 2008 05:27:28 -0800 (PST), wrote:
the plastic valves are fine if they get just ONE use, to drain the
tank at end of use.......

Hi hallerb,
I understand your point. But, from what I read, they used to be brass and
the manufacturers switched to the plastic for cost reasons only.

Also, I read a brass ball valve doesn't clog as easily.

Given our experience this past weekend, where the valve first clogged and
then broke off inside the water heater, it would seem to us that over
time,
the brass will be less likely to break than the plastic.

Of course, one reason ours clogged was likely the fact we never flushed it
so the sediments may have been too much for any valve - and one reason it
broke is that we were manhandling it trying to get the tipped-over water
heater back on the stand ... so you might be right.

I think I now understand how to replace the brass valve. In fact, a more
important issue came up in that our dishwasher suddenly stopped working. I
think it's due to the sediment being sent through the pipes (our shower
heads were totally clogged all of a sudden, with sandy grainy stuff).

I opened a separate thread on alt.home.repair to ask how to clean out a
dishwasher without being able to remove it (it's bricked in it seems).

I feel like "this old house" is attacking me so it's nice to have this
wonderful newsgroup as my friends to help in times of need!

Donna

Any good installation of an appliance like a washing machine, dishwasher etc
should have a filter screen / rubber washer fitted to the hose fitting to
the tap that controls the water to the appliance, with a bit of luck it
should be as easy as to removing the hose from the tap and cleaning that
filter / screen. There could be an additional screen fitted to the water
inlet valve on the appliance as well that might need cleaning so depending
on the difficulty on accessing the fittings, start with the easy one first
and test from there before attempting the more difficult one. If you have
cleaned out all the filters and it still doesn't work you could have had the
unfortunate problem of luck that it also failed at close to the same time
(It happens occasionally unfortunately) so good luck with it all.
Justy.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

I just installed a couple dishwashers, one for us and one for a
friend, and one for a friend, no screen washers,,,,,,,,,