On Jan 2, 4:00*pm, Tim Shoppa wrote:
I often find that oldish shutoff valves (toilet, sinks, garden hose)
around the house have a tendency to go leaky if they are turned on or
off after they are about 20 or 30 years old. Leaky in the sense that
water drips out of the step and no amount of adjustment will correct
it. Inspection inside shows that the washer inside is no longer
pliable at all. Sometimes I will put a new washer inside... but most
often I just replace the shutoff valve with a new one.

New ones I've been buying are "quarter turn" shutoff valves, and they
are obviously different construction inside (no compression washer).
The ones I'm getting are metal outside but the inside is a plastic
piece with a hole that goes from being "on" (holes line up) or
"off" (holes don't line up) without a washer. Are these generally
superior to the washer-type ones?

Tim.

You're describing a "ball valve" and in general, yes. The downside to
ball valves is "service" means "replacement" but it seems that they
are more reliable than stop valves and their service life is much
longer. I don't like the garden hose ones but the brass bodied ones
used inline with your plumbing are great. I've been using them
whenever I need to replace an existing valve. Also you can get a pipe-
to-garden hose adapter in the loose brass section of the plumbing
aisle, I've been using threaded ball valves with one of those adapters
to replace spigots as well (e.g. water heater drain) not only are they
more reliable but they offer much better flow.

nate