In article ,
Vic Smith wrote:
On Sat, 11 Sep 2010 12:09:01 -0700 (PDT), Higgs Boson
wrote:

Amigos y amigas, this has been bugging me for years. I was taught
that after opening a faucet to its fullest, one should "back off" a
little.

WHY???

Look up valve backseat on google.
I was a boilerman in the Navy and it was our practice to fully open a
glove valve, then crank back down a quarter turn.
If you didn't do that it could take much more force to close it later.
Maybe corrosion sticking the disk to the backseat or maybe pressure
equalization, can't remember if I ever knew.
Gate valves were just fully opened or closed.
This was 1500 psi steam or water.
Never had significant packing leaks from not backseating.

I still do the same with faucets out of habit.
Before I repacked it I had an old garden faucet that leaked less
through the packing when I backedseated it.
Don't think it really matters with common faucets.
Somebody already gave the best reason for backing them down - so you
don't get caught turning the wrong way.

--Vic

I was not in the Navy but did work in a chemical plant for several years
with miles of pipe and hundreds of valves. That was always SOP there for
the same reason.

--
When the game is over, the pawn and the king are returned to the same box.

Larry Wasserman - Baltimore Maryland - lwasserm(a)sdf. lonestar.org