Most globe, or angle valves, that works OK. Many hardware
stores have packing material, you can add to the existing
packing material. Looks like tar soaked string.

If the valve is shut off, you can remove the packing nut.
Good idea to hold the valve shut with one hand, while
wrenching the packing nut off with the other.

--
Christopher A. Young
Learn more about Jesus
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..


"Nate Nagel" wrote in message
...
Hi all

am helping a friend remodel his downstairs bathroom, and as
a result
have had to mess with the plumbing. Two valves in his
laundry room were
dripping when I noticed them; one being the cold water
shutoff for the
washing machine, and the other being the main shutoff for
the house. I
tightened down the packing nuts on both and of course the
one for the
washer is now fine, but the one for the main is still
seeping.

I'm having a hard time visualizing, probably because I've
been up late
every night this week either playing with power tools or
huffing flux
fumes. On a typical older stop and waste valve, if I shut
the valve off,
can I remove the packing nut and shove some more packing in
there
without having the water shut off *prior* to that valve?
Obviously that
is one valve that I'm not going to offer to replace for him
because of
the possibility of Things Going Badly (I don't even know
where the
street shutoff is...)

On the upside, my soldering skills have improved
dramatically what with
all the practice. I (touch wood) didn't have a single leaky
joint...

thanks

nate

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