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Dean Hoffman[_12_]

On 1/29/17 4:41 PM, wrote:
I thought that ball valves were superior to the old valves with washers
and packings. But I have one which is my water main shutoff, and after
using it to shut off the water, it is now driping from below the handle.
It's not a huge amount of water and I put a small pan under it, but I'm
aftaid it may get worse.

Yea, I know I could change it, but I'd have to get the water utility to
shut off the water first. But before getting into all of that, I'm
wondering if there's a way to fix this one? Is there some sort of
packing or an o-ring in there? Or should I just try to tighten the piece
below the handle? (I know, if it's a packing or o-ring I'd still have to
get the water shut off, and if that's the case I may as well just
replace the valve.

Just thought I'd ask. I suppose I should google for some pictures of how
these valves are built and put together. I still cant see how they get
that ball piece inside of them. I doubt they mold the brass around that
ball, which looks to be stainless steel (from the ones I have looked at
in the store).

Look very closely.. One of the ends must be screwed or pushed
onto the valve body after
the ball is inserted. The seam on the end is hard to see. Left end
on this pictu

http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/41MAjduCEjL.jpg

There is something called valve stem packing. No idea if it would help:

https://www.bing.com/images/search?q=valve+packing&view=detailv2&&id=04E4BA1AE B8329FCEBAB2AD567791B14FE88FDAA&selectedIndex=91&c cid=B7xLDEz2&simid=607999669158677037&thid=OIP.M07 bc4b0c4cf6d1387ce946dfe529af48o0&ajaxhist=0

Home Depot or Ace Hardware should have it. It looks like string.