Have a rental property that had most of it's basement plumbing done with
white plastic pipe and fittings. One valve with a standard red circular
shut-off appears to be leaking past the valve stem and dripping. At the
base of the stem in the valve body there appears to be a hex shaped top, but
I can't telll if it is really designed to be opened, or if the valve is just
cast that way for "looks". Would like to repack it if possible since it is
in a tight space with glued couplings only 1/1/2" away on both sides (would
not be fun to cut it out and try to refit and reqlue in a new
valve/piping/or couplings)
M.B.

If I'm following you correctly, I call the part you think is leaking a
packing nut. Try tightening it just a little bit. Shouldn't take much.
Tom

Yes, the packing nut is what I was referring to (sorry the correct name
escaped me). I'll try to see if it can be slightly tightened while trying
to hold the vavle body itself in place. Don't like putting any type of
force at all on anything plastic, if you know what I mean. I wasn't sure if
the packing nut was even tightenable, or if the whole valve was somehow cast
as one piece and the packing nut is not even functional.
M.B.

"tom" wrote in message
ups.com...
If I'm following you correctly, I call the part you think is leaking a
packing nut. Try tightening it just a little bit. Shouldn't take much.
Tom

M.B. wrote: Don't like putting any type of
force at all on anything plastic, if you know what I mean.
Yes, I do. Unfortunately, the maxim "If it breaks, it probably needed
fixing anyway" seems to apply here! G'luck. Tom