I have a standard plastic water valve in a rental property that is leaking
past the stem.
I see where it may have been possible to tighten the packing nut, but there
are ribs on the outside of the valve, parallel with the stem, now preventing
it from being tightend any further. Are plastic valves repairable? If I
remove the circular handle, and then back off and slip the the packing nut
over the stem, what is inside a plastic valve? Does it seal by using an
o-ring that slips over the stem and is compressed by the packing nut? I
assume it doesn't contain regular packing material or what might be found in
a brass valve.
Advise and thanks
M.B.

In article aaKgf.22703$sg5.2641@dukeread12, M.Burns wrote:
I have a standard plastic water valve in a rental property that is leaking
past the stem.
I see where it may have been possible to tighten the packing nut, but there
are ribs on the outside of the valve, parallel with the stem, now preventing
it from being tightend any further. Are plastic valves repairable? If I
remove the circular handle, and then back off and slip the the packing nut
over the stem, what is inside a plastic valve? Does it seal by using an
o-ring that slips over the stem and is compressed by the packing nut? I
assume it doesn't contain regular packing material or what might be found in
a brass valve.

What I would try is to shut the water off, remove the packing nut, and
see whats inside. Repair/replace if possible. If you can find an
identical new valve, then you could swap out the stem/handle to the old
valve body.

--
Rich Greenberg Marietta, GA, USA richgr atsign panix.com + 1 770 321 6507
Eastern time. N6LRT I speak for myself & my dogs only. VM'er since CP-67
Canines:Val, Red & Shasta (RIP),Red, husky Owner:Chinook-L
Atlanta Siberian Husky Rescue. www.panix.com/~richgr/ Asst Owner:Sibernet-L

You could probably have pulled off the nut and looked faster than
posting here. if you can get the nut off, what could it hurt to try and
add some packing, even if none existed before? Worst case you cut off
the valve and put on a new one. Costs just a couple of bucks. You may
need to couple in some more pipe to make up the length. Still not that
big a deal.

Yes, I suppose I could have tore into the valve first, but the purpose of
the post was for someone to respond who has done this before, and is
familiar with the internals of a plastic valve. Right now it's dripping
occasional on a basement floor. Once I go for it and it's not easily
repairable, then I have a worse situation ...since the valve is in cramped
quarters and would be an s.o.b. to replace. That's why I asked first.

"No" wrote in message
oups.com...
You could probably have pulled off the nut and looked faster than
posting here. if you can get the nut off, what could it hurt to try and
add some packing, even if none existed before? Worst case you cut off
the valve and put on a new one. Costs just a couple of bucks. You may
need to couple in some more pipe to make up the length. Still not that
big a deal.

the problem is is, it is very hard to diagnose from the
keyboard.......some plastic valves are repaiable some are not


is it a gate, a globle or a ball valve? a hose bib?

soem palstic valves have packing, some jsut a stem O-ring

any chance of a picture?

per Rich's suggest

"If you can find an identical new valve" (or similar) you could use it
as a repair guide

cheers
Bob

M.Burns wrote:
Yes, I suppose I could have tore into the valve first, but the purpose of
the post was for someone to respond who has done this before, and is
familiar with the internals of a plastic valve. Right now it's dripping
occasional on a basement floor. Once I go for it and it's not easily
repairable, then I have a worse situation ...since the valve is in cramped
quarters and would be an s.o.b. to replace. That's why I asked first.

"No" wrote in message
oups.com...

You could probably have pulled off the nut and looked faster than
posting here. if you can get the nut off, what could it hurt to try and
add some packing, even if none existed before? Worst case you cut off
the valve and put on a new one. Costs just a couple of bucks. You may
need to couple in some more pipe to make up the length. Still not that
big a deal.




The best deal would be to get a plastic valve just
like you have and take it apart to see how it
works. In any case, most simple plastic valves
are just like their metal counterparts. So, just
apply light pressure 1-2 fingers worth to turn the
packing nut 1/8 of a turn and see if that stops
the leak. If you can't tighten the packing nut
with just light pressure then try to turn it the
opposite way with light pressure. If it turns,
then turn the water supply valves off (just for
safety) open a cold water and a hot water tap to
relieve pressure. Loosen the nut and move it up
on the stem and add a couple of turns of packing
material (graphite or Teflon, it doesn't matter),
tighten the packing nut (not all the way), turn
the water on, and tighten the packing nut until
the leak stops.

I don't know what the specs are but I would stay
under 50 inch-pounds on the packing nut.