Prior to the 1980s I dont recall even seeing Ball Valves. If they were
made, they were not common. Every house I lived or worked in had a gate
valve for the water main shutoff, or heaven forbid, a washer valve. The
washer valves simply did not hold up as a main. But the gate valves
seemed to be the most popular. While they worked, they were a pain to
operate. Seems they always need 20 or mre turns to shut them off, which
is really bad if there is a broken pipe that needs to be shut off NOW.

Anyhow, I moved into my house about 14 years ago, and I replaced a lot
of the plumbing, including adding a main (gate) valve in the house,
because before that, one would have to go outside to the well pump house
to shut off the water. Last week I shut off that garte valve to do some
repairs and it would not shut off the water completely. There was still
a trickle. I would not have expected that from a 14 year old valve.

I just replaced it with a ball valve. A local plumber said that gate
valves are obsolete, and to always use a ball valve. Well, anything can
get bad over time, but I am wondering if ball valves have a longer life?
My well water is hard, but does not contain sand or grit and is not
acidic as far as I know. Why that gate valve leaks is beyond me. After
removing it, it does not appear to be worn, but there is some corrosion
inside. Of course that can be expected on brass.

Are ball valves used exclusively these days for water mains?

ball valves appear the best and never leak.

although i had one that nearly couldnt be closed. i ended up with a 6 foot piece of pipe that fit over the ball vave handle to shut it......

which it did.

it appears that junk got in the line and trapped around that valve jamming it..

after i was done i left a fitting open, and opened the ball valve to flush whatever was jamming it out of the line.

i found some stones and pieces of solder and crud was ejected.

but ball valves appear the best for use today.

all replacement valves i install are ball valves.....

On 12/08/2013 11:19 PM, wrote:
Prior to the 1980s I dont recall even seeing Ball Valves. If they were
made, they were not common. Every house I lived or worked in had a gate
valve for the water main shutoff, or heaven forbid, a washer valve. The
washer valves simply did not hold up as a main. But the gate valves
seemed to be the most popular. While they worked, they were a pain to
operate. Seems they always need 20 or mre turns to shut them off, which
is really bad if there is a broken pipe that needs to be shut off NOW.

Anyhow, I moved into my house about 14 years ago, and I replaced a lot
of the plumbing, including adding a main (gate) valve in the house,
because before that, one would have to go outside to the well pump house
to shut off the water. Last week I shut off that garte valve to do some
repairs and it would not shut off the water completely. There was still
a trickle. I would not have expected that from a 14 year old valve.

I just replaced it with a ball valve. A local plumber said that gate
valves are obsolete, and to always use a ball valve. Well, anything can
get bad over time, but I am wondering if ball valves have a longer life?
My well water is hard, but does not contain sand or grit and is not
acidic as far as I know. Why that gate valve leaks is beyond me. After
removing it, it does not appear to be worn, but there is some corrosion
inside. Of course that can be expected on brass.

Are ball valves used exclusively these days for water mains?


In practice, they seem to be fairly uncommon - but that's based on my
experience with older houses. I don't know what plumbers are typically
using for new installs these days.

I have had rather good luck with ball valves, to the point that I tend
to use them exclusively for any valve that I end up having to replace,
unless there's a specific reason not to do so.

nate

--
replace "roosters" with "cox" to reply.
http://members.cox.net/njnagel

bob haller wrote:
ball valves appear the best and never leak.

I've had at least 2 that do leak.

On Sun, 8 Dec 2013 20:39:13 -0800 (PST), bob haller
wrote:

all replacement valves i install are ball valves.....

.... I replaced a hose bib, stem valve type, to a 1/4 turn ball valve
type while I was fix'in the PVB valve and had tools handy

Sample:

http://a248.e.akamai.net/origin-cdn.volusion.com/7rjbn.fmeb4/v/vspfiles/photos/W167074-2T.jpg?1357309245

Great for ole folks

On Monday, December 9, 2013 3:04:56 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:

... I replaced a hose bib, stem valve type, to a 1/4 turn ball valve

type while I was fix'in the PVB valve and had tools handy


Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but isn't that the wrong application?

Ball valves are when you need all the way on or all the way off. They don't throttle well.

Stem valves are for when you might need a small stream or a lot. Isn't that what you need on a hose bib?

wrote:
Prior to the 1980s I dont recall even seeing Ball Valves. If they were
made, they were not common. Every house I lived or worked in had a gate
valve for the water main shutoff, or heaven forbid, a washer valve. The
washer valves simply did not hold up as a main. But the gate valves
seemed to be the most popular. While they worked, they were a pain to
operate. Seems they always need 20 or mre turns to shut them off, which
is really bad if there is a broken pipe that needs to be shut off NOW.

Anyhow, I moved into my house about 14 years ago, and I replaced a lot
of the plumbing, including adding a main (gate) valve in the house,
because before that, one would have to go outside to the well pump house
to shut off the water. Last week I shut off that garte valve to do some
repairs and it would not shut off the water completely. There was still
a trickle. I would not have expected that from a 14 year old valve.

I just replaced it with a ball valve. A local plumber said that gate
valves are obsolete, and to always use a ball valve. Well, anything can
get bad over time, but I am wondering if ball valves have a longer life?
My well water is hard, but does not contain sand or grit and is not
acidic as far as I know. Why that gate valve leaks is beyond me. After
removing it, it does not appear to be worn, but there is some corrosion
inside. Of course that can be expected on brass.

Are ball valves used exclusively these days for water mains?


I had new oil burner installed 2 years ago.
Here is a pic showing what the plumber made changes to on the new pipes.
8 ball valves, and three new gate valves for drainage (black handles).
He left the old gate valves (blue handles) for the shut off valves
underneath
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/phot...t=d irectlink
Sorry, I tried to make a TinyUrl link but the tinyurl site seems to be down

--
Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeros after @

TimR wrote:
On Monday, December 9, 2013 3:04:56 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:
... I replaced a hose bib, stem valve type, to a 1/4 turn ball valve

type while I was fix'in the PVB valve and had tools handy


Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but isn't that the wrong application?

Ball valves are when you need all the way on or all the way off. They don't throttle well.

Stem valves are for when you might need a small stream or a lot. Isn't that what you need on a hose bib?

The ball valves are adjustable for flow volume.
Just stop anywhere between on and off.

--
Bill
In Hamptonburgh, NY
In the original Orange County. Est. 1683
To email, remove the double zeros after @

On Mon, 9 Dec 2013 12:45:57 -0800 (PST), TimR
wrote:

On Monday, December 9, 2013 3:04:56 PM UTC-5, Oren wrote:

... I replaced a hose bib, stem valve type, to a 1/4 turn ball valve

type while I was fix'in the PVB valve and had tools handy


Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but isn't that the wrong application?

Ball valves are when you need all the way on or all the way off. They don't throttle well.

Stem valves are for when you might need a small stream or a lot. Isn't that what you need on a hose bib?

The ball valve is opened full. Throttled at the end with this:

Twist hose brass nozzle

http://aandbsupply.com/image/cache/data/65-40070-500x500.jpg

....adjusted from a mist to a stream