I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

On 5/22/19 11:15 AM, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?


First thing to try yourself is tightening the packing nut just a little.

You could also try some of that "FlexSeal" tape , as advertised on TV.

micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.

--
Dan Espen

On 5/22/19 11:15 AM, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?


Not a big deal, had that happen to me.Â* The city's off/on fee was $125 and the plumber was $480.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them? I'm 99.99% sure if you're the home owner they will shut it off
for you, no plumber call needed. They may charge a fee though. And it
sounds like it just needs some new packing.

On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.


Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of the
basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.
Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?
If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?



Try cranking the valve hard-open and hard-closed
3 or 4 times. I have had this work for me on washing machine
shut-off valves before, when leaking from the stem.
John T.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 12:11:51 PM UTC-4, wrote:
On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.


Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of the
basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.

For sure I'd call the water company first, it may be free for them to
shut it off. And is there no risk of freezing the pipe busting it?
I guess with plastic which is used today it would be OK, but how
about old steel? What happens if it comes unfrozen while you
have the pipe apart? Doh! And last time I bought dry ice, it wasn't
so cheap as I recall either.

writes:

On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.

Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of
the basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.

Yes, I can imagine that can happen. In my case I had about 2 inches.
Since all I had to do is unscrew the bonnet and drop in a new gate valve
I suppose I could have put the ice right on the valve.

There was quite a bit of water flowing from the leak.
The ice stopped it "cold".

--
Dan Espen

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 1:23:38 PM UTC-4, Dan Espen wrote:
writes:

On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.

Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of
the basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.

Yes, I can imagine that can happen. In my case I had about 2 inches.
Since all I had to do is unscrew the bonnet and drop in a new gate valve
I suppose I could have put the ice right on the valve.

There was quite a bit of water flowing from the leak.
The ice stopped it "cold".

--
Dan Espen

If I was replacing it, I would use a ball valve. Very easy to quickly
turn on and off and less likely to leak, in my experience.

On 5/22/2019 12:23 PM, Dan Espen wrote:
writes:

On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?
Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.
Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of
the basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.
Yes, I can imagine that can happen. In my case I had about 2 inches.
Since all I had to do is unscrew the bonnet and drop in a new gate valve
I suppose I could have put the ice right on the valve.

There was quite a bit of water flowing from the leak.
The ice stopped it "cold".


Â* First off , y'all gotta remember it's Micky that's got the problem
.... next , everybody seems to have forgotten that when the valve is
closed there is no pressure (except residual , can be vented by opening
and then closing a faucet) on the house side of the valve . Close the
valve , remove the bonnet (and handle) and either add packing or replace
it all . Replace bonnet and handle and open the valve - knowing that you
may need to tighten the packing a bit more . ALSO many of those valves
will stop dripping if you just crank it wide open (called "back seating") .

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 1:37:50 PM UTC-4, Terry Coombs wrote:
On 5/22/2019 12:23 PM, Dan Espen wrote:
writes:

On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?
Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.
Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of
the basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.
Yes, I can imagine that can happen. In my case I had about 2 inches.
Since all I had to do is unscrew the bonnet and drop in a new gate valve
I suppose I could have put the ice right on the valve.

There was quite a bit of water flowing from the leak.
The ice stopped it "cold".


Â* First off , y'all gotta remember it's Micky that's got the problem
... next , everybody seems to have forgotten that when the valve is
closed there is no pressure (except residual , can be vented by opening
and then closing a faucet) on the house side of the valve . Close the
valve , remove the bonnet (and handle) and either add packing or replace
it all . Replace bonnet and handle and open the valve - knowing that you
may need to tighten the packing a bit more . ALSO many of those valves
will stop dripping if you just crank it wide open (called "back seating")

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

As spoken above you can close the valve and replace the packing but
there should also be a shut off at the street connection. You will
need a special wrench if it is very deep in the hole but HD sells
them.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 1:41:16 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
Doh! I think you're right. I haven't had to fiddle with one of these
for a very long time and don't think I even had a situation where it was
an issue to turn the water off. But I think you're right, with the
valve closed you can replace the packing with the water pressure on,
it makes sense.

Maybe, maybe not. About a month ago I had the plumber over to fix a leak I couldn't find in the ceiling. I've always turned the water off out at the meter by the curb. After one bad experience I'm careful never to be without that special valve wrench.

But when the plumber and I were in the basement, we noticed the house did have an inside shut off. I never knew that and I'd lived there ten years. Anyway, we closed it and it started spurting water. I turned water off and he fiddled with the valve and got it to stop leaking, and he recommended we never touch the inside valve again. He didn't want to open the wall to get to it. There is no way to repack or replace that valve without removing major drywall.

On 5/22/2019 1:35 PM, TimR wrote:
On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 1:41:16 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
Doh! I think you're right. I haven't had to fiddle with one of these
for a very long time and don't think I even had a situation where it was
an issue to turn the water off. But I think you're right, with the
valve closed you can replace the packing with the water pressure on,
it makes sense.
Maybe, maybe not. About a month ago I had the plumber over to fix a leak I couldn't find in the ceiling. I've always turned the water off out at the meter by the curb. After one bad experience I'm careful never to be without that special valve wrench.

But when the plumber and I were in the basement, we noticed the house did have an inside shut off. I never knew that and I'd lived there ten years. Anyway, we closed it and it started spurting water. I turned water off and he fiddled with the valve and got it to stop leaking, and he recommended we never touch the inside valve again. He didn't want to open the wall to get to it. There is no way to repack or replace that valve without removing major drywall.


Â* That water was probably the residual pressure I mentioned ... here at
our house there is of course the cutoff at the meter , but there is also
a cutoff out in the yard - there is a yard faucet before that cutoff
just in case - and there are valves under the house so I can shut off
the kitchen and/or master bath if needed . I don't need to cut the whole
house off work on the kitchen sink .

--
Snag
Yes , I'm old
and crochety - and armed .
Get outta my woods !

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 09:08:48 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them?

Because I know that turning off the water is the least of it. I'm
trying to see if I can avoid hiring a plumber too.

And because calling any agency can take 10 to 20 to 40 minutes. Here
it takes me 2 minutes to ask a question and then read answers a few
hours later.

I'm 99.99% sure if you're the home owner they will shut it off
for you, no plumber call needed. They may charge a fee though. And it
sounds like it just needs some new packing.

If it were any other valve, I could repack it, turn the water back on,
test it, turn the water off again if I did a bad job, and repeat. But I
can't expect the city to wait while I test it, or to come back over and
over.

OTOH, maybe they would come back soon. The electric company has guys
with a geographic region and if you don't pay your bill enough, they
disconnect you. But they'll come within 2 hours, certainly before the
end of the day to reconnect you. I know the electric guy just works in
this area. I don't know how the city water guy works.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 12:42:02 -0400,
wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before,

The last time was just a year ago (and I check every for leaks every
time I turn the water back on.)

but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.
Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?
If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?



Try cranking the valve hard-open and hard-closed

That sounds good. I did close it once and open it again, but not really
hard and only one extra time.

The packing is wet now. I wonder what it was made of in 1979.

3 or 4 times. I have had this work for me on washing machine
shut-off valves before, when leaking from the stem.
John T.

I'll get back to you all.

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 3:06:45 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 09:08:48 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them?

Because I know that turning off the water is the least of it. I'm
trying to see if I can avoid hiring a plumber too.

And because calling any agency can take 10 to 20 to 40 minutes. Here
it takes me 2 minutes to ask a question and then read answers a few
hours later.

So, it's better to get a lame guess here as to what YOUR water company does
instead of a call to the water company and to get the correct answer
to your question? And IDK how screwed up
MD is but around here a call like that usually takes just a few minutes.
Or go to their website, it may have the answer right there.




I'm 99.99% sure if you're the home owner they will shut it off
for you, no plumber call needed. They may charge a fee though. And it
sounds like it just needs some new packing.

If it were any other valve, I could repack it, turn the water back on,
test it, turn the water off again if I did a bad job, and repeat. But I
can't expect the city to wait while I test it, or to come back over and
over.

As someone else pointed out, you should be able to replace the stem
packing in a gate valve without turning off the water. You may get
some leakage, but it should be able to be done.



OTOH, maybe they would come back soon. The electric company has guys
with a geographic region and if you don't pay your bill enough, they
disconnect you. But they'll come within 2 hours, certainly before the
end of the day to reconnect you. I know the electric guy just works in
this area. I don't know how the city water guy works.

Neither do we.

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?
Did you try tightening the packing nut?
Did you open the valve ALL THE WAY? On most dhutoff valves they don't
leak even with a bad packing if they are ALL THE WAY open - but will
leak like a sieve if 1/4 turn from fully open.

I'd try tightening the packing nut 1/4 turn or so if possible (with
the shutoff NOT fully open) and see what happens.

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:54:04 -0400, wrote:

On 5/22/19 11:15 AM, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?


First thing to try yourself is tightening the packing nut just a little.

You could also try some of that "FlexSeal" tape , as advertised on TV.
FORGET the flex seal tape!!! you want to solve the problem,not hide
it

On Wed, 22 May 2019 12:38:16 -0500, Terry Coombs
wrote:

On 5/22/2019 12:23 PM, Dan Espen wrote:
writes:

On 5/22/19 11:57 AM, Dan Espen wrote:
micky writes:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?
Hmm, they say that the memory is the first to go.

It's been posted here before, dry ice.

Just put a chunk of dry ice on the pipe and water will stop flowing.

Once saved me thousands of dollars.
Damn plumber told me the city had to turn off the water.
I had the damn valve, the total repair cost was the cost of the dry ice
5 bucks.
Sometimes, like our house, there is not enough pipe sticking out of
the basement wall to apply dry ice.

Unless you can dig a hole in yard outside basement wall down to the pipe.
Yes, I can imagine that can happen. In my case I had about 2 inches.
Since all I had to do is unscrew the bonnet and drop in a new gate valve
I suppose I could have put the ice right on the valve.

There was quite a bit of water flowing from the leak.
The ice stopped it "cold".


* First off , y'all gotta remember it's Micky that's got the problem
... next , everybody seems to have forgotten that when the valve is
closed there is no pressure (except residual , can be vented by opening
and then closing a faucet) on the house side of the valve . Close the
valve , remove the bonnet (and handle) and either add packing or replace
it all . Replace bonnet and handle and open the valve - knowing that you
may need to tighten the packing a bit more . ALSO many of those valves
will stop dripping if you just crank it wide open (called "back seating") .
Gee - I missed that it was Mickey!!!
Anyway - even Mickey should be able to follow the instructions I gave.

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:35:01 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 1:41:16 PM UTC-4, trader_4 wrote:
Doh! I think you're right. I haven't had to fiddle with one of these
for a very long time and don't think I even had a situation where it was
an issue to turn the water off. But I think you're right, with the
valve closed you can replace the packing with the water pressure on,
it makes sense.

Maybe, maybe not. About a month ago I had the plumber over to fix a leak I couldn't find in the ceiling. I've always turned the water off out at the meter by the curb. After one bad experience I'm careful never to be without that special valve wrench.

But when the plumber and I were in the basement, we noticed the house did have an inside shut off. I never knew that and I'd lived there ten years. Anyway, we closed it and it started spurting water. I turned water off and he fiddled with the valve and got it to stop leaking, and he recommended we never touch the inside valve again. He didn't want to open the wall to get to it. There is no way to repack or replace that valve without removing major drywall.
Which is why they should NOT be enclosed inside a wall - - - - - - -
- -

On 5/22/19 6:33 PM, Clare Snyder wrote:
On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:54:04 -0400, wrote:

On 5/22/19 11:15 AM, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?


First thing to try yourself is tightening the packing nut just a little.

You could also try some of that "FlexSeal" tape , as advertised on TV.
FORGET the flex seal tape!!! you want to solve the problem,not hide
it


Micky asked a question: "maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap
around the stem and where it comes out of the valve.

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber"



I gave him an option. Others can, and have, provided other alternatives.

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Try fully opening the valve and then tightening the packing nut.
When you close it you'll have to loosen the nut until it's closed, and retighten it.
My hose bib shutoff is like that - twice a year I have water running down my arms.
Valves are cheap enough that I'd replace it before I'd repack it.
As far as your city goes, it all depends on their plumbing code enforcement.
I suggest you move all the stuff blocking the valve and call a plumber in for an estimate
to replace the valve. Might be less hassle and worth it.

On 5/22/2019 11:15 AM, micky wrote:
Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,


Sure, cut the valve off with a hack saw, shove a loaf of Wonder bread up the pipe to stop the water flow and shove a new Sharkbite valve in place.Â* The loaf of Wonder bread will dissolve.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 13:08:55 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 3:06:45 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 09:08:48 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before,

The last time was just a year ago.

but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them?

Because I know that turning off the water is the least of it. I'm
trying to see if I can avoid hiring a plumber too.

And because calling any agency can take 10 to 20 to 40 minutes. Here
it takes me 2 minutes to ask a question and then read answers a few
hours later.

So, it's better to get a lame guess

What is wrong with you? Are you combative all the time, or is it that
you couldn't get me to swallow your strange views on political
commentary.

here as to what YOUR water company does
instead of a call to the water company and to get the correct answer
to your question?

Did you not notice that the question about the city turning off the
water was the last (2nd) question in the last (6th) pargraph of the
original post.

It's the least of my concerns and it was the least important question I
asked. Added on at the end when I was ALREADY asking another question.

And IDK how screwed up
MD is but around here a call like that usually takes just a few minutes.

You're guessing. And even you say "usually". It took less than a few
minutes to ask here, and I got a range of answers, which I find worth
hearing regardless of what the situation is here.

Or go to their website, it may have the answer right there.

It doesn't.

I'm 99.99% sure if you're the home owner they will shut it off
for you, no plumber call needed. They may charge a fee though. And it
sounds like it just needs some new packing.

If it were any other valve, I could repack it, turn the water back on,
test it, turn the water off again if I did a bad job, and repeat. But I
can't expect the city to wait while I test it, or to come back over and
over.

As someone else pointed out, you should be able to replace the stem
packing in a gate valve without turning off the water. You may get
some leakage, but it should be able to be done.

Finally, an answer, one which as you point out someone else had already
said, but still, it is agreement with what he said.



OTOH, maybe they would come back soon. The electric company has guys
with a geographic region and if you don't pay your bill enough, they
disconnect you. But they'll come within 2 hours, certainly before the
end of the day to reconnect you. I know the electric guy just works in
this area. I don't know how the city water guy works.

Neither do we.

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 6:47:11 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 13:08:55 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 3:06:45 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 09:08:48 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before,

The last time was just a year ago.

but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them?

Because I know that turning off the water is the least of it. I'm
trying to see if I can avoid hiring a plumber too.

And because calling any agency can take 10 to 20 to 40 minutes. Here
it takes me 2 minutes to ask a question and then read answers a few
hours later.

So, it's better to get a lame guess

What is wrong with you? Are you combative all the time, or is it that
you couldn't get me to swallow your strange views on political
commentary.

Just factual and observant. It's pretty dumb to ask what the policy is
for YOUR water company to turn off your water here, instead of just
calling them.




here as to what YOUR water company does
instead of a call to the water company and to get the correct answer
to your question?

Did you not notice that the question about the city turning off the
water was the last (2nd) question in the last (6th) pargraph of the
original post.

So what? You only asked two questions, one right after the other at
the end.





It's the least of my concerns and it was the least important question I
asked. Added on at the end when I was ALREADY asking another question.

And IDK how screwed up
MD is but around here a call like that usually takes just a few minutes.

You're guessing.


Oh no I'm not. Read what I wrote. I'm telling you from my experience.
I can typically get an answer like that, what does it take to get the
water turned off, from a utility, the town, etc
in a few minutes. Hell, how to get water turned on or off is probably
on the web.



And eve
n you say "usually". It took less than a few
minutes to ask here, and I got a range of answers, which I find worth
hearing regardless of what the situation is here.

Which are mostly worthless with regard to what YOUR water company does or does
not do.

On 5/22/2019 8:15 AM, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?


If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

On 5/26/2019 9:29 PM, Bob F wrote:



If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have the meter inside and the main valve
right ahead of it. The outside valve is the one the city has, usually
near the street.

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 9:55:30 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 5/26/2019 9:29 PM, Bob F wrote:



If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have the meter inside and the main valve
right ahead of it. The outside valve is the one the city has, usually
near the street.

All the places I've lived for the past 60 years or so have had a valve at the meter box just inside the property. It takes a special wrench usually about 3 feet long, might be deeper some places.

But where I worked, shutoffs for larger buildings were a bit different. There was a similar valve just off the main, but that one was usually in the street and quite deep, it took an 8 foot wrench, down a narrow pipe so you had to feel for the valve. (and often took two of us on the handle to turn it) Frequently - more than half - that valve didn't hold tightly enough to do a repair, so we'd be looking at the utility drawings chasing the pipe upstream shutting off more valves. Get about three valves shut off and usually the flow stopped.

So, IF the city has to do it, which I doubt, it may not be a simple task and they might have to charge for a couple hours of time.

On Mon, 27 May 2019 03:08:39 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 9:55:30 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 5/26/2019 9:29 PM, Bob F wrote:



If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have the meter inside and the main valve
right ahead of it. The outside valve is the one the city has, usually
near the street.

All the places I've lived for the past 60 years or so have had a valve at the meter box just inside the property. It takes a special wrench usually about 3 feet long, might be deeper some places.

You obviously live where it is warm. Our shutoff valve isa MINIMUM of
4.5 feet below the ground - ours is over 6. The meters are ALL indoors
- and since we have basements that's where the meters are located -
with a shutoff valve on the HOUSE side of the meter. Used to be the
meter reader had to get into the house to read the meter - then they
went to remote readouts on the exterior of the house - now they have a
remote wireless device with no numbers on it.

But where I worked, shutoffs for larger buildings were a bit different. There was a similar valve just off the main, but that one was usually in the street and quite deep, it took an 8 foot wrench, down a narrow pipe so you had to feel for the valve. (and often took two of us on the handle to turn it) Frequently - more than half - that valve didn't hold tightly enough to do a repair, so we'd be looking at the utility drawings chasing the pipe upstream shutting off more valves. Get about three valves shut off and usually the flow stopped.

Here they use "frostproof hydrants" burried under ground with a long
telescopic stem coming up to ground level where they still need a
special wrench. Some plumbers carry the wrench. Others call the city.
BEST to call the city because if THEY screw it up, they pay. If you or
your plumber screws it up YOU pay.

So, IF the city has to do it, which I doubt, it may not be a simple task and they might have to charge for a couple hours of time.

On 2019-05-27 1:59 p.m., Clare Snyder wrote:
On Mon, 27 May 2019 03:08:39 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 9:55:30 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 5/26/2019 9:29 PM, Bob F wrote:



If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have the meter inside and the main valve
right ahead of it. The outside valve is the one the city has, usually
near the street.

All the places I've lived for the past 60 years or so have had a valve at the meter box just inside the property. It takes a special wrench usually about 3 feet long, might be deeper some places.

You obviously live where it is warm. Our shutoff valve isa MINIMUM of
4.5 feet below the ground - ours is over 6. The meters are ALL indoors
- and since we have basements that's where the meters are located -
with a shutoff valve on the HOUSE side of the meter. Used to be the
meter reader had to get into the house to read the meter - then they
went to remote readouts on the exterior of the house - now they have a
remote wireless device with no numbers on it.

But where I worked, shutoffs for larger buildings were a bit different. There was a similar valve just off the main, but that one was usually in the street and quite deep, it took an 8 foot wrench, down a narrow pipe so you had to feel for the valve. (and often took two of us on the handle to turn it) Frequently - more than half - that valve didn't hold tightly enough to do a repair, so we'd be looking at the utility drawings chasing the pipe upstream shutting off more valves. Get about three valves shut off and usually the flow stopped.

Here they use "frostproof hydrants" burried under ground with a long
telescopic stem coming up to ground level where they still need a
special wrench. Some plumbers carry the wrench. Others call the city.
BEST to call the city because if THEY screw it up, they pay. If you or
your plumber screws it up YOU pay.

So, IF the city has to do it, which I doubt, it may not be a simple task and they might have to charge for a couple hours of time.

they'll wreck the front lawn

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 12:02:03 -0400, Bill Jackson
wrote:

On 5/22/19 11:15 AM, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?


Not a big deal, had that happen to me.* The city's off/on fee was $125 and the plumber was $480.

Well, it turned out all I had to do was tighten the bonnet nut. I
figured it was tightened when they made the valve and I wouldn't be able
to make it any tighter! Maybe roaches have been eating the packing
material inside. 3/4" wrench iirc and 1/4 turn.

With the $500 I saved, I'm going to buy a new car radio.

Thanks to everyone who suggested that, except any who were sarcastic.

By coincidence, I'm out doing errands today, same day as above, and I
went to Best Buy even though I shoudlnt' have bothered and only spent 5
minutes, but as I was driving out, I saw one of those valve wrenches
sticking two feet out of the sidewalk, with no one around. I don't
think I've ever seen one before so it is quite a coincidence to see one
all by its lonesome today.

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 12:42:02 -0400,
wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.
Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?
If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?



Try cranking the valve hard-open and hard-closed
3 or 4 times. I have had this work for me on washing machine
shut-off valves before, when leaking from the stem.
John T.

I did try this btw, again but harder, and it didn't help.

Tnx

On Mon, 27 May 2019 14:06:06 -0700, % wrote:

On 2019-05-27 1:59 p.m., Clare Snyder wrote:
On Mon, 27 May 2019 03:08:39 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 9:55:30 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 5/26/2019 9:29 PM, Bob F wrote:



If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have the meter inside and the main valve
right ahead of it. The outside valve is the one the city has, usually
near the street.

All the places I've lived for the past 60 years or so have had a valve at the meter box just inside the property. It takes a special wrench usually about 3 feet long, might be deeper some places.

You obviously live where it is warm. Our shutoff valve isa MINIMUM of
4.5 feet below the ground - ours is over 6. The meters are ALL indoors
- and since we have basements that's where the meters are located -
with a shutoff valve on the HOUSE side of the meter. Used to be the
meter reader had to get into the house to read the meter - then they
went to remote readouts on the exterior of the house - now they have a
remote wireless device with no numbers on it.

But where I worked, shutoffs for larger buildings were a bit different. There was a similar valve just off the main, but that one was usually in the street and quite deep, it took an 8 foot wrench, down a narrow pipe so you had to feel for the valve. (and often took two of us on the handle to turn it) Frequently - more than half - that valve didn't hold tightly enough to do a repair, so we'd be looking at the utility drawings chasing the pipe upstream shutting off more valves. Get about three valves shut off and usually the flow stopped.

Here they use "frostproof hydrants" burried under ground with a long
telescopic stem coming up to ground level where they still need a
special wrench. Some plumbers carry the wrench. Others call the city.
BEST to call the city because if THEY screw it up, they pay. If you or
your plumber screws it up YOU pay.

So, IF the city has to do it, which I doubt, it may not be a simple task and they might have to charge for a couple hours of time.

they'll wreck the front lawn
The few times I've had mine turned off (they changed the meter
twice) they have never done ANY damage. The valve head is less than 6
inches under the sod.

In alt.home.repair, on Mon, 27 May 2019 03:08:39 -0700 (PDT), TimR
wrote:

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 9:55:30 PM UTC-4, Ed Pawlowski wrote:
On 5/26/2019 9:29 PM, Bob F wrote:



If I wanted the water off outside my house, Id go to the meter and turn
it off there. It's just a valve.

Besides needing the long wrench to close or open the valve, I'd need a
5-sided socket to open the box that the valve is in.

I was still cogitating about that, but I just found it, maybe,
https://www.walmart.com/ip/5-Sided-B...-Key/984668454 $16.78
Arrives by June 7! Maybe a neighbor has one, or a plumber!

Grainger will have it in stock: Nope, neither of these will work:
https://www.grainger.com/category/to...&filters=attrs
and even they are not in stokc.

This might be it:
https://www.grainger.com/product/REE...ter-Key-38HV31 It's $32
and the picture doesn't show what kind of bolt it fits.

None of the ones on Ebay are it:
https://www.ebay.com/bhp/water-meter-key except for this one,
https://www.ebay.com/itm/Vintage-No-...-/303137598144
which strangely, has some kind of tape over the opening. I think it's
5-sided, but I have no idea if it's the right dimension. It's called
Vintage No 1.

I should pursue this in advance, in case I really do need to turn off
the water.



The actual valve wrenches they have in stock at Home Depot wrenches that
I presume work on the valve, 13 of them at the store nearest me, for
about $18. 36" long. All the others take a day to get to the store.
https://www.homedepot.com/p/36-in-Wa...3601/207190848

BTW, just yesterday I set My Store to be the one near me, and today
again, they have it set to one many miles away.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have the meter inside and the main valve
right ahead of it. The outside valve is the one the city has, usually
near the street.

Yes, it's near the street. It's in the sidewalk that parallels the
street, one box for every two houses. I'm not sure if there is one valve
in there or two.

When this n'hood was first built, the plan was for four 7-story
apartment buildings, and they were going to dam the stream in two places
and make lakes. But the apartments didn't rent well and they decided
not to build the remaining three buildings, and build townhouses
instead. When they did that, there was no room for lakes (I like a
rustic stream better anyhow.)

I'm told we all have water meters, in those metal boxes, but we've never
hired anyone to read the meters. Instead, the only water meter that is
used is one the one in the apartment building. The water bill is paid
by the apartment building, and we pay them for 109 houses. The total
water bill is divided by our 109 "units" plus their about 100 apartments
plus about 50 houses on another street and 60 or 70 garden apartments
fairly far away but on the same big plot of land. And we pay 109 shares
of all this. The houses aren't owned by the apartment building, but
the apartement and the garden apartments are owned now by Warren
Buffent's company, including the wooded land on the other side of the
stream from my house. I was afraid they would build something on it
but it still has woods. Someone told me it's not deep enough to build
anything. I hope so.

All the places I've lived for the past 60 years or so have had a valve at the meter box just inside the property. It takes a special wrench usually about 3 feet long, might be deeper some places.

It gets cold in Maryland, not as cold as where you are, but cold enough
near Baltimore that the pipes are about 3 feet below ground level. My
water pipe comes into the basement between 3 and 4 feet below grade.

But where I worked, shutoffs for larger buildings were a bit different. There was a similar valve just off the main, but that one was usually in the street and quite deep, it took an 8 foot wrench, down a narrow pipe so you had to feel for the valve. (and often took two of us on the handle to turn it) Frequently - more than half - that valve didn't hold tightly enough to do a repair, so we'd be looking at the utility drawings chasing the pipe upstream shutting off more valves. Get about three valves shut off and usually the flow stopped.

So, IF the city has to do it, which I doubt, it may not be a simple task and they might have to charge for a couple hours of time.

In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 26 May 2019 07:25:46 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 6:47:11 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 13:08:55 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 3:06:45 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 09:08:48 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before,

The last time was just a year ago.

but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them?

Because I know that turning off the water is the least of it. I'm
trying to see if I can avoid hiring a plumber too.

And because calling any agency can take 10 to 20 to 40 minutes. Here
it takes me 2 minutes to ask a question and then read answers a few
hours later.

So, it's better to get a lame guess

What is wrong with you? Are you combative all the time, or is it that
you couldn't get me to swallow your strange views on political
commentary.

Just factual and observant. It's pretty dumb to ask what the policy is
for YOUR water company to turn off your water here, instead of just
calling them.

You just don't get it.


here as to what YOUR water company does
instead of a call to the water company and to get the correct answer
to your question?

Did you not notice that the question about the city turning off the
water was the last (2nd) question in the last (6th) pargraph of the
original post.

So what? You only asked two questions, one right after the other at
the end.

I asked 3.





It's the least of my concerns and it was the least important question I
asked. Added on at the end when I was ALREADY asking another question.

And IDK how screwed up
MD is but around here a call like that usually takes just a few minutes.

You're guessing.


Oh no I'm not. Read what I wrote. I'm telling you from my experience.
I can typically get an answer like that,

Well then, if you're only telling me about your water company, and not
trying to extrapolate to mine, then your information is worth no more
than what you said people's answers were about what they charged,
information you .

What do I care how long it takes you when I know how long it might take
me?

IF otoh, your remark was not pointless and I was supposed to learn
something from how long it took you, then you're guessing about how long
it would take me. You made a big point about how what one city charges
or doesn't charge can be very different from another location, but now
it seems you want to claim that your city and my city take the same
amount to time to answer the phone and answer a question, including all
the time spent on the multiple choice switchboard (listening to choices
and pressing 2 or 3) and all the time then spent on hold.

So departments are different when you want to argue with me, and they
are the same when you want to argue with me. How convenient.


what does it take to get the
water turned off, from a utility, the town, etc
in a few minutes. Hell, how to get water turned on or off is probably
on the web.

I already told you that it's not. They have an FAQ and another page
and neither had the answer, but I had to spend my time reading them to
know that.



And eve
n you say "usually". It took less than a few
minutes to ask here, and I got a range of answers, which I find worth
hearing regardless of what the situation is here.

Which are mostly worthless with regard to what YOUR water company does or does
not do.

You didn't understand my last sentence. I'm interested in what other
water departments do, not just my own. So every answer I got was was
worth hearing/reading.


BRW, you also, in your first answer to me, gave an answer to half of my
last question: "I'm 99.99% sure if you're the home owner they will shut
it off for you, no plumber call needed"

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 18:32:32 -0400, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?
Did you try tightening the packing nut?

Not when I first posted.

Did you open the valve ALL THE WAY?

Yes.

On most dhutoff valves they don't
leak even with a bad packing if they are ALL THE WAY open - but will
leak like a sieve if 1/4 turn from fully open.

I've noticed that.

I'd try tightening the packing nut 1/4 turn or so if possible (with
the shutoff NOT fully open) and see what happens.

That worked. It turned quite easily!

On Mon, 27 May 2019 22:08:42 -0400, micky
wrote:

In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 18:32:32 -0400, Clare Snyder
wrote:

On Wed, 22 May 2019 11:15:34 -0400, micky
wrote:

I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before, but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?
Did you try tightening the packing nut?

Not when I first posted.

Did you open the valve ALL THE WAY?

Yes.

On most dhutoff valves they don't
leak even with a bad packing if they are ALL THE WAY open - but will
leak like a sieve if 1/4 turn from fully open.

I've noticed that.

I'd try tightening the packing nut 1/4 turn or so if possible (with
the shutoff NOT fully open) and see what happens.

That worked. It turned quite easily!
Glad it worked for you It has worked for me many times on water
valves of all kinds over the years.

On Monday, May 27, 2019 at 10:07:00 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Sun, 26 May 2019 07:25:46 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Sunday, May 26, 2019 at 6:47:11 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 13:08:55 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 3:06:45 PM UTC-4, micky wrote:
In alt.home.repair, on Wed, 22 May 2019 09:08:48 -0700 (PDT), trader_4
wrote:

On Wednesday, May 22, 2019 at 11:15:39 AM UTC-4, micky wrote:
I just got back from a trip. Had turned off the water and drained the
pipes so no chance of pipes freezing. I've done this at least twice
before,

The last time was just a year ago.

but this time, when I turned the main house valve on, water
dripped from the valve. Quite a bit.

Is there any way out of this other than having the city turn off the
water to the house so a plumber can replace the valve?

Like putting bread or cheerios in the water pipes, or leeches, or at
least maybe temporarily there's something I can wrap around the stem and
where it comes out of the valve. House built in 1979,

I just got back and other things have piled up. Not a good time to hire
a plumber.

Valve is in the basement, behind a warddrobe full of stuff with stuff
piled on top of it with a heavy box of medium length pieces of wood,
metal, etc. in front of that.

If it's just stem packing, can I replace it myself, with something that
will work better than this did? Will the city turn the water off for
me, or will they insist that a plumber call?

Why are you asking us instead of calling the water company and asking
them?

Because I know that turning off the water is the least of it. I'm
trying to see if I can avoid hiring a plumber too.

And because calling any agency can take 10 to 20 to 40 minutes. Here
it takes me 2 minutes to ask a question and then read answers a few
hours later.

So, it's better to get a lame guess

What is wrong with you? Are you combative all the time, or is it that
you couldn't get me to swallow your strange views on political
commentary.

Just factual and observant. It's pretty dumb to ask what the policy is
for YOUR water company to turn off your water here, instead of just
calling them.

You just don't get it.

I get it. You'd rather have an answer about what a water company procedure
and charge is to turn the water off in Oshkosh or the UK, rather than the
answer for what YOUR water company does, which is the answer you need.







here as to what YOUR water company does
instead of a call to the water company and to get the correct answer
to your question?

Did you not notice that the question about the city turning off the
water was the last (2nd) question in the last (6th) pargraph of the
original post.

So what? You only asked two questions, one right after the other at
the end.

I asked 3.





It's the least of my concerns and it was the least important question I
asked. Added on at the end when I was ALREADY asking another question.

And IDK how screwed up
MD is but around here a call like that usually takes just a few minutes.

You're guessing.


Oh no I'm not. Read what I wrote. I'm telling you from my experience.
I can typically get an answer like that,

Well then, if you're only telling me about your water company, and not
trying to extrapolate to mine, then your information is worth no more
than what you said people's answers were about what they charged,
information you .

Bingo! Maybe there is hope for you.




What do I care how long it takes you when I know how long it might take
me?

I doubt you know anything about it, because you probably haven't
actually called your water company in twenty years. And again, it doesn't
matter how long it takes to get an answer from the water company,
because they are the only ones that can give you the right answer.
Call them and if they put you on hold, put in on the speaker
while you do something else.






IF otoh, your remark was not pointless and I was supposed to learn
something from how long it took you, then you're guessing about how long
it would take me. You made a big point about how what one city charges
or doesn't charge can be very different from another location, but now
it seems you want to claim that your city and my city take the same
amount to time to answer the phone and answer a question, including all
the time spent on the multiple choice switchboard (listening to choices
and pressing 2 or 3) and all the time then spent on hold.

So departments are different when you want to argue with me, and they
are the same when you want to argue with me. How convenient.


what does it take to get the
water turned off, from a utility, the town, etc
in a few minutes. Hell, how to get water turned on or off is probably
on the web.

I already told you that it's not. They have an FAQ and another page
and neither had the answer, but I had to spend my time reading them to
know that.

I doubt you could find it even if it was there. You have so many
problems. Can't figure out how the rental car works. Can't figure
out how the radio works. Incapable of reading a manual. You have
problems with credit card companies. Seems everything always a
crisis.







And eve
n you say "usually". It took less than a few
minutes to ask here, and I got a range of answers, which I find worth
hearing regardless of what the situation is here.

Which are mostly worthless with regard to what YOUR water company does or does
not do.

You didn't understand my last sentence. I'm interested in what other
water departments do, not just my own. So every answer I got was was
worth hearing/reading.


BRW, you also, in your first answer to me, gave an answer to half of my
last question: "I'm 99.99% sure if you're the home owner they will shut
it off for you, no plumber call needed"


You really needed me to answer that? You really think that a water company
won't turn off the water to a property for the owner and they would insist
a plumber call? You really are a good example of a Democrat.