The ball valve in my heating system F&E tank only allows a trickle of
water to flow. This is fine for normal use, but it's a pain when
flushing and re-filling the system because it takes so long to fill.
The valve is the same as the type that I've seen used in toilet
cisterns. The float-arm pushes a plastic plunger that in turn presses
a rubber washer against the narrow end of a cone-shaped bit of plastic
through which the water flows. The rubber washer is quite stiff and
the hole through the cone-shaped plastic is narrow. This combination
of the stiff washer and the narrow hole results in a very slow rate of
fill.

Can anyone point me to a different design of ball-valve that allows a
higher flow rate (without being so high as to overwhelm the
capabilities of the overflow pipework).

Thanks,

Mike

"MikeH" wrote in message
oups.com...
The ball valve in my heating system F&E tank only allows a trickle of
water to flow. This is fine for normal use, but it's a pain when
flushing and re-filling the system because it takes so long to fill.
The valve is the same as the type that I've seen used in toilet
cisterns. The float-arm pushes a plastic plunger that in turn presses
a rubber washer against the narrow end of a cone-shaped bit of plastic
through which the water flows. The rubber washer is quite stiff and
the hole through the cone-shaped plastic is narrow. This combination
of the stiff washer and the narrow hole results in a very slow rate of
fill.

Can anyone point me to a different design of ball-valve that allows a
higher flow rate (without being so high as to overwhelm the
capabilities of the overflow pipework).

The plastic mechanism valves usually come with two alternative cones for
high and low pressure systems. Maybe yours has the wrong one fitted. You
could probably drill the hole out a bit bigger to cure the problem if that's
what it is. I also vaguely recall some sort of adjustment with a plastic
screw and nut under the arm from when I fitted mine many years ago but that
may have just been for the shutoff position. Worth a look though.

Also are you sure the supply to the ball valve isn't restricted in some way
by a stop cock somewhere that perhaps hasn't been opened fully?

Anyhoo, those plastic valves work fine if they're fitted right so no need to
search out a better type. Just find out what's wrong with your one.
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines
www.pumaracing.co.uk
Camp American engineer minces about for high performance specialist (4,4,7)

Dave Baker wrote:

The plastic mechanism valves usually come with two alternative cones for
high and low pressure systems. Maybe yours has the wrong one fitted. You
could probably drill the hole out a bit bigger to cure the problem if that's
what it is. I also vaguely recall some sort of adjustment with a plastic
screw and nut under the arm from when I fitted mine many years ago but that
may have just been for the shutoff position. Worth a look though.

Also are you sure the supply to the ball valve isn't restricted in some way
by a stop cock somewhere that perhaps hasn't been opened fully?

Anyhoo, those plastic valves work fine if they're fitted right so no need to
search out a better type. Just find out what's wrong with your one.
--
Dave Baker
Puma Race Engines
www.pumaracing.co.uk
Camp American engineer minces about for high performance specialist (4,4,7)


There's no problem with the supply to the tank. Without the valve in
place the flow is 'normal' for a mains tap.

I've had problems with these valves before, but never been able to see
why the flow is so low, other than to attribute it to the design of the
unit. I suspected that the rubber diaphragm might have hardened, but
it's only 5 years old, so that doesn't seem likely. As yoy say, the
adjustment feature sometimes found at the valve end of the arm is to
control the shut-off point. Mine doesn't have one anyway because the
arm is cranked so that the 'depth' of the ball with respect to the arm
can be adjusted to achieve the right cut-off level.

Short of drilling out the cone or fitting one for a low pressure
supply, I'm not sure what else I can do to the darn thing.

What counts as 'low' pressure. As far as I can remember the static
pressure measured on the ground floor cold mains tap (many years ago)
was about 40psi (1.25 bar?). Maybe I shoud try changing the cone for a
low pressure version, but I'd prefer to change the valve for a
different design if such a thing exists.

Mike

I've seen the problem of poor flow through (what should be) fully open
ball valves twice before, once in a ball valve in the header tank in
the attic and once in a ball valve in a tradional (i.e. non
button-type) toilet cistern. Both times the poor flow problem was
caused by a blockage in the valve itself which is normally pretty
easily pulled apart. It was a little stone jammed into the narrow part
of the valve, only letting a small flow through.

It was getting really annoying waiting for the toilet to fill in the
event of a two-flusher sitation occurring, IYSWIM!

HTH

Ross.

TheTaffia wrote:
I've seen the problem of poor flow through (what should be) fully open
ball valves twice before, once in a ball valve in the header tank in
the attic and once in a ball valve in a tradional (i.e. non
button-type) toilet cistern. Both times the poor flow problem was
caused by a blockage in the valve itself which is normally pretty
easily pulled apart. It was a little stone jammed into the narrow part
of the valve, only letting a small flow through.

It was getting really annoying waiting for the toilet to fill in the
event of a two-flusher sitation occurring, IYSWIM!

HTH

Ross.


Heck - I can't imagine how bad it would be if it were blocked as well
:-)

I've already had it to bits (several times) and there are no foreign
bodies, C/H crud, sludge, scale, etc, blocking it.

Any other ideas, anyone?

Mike