Winter water shutoff valves

[gtsgarage]

Not sure where this post should go but here goes.

I have a winter cabin that I just purchased this year.

We have valves to shutoff the water and drain the pipes. It’s been very straightforward we shut off water and open drains when we leave during the winter.

I had to have someone stop by and they needed to turn on the water. Seems they may have over turned one of the drain valves. It used to go 1/4 turn close and 1/4 turn open. Now the valve turns 360 degrees. I can feel a detent at open and close but no hard stop.

Seems to be working fine I can hear it open and close when in-line and at close.

Should I be worried or not? It’s the valve on the bottom left currently in closed position.



Thanks for any thoughts.

 

[Jim greengo]

Did they break the stop off of the outside of valve?

 

[gtsgarage]

I’ll have to go down and look the valves are down about 10 ft in a crawl space. You use a big t handle to turn them and it’s very likely he turned it the wrong way thinking it was stuck a little.

 

[BD1]

Those appear to be Apollo Ball valves.
The nut on top holds the handle which has a tab on it for a stop.
Handle was possibly forced in wrong direction and either bent or broke off.
Valve handle indicates flow direction.
It will work fine as is or you could get replacement handle.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[rlitman]

Those appear to be Apollo Ball valves.
The nut on top holds the handle which has a tab on it for a stop.
Handle was possibly forced in wrong direction and either bent or broke off.
Valve handle indicates flow direction.
It will work fine as is or you could get replacement handle.



Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Exactly. The valve handle has a double D punched hole that matches the stem with two flats. That clocks the handle onto the ball, and is completely independent of the mechanism that stops the handle.

Then, the handle has a bent extension that interferes with a pair of bosses cast into the body which act as the stops. If that tab bends (most likely situation, as it turns a full 360 now) or the bosses break (they'd have to have broken both for it to turn the full 360), then you lose the positive stop, but the ball still remains indexed onto the handle. So parallel still means on and perpendicular still means off.

Most likely you can just bend that tab back down (or replace the handle from a matching valve), but the stops really don't have any effect on the valve's action. They're just there for convenience.

 

[gtsgarage]

Thanks all. Went down to take a closer look. These valves are at the bottom of a very narrow shaft. It’s an adventure getting down there.

Look like I can replace the handle as it looks like the tabs broke.

Good news is the valve it working just fine. Broken tabs can be seen on the valve in the right.

Thanks!

 

[Robbie B]

We have hundreds of those style of valves of all sizes where I work. Unless it’s just a thing where you want to feel the stop I wouldn’t worry about replacing the handle even. As long as you pay attention when you turn them it isn’t an issue.

 

[gtsgarage]

We have hundreds of those style of valves of all sizes where I work. Unless it’s just a thing where you want to feel the stop I wouldn’t worry about replacing the handle even. As long as you pay attention when you turn them it isn’t an issue.

Thanks this is what a plumber friend said as well.