Think it's time to replace this valve?

This valve was in an out of the way part of the basement, and I can't remember the last time I looked up here. My clue was the puddle below. I had the plumber come by to replace it and some other harder jobs, and he said he has never seen one this bad before. I guess they collect extreme plumbing items back at their shop, and he removed it gently like it was a museum piece, and couldn't wait to show the other plumbers.

Figured I would get a photo of it for posterity.

It looks like it was inside a cave for many years! Any idea how long that valve has been in service?

That's funny about the plumber saving it like a relic. It reminds me of an auto junkyard I went to last year where they collected and displayed in their workshop bras and womens' underwear they would find in the cars they would take in. I counted 47!

Back on topic, it's a good thing you got it replaced. Maybe it would have started leaking real bad and made a really big and expensive mess.

Singularly impressive! Glad it was replaced though. How hard is the water in your area?

Now YOU owe ME a keyboard. I spit my sip of coffee all over it when I opened your thread after reading the caption! :laughing:

I can't say I have ever seen a plumbing stalactite before.

Th232 said:

How hard is the water in your area?

Click to expand...

...and how long have you been drinking it?

That's interesting that it kept leaking long enough to get that bad without the mineral deposits plugging the leak up.
I had to rework most of the plumbing in the house I'm living in now and ended up with a couple slow leaking joints (drip hanging off but no puddle underneath). They eventually sealed themselves up.

Hey that blue stuff is an indication that there's NH3 (Ammonia) present in your basement :candle:, NH3 reacts with yellow metals (Copper,zinc), maybe you have a sewer leak?:huh:

Very impressive valve photo !


:eeew:




You sure that's not a "sneak-peek" image

from the upcoming "Aliens-2010" movie ?




_

Actually the green or blue-green looks like it was the result of too much acid flux being used in the solder joint when it was put together. I don't think valves should normally have to be replaced even after long term if they were installed correctly in the first place. OTOH this valve looks like it had a rubber seal in it and I'd guess it got hard and cracked and was leaking. It looks too like you've got some fairly 'hard' water in your supply. Hopefully the plumber replaced it with a 1/4 turn ball type valve as they don't have any rubber that gets hard and starts cracking as it appears that one probably did. Oh and please tell me you don't drink that water straight out of the tap - you do at least have a carbon filter or reverse osmosis unit on your kitchen sink?

This is quality city water....not hard at all. It tastes as good as New York City water when I used to live there. This local city mails out annual independent lab analysis which gives very high marks. I only have a carbon filter for our ice maker, which reminds me I probably should replace that after being there at least 3-5 years. Have not had to replace any faucets/aerator filters or shower head nozzles in the last 10 years except on a cosmetic high output "Rain" shower head. (Obviously 2.5 gpm restrictor was discarded)

I'm guessing this valve was 40+ years old based upon what it is going to in this 90 year old house, and knowing the occupancy history and date of improvements. No leaking sewage or ammonia or any other contributing causes. It was actually over a shallow cabinet of "nick nacks" that I had not looked at for at least 15 years, so the moisture mostly got absorbed into the top of the wood cabinet.

I have been getting only the 90 degree ball valve lever replacements put in....but I bet there are at least 30-40 remaining round valves all over. It's a crap shoot if you have to close one of these valves whether it will start leaking, and often tightening the packing nut will not help. I got into this whole mess when our 20+ yr old washer started leaking where the clothes drum is mounted on a rotating bushing. The first two sets of hot/cold water valves would not turn off the water supply completely, and 3 of them started dripping afterwards. I had to shut off the main coming into the house just to replace leaking mixer connection valve for washer.

I've replaced some mighty nasty looking valves around the farm here (I just had to crawl down a 12-ft deep mud-hole last week to fix one that had failed) but I have yet to see one that looked that interesting.

30-40 valves? You must either have a big house, or your house is like mine, where about 2/3 of the valves serve absolutely no function after 2 dozen remodels.

LOL! Can we hope that this thread is going to turn into "LuxLuthor's Destructive Plumbing Parts Tests"?

I was over at Home Despot today, and picked up a PSI water pressure guage, because I keep reading of all these 2.5 gallon per minute flow restrictors on shower heads, and that most cities restrict water pressure to 60 psi. I was happy to just test ours and found it to be 91 psi. That makes for a wonderful Rainfall Head Shower experience (sans restrictor).

I would have to tear walls apart to figure out where all the pipes are going. I know there are 6 outside water faucets which seems excessive.

Wow nice valve! We see those type of things on a weekly basis at work (60+ year old building) That valve should have been installed either with the handle up or second best; horizontally. Glad you found it.

Maybe it's time we all inspect the plumbing in our own houses today.

I thought it was a stalactite when I first opened it! Haha!

Wake up, stretch, eat breakfast, check CPF, find an alien creature masquerading as a valve...all in a day......

91PSI is high, I'm getting 50-60 here. Be careful though, lots of things aren't rated for much more than 60PSI. Namely garden hose things.

I can't imagine what was going through plumbers minds when they did some of the work on houses and renovations.

With a psi of 91 lbs, and a valve that looks like that all next to 4 runs of romex/nm and one run of bx/ac I would be very concerned.

Beamhead said:

With a psi of 91 lbs, and a valve that looks like that all next to 4 runs of romex/nm and one run of bx/ac I would be very concerned.

Click to expand...

I did notice that cheap garden hoses were bad investments. Fortunately, there are quality hoses that hold up to this pressure. There are way more advantages to having mega pressure than not. Showers are ecstatic once you remove those lame restrictors.

If that valve had totally blown, the wire above it would have been the least of my problems. Although I do have a high output sump pump that is set in a hole about 8" below the basement floor which has kept it dry, despite seasonal heavy rains raising the water table.

My ultimate backup is copious Flood Insurance. I'm waiting for the next Hurricane to hit. Last one of significance in CT was Gloria in 1985. We are due. I think a pipe/valve leak falls under homeowner's insurance. Sometimes it is a real pain having a house.