The plumbing hell continues...
I installed flow control valves in the heating system so I wouldn't get heat in zones I'm not supposed to... These things are about as simple a device as can be... Its basically a check valve, with a heavy brass plunger... Water is supposed to enter from the bottom of the valve, and when the circulator is running, then it pushes the plunger up and out of the way... Water is prevented from flowing the other direction since the weight settles back down... These things aren't high precision devices, and if they weren't there the system would still work...
So they were sweated in like everything else, and there are no leaks at the sweat fittings... They do however leak at the seal that connects the top of the valve to the body... Tighten them you say... Tighten them I did... Then I tightened them some more... Then I got a huge fucking wrench and tweaked them to within an inch of their lives, and still the seep air... So it was off to the plumbing supply since obviously I either got a bad batch of valves since they all do it, or I cooked the gaskets while sweating the fittings...
Fortunately the plumbing supply guys are getting used to me and my odd requests... Unfortunately, they didn't have what I needed... Home Desperate didn't have anything close either... So I tried the last option... The auto parts store...
Auto parts places tend to carry a few different kinds of gasket material you can make your own from... They also carry an assortment of gel type sealers...
None of the products I purchased is quite right, but we're talking low pressure, and only 200 degrees... They should have worked... Hell the originals should have worked... Nothing has worked, though I got very close with one of the gel products...
I am now going to leave it alone for the rest of the day... In the morning I will decide if I will try something different, or just cut the damn things out, patch the pipe and move on with my life...
I hate plumbing....
I've got a plumber coming in this morning to replace our tub/shower setup. I can do very basic plumbing, but this was beyond me, and I don't want to screw up something that might pour water through the ceiling of my living room.
Expensive necessity.
Posted by: Ted at September 15, 2005 09:28 AMYep... That's less of an issue here since the basement is only semi-finished... Most of the plumbing I could ever see leaking is in the ceiling of the utility room, or over a crawl space nearby. Any leaks would either drain outside, or right in to the sump... Not that I want anything to leak that is, but I'm fairly well covered if it did...
Posted by: Tim at September 15, 2005 09:39 AM