Shut off Valves - 3 Cut in Half - Whats the Difference???

If you're a builder or remodeler, you need to know what your plumbers doing, AND you want to specify good products! Today we cut open expensive and cheap shut-off valves to show the difference!

[DOLRED]

Yes, your demonstration with cut open valves really brings up the knowledge level for DIYs!! I have a ton of valves in my place because of a boiler with 3 zones. Most of those valves are 50+ years old. Some leak through the packing stem and you must periodically tighten packing nuts. A couple others have worn washers I'm sure. If the washer wears out or "Disappears" as you point out, then you might also grind down the cup which the washer sits in and ruin the whole valve. The screw which holds the washer in place will also disintegrate; Break off or freeze. Either way, these stop valves are a pain. These are similar valves used on old laundry tub faucets. I find if one tries to get a new washer to repair them, the newer washers are a wee bit thinner and this makes the turn key (shutoff lever) bottom out tight to shut the water off. Old Gate Valves are even more treacherous. If the stem breaks as you force turn it open/closed, the gate will remain in whatever position it was in--if closed, no water. If open, water flows!! A lot of gate valves were used as house shut off valves? The only problem I heard about Ball Valves is they must be used fully open or closed. Otherwise, you will eventually damage the surface of the ball (Being exposed to the flow).

[dustinthewind]

As a service plumber, and from a serviceability standpoint I prefer the multi-turn compression shut offs. With them being designed more like a globe valve, they have the benefit of being able to throttle flow, and if need be, the packing nut and stem can be removed to change the washer or just install all new guts inside, way easier to service the multi-turn compression style in a multi story building, water can be shut off and very quick to pop the guts out and tighten in new guts quick. Another benefit is if the valve is being soldered onto copper, the guts can be removed before soldering so the heat doesn't damage the rubber, the 1/4 turn style can easily get over heated and I had one blow apart on me and flood a house, learned my lesson there. Anything goes wrong with a 1/4 turn and they're not serviceable.
Another great video Matt.

[abcfhdi]

I agree with you the quarter turn ball valves are awesome, works every time and no leaks.

[lzh]

This is exactly the information I was looking for. The “big box” stores offer cheap ones. I would rather spend a few more $$$ and get something that will last longer, considering the hard water I have in my island home. Thanks for a very important and informative video!

[MrTeff]

Thank you. I was at The Home Depot just an hour ago and I asked the guy in the plumbing department which is better, a quarter turn or multiple-turn valve. His response: Some people prefer the quarter turn. So helpful... LOL.

[danamccarthy]

Having 8 houses to do maintenance on from our rental properties, the only shut off valves that have failed on me doing this for about a decade have all been compression valves. I much prefer ball valves for any sort of shutoff.

[josephdestaubin]

I love stem valves, replacing them (with ball valves of course) has paid so many of my bills over the years. ; )

[dkeith]

Handyman with over twenty years exp here. Love ball valves. But must say, the old brass stem/rubber washer combo is not bad either, you just have to replace the rubber washers from time to time and it is cheap and easy to do. I absolutely hate some of these modern valves with ceramic cores, rubber o rings etc. The old type with rubber washers are so easy to fix and so cheap too.

[williamhoodtn]

Just finishing building a new house and I specified "use ONLY ball valves" in my entire house to the plumbing contractor. Having come from a house we lived in (first owners) for 22 years, I can tell you that moving away from the old, cheap standard washer based supply cut-off valve to these really hardy ball valves was a no-brainer.

[djSmokeShow]

This is EXACTLY what I was looking for, so glad you did the cutaway on the valves. I HATE the plastic on brass valves, I call them squeaker valves.

[nealwalden]

Hello Matt: New to the channel, but have seen shut off valves cause massive damage. Appreciate the time/effort to explain the merits of a better choice. Thank you.

[JayBrockway]

I’ve replaced several quarter turn valves due to mineral deposits preventing the valve from fully turning. Valves were only 12 years old. City water isn’t so hard it leaves deposits when it evaporates.

[irrelevant]

2:27 There is actually rubber in this one. Do you see those four little rectangular holes beneath the handle? That is where two rubber o-rings would be in place. The rubber o-rings are necessary to prevent water from leaking through the stem.

[itimontano]

I love brass stem valves, replacing the rubber seat (gasket) is a lot easier if you maintain them properly. You should change them as soon as they are no longer softly closing, they use to sell the rubber seats for a nickel. Hey look at the old one you got; even with NO rubber seat it was somehow working. We are just too busy to go over the HOME MAINTENACE LIST.

[paulcalder]

It’s a good idea, if accessible, to open and close the shut off valves periodically. Over time hard water can form deposits on the mechanism of the shut off valve and make it almost impossible to operate the valve. Turning it on and off a few times every couple of months is the best way I have found, to keep it operating.

[Maadhawk]

Helped my father with a few water claims inspections. In every case where a valve or fitting had failed, it had some kind of plastic replacing what used to be made of copper or brass. In every case, it was the plastic part that had failed and caused the insureds to suffer multiple thousand dollar losses for which they had to turn to their insurance for.

[davefoc]

I maintain an old apartment building. About thirty years ago when I began working on the building more than half the compression style shut off valves would not shut off the water. When ball valve shut off valves became available I switched to them. I believe I've been installing them for about 15 years now. I've had one failure. It was a Keeney from Lowes. Originally since I was having good luck with the Keeney's I stuck with them. After the failure, I started using Brasscraft from Home Depot. as well I've had zero failures with those.

As to the comment below about being able to throttle the water more easily with compression style angle stops: Huh? Why would you need that? Even if you needed to throttle the water with the angle stop, something that seems unlikely to me, ball valve angle stops can do it.

My general sense of it is that compression style angle stops begin to fail just about the time you need them to work when you are installing a new fixture to replace the old one.

I also have used non-name brand shut off valves. Whoa, that was really stupid. The failure of a a shut off valve can be a cause of massive damage. If there is any plumbing part where spending money to get a more reliable part is justified it is shut off valves..

As an aside, I think Lowes may have stopped carrying compression style shut off valves. From my perspective that was the right decision. Old style compression shut off valves should not be installed when a much better product is available for an insignificant amount of money.more.

[blueferral]

All of my rentals have ball valves. When I buy a new house all the cut offs get replaced with quarter turn ball valves. Leaks cost a lot more to fix.

[oswaldjh]

Ball valves do seize up unless you take the time to turn them off and on periodically. Who's going to remember to do that even if they are accessible. Are you going to pull your refrigerator away from the wall or remember that you have one under the sink for the dish washer?

[johnmariano]

Thanks for a great video. Ball valves last longer (should be good in low service areas- you turn them off and on once in a blue moon such as during servicing the toilet etc.) but have to be replaced as a unit when leaking and this will be a pain then. The multiturn with the gasket will have to be serviced from year to year with the gasket (which rarely a homeowner does unless a maintenance guy from a company with a task list does it) or else deposits will eat the rubber gasket away until the valve leaks when you need to service the equipment or apparatus attached to it. With the multiturn valve, if there is no available stem repair kit or unable to make one up, if one is patient and it is not leaking like crazy, all is needed is to plug the end of the hose attached to it to stop the leak for the meantime and just reconnect it to the equipment when needed with a little spill. The most important takeaway is that if it leaks and one has not destroyed the body by forcing it, it is an easy fix with the gasket for a DIYer. Ball valves leak and seize over time due to sediment build-up and more so if turned on and off frequently and are better to be operated either fully open or fully closed and not on throttle position for long periods of time.