gate valve instead of stop cock,its broken!

[bengriffiths]

I went to a farm which had a gate valve instead of stop cock,I turned it off to repair the faulty washing machine switch,then went to turn on the water and its broken! cant find the stopcock outside,they are finding out where it is now.anyone have any ideas? cant freeze as there isnt enough pipe showing,only 3 inches if that.
if i change the gate valve to a stop cock,will it be the same size or will it need the pipework lengthening,or shortening,both are 15mm?
cheers
ben

 

[kirkgas]

if a gatevalve is in now you will have to shorten the pipe to allow the stopcock to fit as they are longer, the existing valve nut might fit the new stopcock, if you are lucky, but more often than not it won't so it will be a pig of a job to cut the olive off, take a valve with you but before you renew it take the old valve out, it MAY have simply unscrewed on the inside and be jammed (always the optimist) if snapped it might be easier to remove the guts of the valve and fit a new stopcock above the old valve.
let us know how you get on

 

[htgeng]

Theres a moral in this story somewhere. Gatevalves are the spawn of evil. Never, ever, ever turn a gatevalve or service valve if you don't want to have problems.

Next time if you see this setup, tell them its a no go unless you can find a proper stop tap. If changing any sort of taps I will never turn an isolating valve unless its a good quality ballofix or full bore lever. Been there, done that, got the T shirt.

Theres also a school of thought that sometimes its worth walking away from a potential job even if you do lose out a callout fee. Often the time it takes for going back to rectify nightmares can far outweigh what you originally invoiced.

 

[bengriffiths]

hi,thanks for the advice.if it isnt broken,how could i fix it? it just turns and turns,the water is stuff off?
i didnt feel anything break
what about finding stopcock outside,pipe slice below the olive if needed,fit new stopcock and add copper pipe if needed? or fit a puchfit stopcock for speed?
ben

 

[bengriffiths]

how do i remove the guts of the valve?
spanner the nut below the gland nut and take that part off?
ben

 

[kirkgas]

split the valve at the 20mm(ish) hex nut where the spindle/packing nut join the valve, you "should" see the joint, inside the valve there is a threaded spiral attached to a wheel(horrible, horrible description but i can see it clearly in my mind!!) if disconnected or snapped when you remove the valve head and look in you should see the stem left inside, use a flat blade screwdriver at the side of it to release it, as it is low down even with the water off you will still get some water out so take care. if it turned off and jammed/snapped when you turned it back on again it came apart and is now spining without turning on water