What kind of valve is this on my boiler?

amin1992

Hey all. Pretty sure this is the purge valve on my boiler's return line. I am trying to confirm before I go trying to purge some air out of the system. I dont have a pic of my actual valve yet but I actually found the same one online in an ebay listing, ha!




On the left of that valve I do have a gate valve to open up the loop and purge air/water out. However, I'm trying to figure out what that little lever is on the right... almost looks like a mini ball valve.

I have two zones in the house. One of those little levers is easy to turn but rotates 360. The other one i can't turn by hand and wanted to ask you all about it before I pull out the pliers and potentially break something ha!

What do you call this valve? If it is in fact like a ball valve, does it matter what direction it is? As I said, turns 360, so not sure if it is open regardless of direction, as long as it is in line?

Thanks all

Ironman

You have to close the lever on the valve when purging. You also need to make sure that the fill valve maintains proper pressure when purging.

amin1992

Thanks, yes I had a Watts auto fill recently installed so that should help!

So that lever, does it just have to be perpendicular? Can I turn it 360? Wasn't sure how it worked exactly or what it was called to even google it. The valve is from the mid 70's

Ironman

Perpendicular closes it.

You want water to come through the supply line off of the boiler and go through the loop and exit at the purge valve. You have to close it or else water would simply come up the return from the boiler and not go through the loop.

amin1992

Makes sense to me. Just wanted to make sure I knew how this valve worked. Thank you

mattmia2

It is possible it may break when you try to turn it. You can rotate it a little bit back and forth gently until it loosens up and it will be less likely you will break something. There are modern equivalents available today that are a bit better built and have the drain valve and hose thread adapter built in.

amin1992

Thanks for the tip. I'll remember to be careful. I suppose if I'm purging the lines it isn't that much more to just drain the boiler and solder in a new valve right!

mattmia2

You might want to have a spare on hand since the integrated version is a little hard to find locally but I wouldn't replace it unless it breaks or I can't get the packing to stop leaking by tightening it or stuffing a bit of string packing or teflon in it.

toeknee

All the ball valves I've ever seen are closed when the handle is perpendicular to the pipe. Picture it like a gate on a road. Perpendicular gate blocks the road, swing it parallel and the road is clear.