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"Frozen" gate valves

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  • wayneb301
    wayneb301 Member Posts: 83
    edited June 28

    To disconnect the lower one, and to avoid damaging that partition fitting, the partition fitting should be braced by a wrench while the hex nut is being wrenched on, but why does the partition fitting not provide a gripping area for a pipe wrench?

  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 27,904

    I’m not sure they designed for this type of repair

    The valve you want to work on is not part if that meter yoke assembly

    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
  • wayneb301
    wayneb301 Member Posts: 83

    So the letter on one of the handles is "Ford".

    The swivel cup should be part of the interesting valve, not part of the isolation fitting. But there are no hex part on the fitting to match the swivel cups, so I'm puzzled how this was assembled initially

    IMG20260627151709.jpg IMG20260627151812.jpg
  • hot_rod
    hot_rod Member Posts: 27,904
    edited June 28

    the meter yoke itself is all preassembled. You can buy various valve types to add on to the yoke, from Ford.

    Then the installing plumber added that gate valve, and connections on the other end to the building supply line. So it is just an assembly of various Ford components.

    This looks like the valve you have, swivel nut with EPDM washer on one end, pipe thread on the other. All these parts and info are at the www.fordmeterbox.com website

    Regardless of what type or quality of valve you buy, unless they get used, exercised from time to time, the minerals in the water will cause them to stick in one position.

    Those Ford valves are just a tapered brass plug inside the brass body, a fairly simplistic design.

    As brass ages it tends to get brittle, so those top levers can shear off easily.

    I don’t see a lot of need for those valves, just replace the gate valve and leave them alone. If you start twisting and wrenching on the yoke or valves, you may cause damage.

    Contact the water supplier, maybe they would supply a new assembly. You will need to somehow shut off the water supply to do any work on this, so you need to involve whoever supplies the water to the building.

    Once the water is off, this would be a simple repair job for an experienced plumber, just a few threaded joints.

    IMG_1561.jpeg
    Bob "hot rod" Rohr
    trainer for Caleffi NA
    Living the hydronic dream
    wayneb301

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