pasadena_commut
Well-Known Member
We have an old Champion brass valve which is dripping (into the pipe) a little when it is off. In the pictures it is the one with the solenoid pulled off, third from the left. It is in our backyard. The valves in our front yard (see "front_yard" picture) are relatively easy to service, as they are up off the ground and well away from the building. Other than fighting a rose bush I can get big wrenches on them.
The backyard is a different situation altogether. I believe they are the same valve body but they are partially buried (the expected union nut is not visible) and they are only a few inches from the wall and closely packed side by side (see "top_close" and "top_medium") so getting a wrench in behind them is not trivial. The silver wrench in those pictures is an 8" crescent. My best guess is that whoever installed these spun them on fully assembled while the trench was still open, then filled that with dirt. The 8" crescent barely fit onto the square riser on the actuator, with its tip touching the wall. I doubt I can get enough leverage to rotate it using that small a wrench, especially since my hand would be several inches in from the end, further reducing leverage. I used a 12" plumber's wrench to remove two in the front, and it took some effort to get them going even with a hand all the way at the far end.
In theory the cap for the backflow valve should come off, providing access to the front. But with these old champions it just does not work that way. The cap screws off until it hits the bottom actuator "saucer". The plastic pieces underneath can be dropped down by sliding a narrow screwdriver in, but the cap still won't come off once they are detached. I have only ever been able to remove an actuator (in the front yard) by loosening the cap, then unscrewing the actuator part way, then removing the cap, then removing the actuator. (Install in reverse order.) I bought a Superior 800 (even though there is a school of thought that says it won't work here, it was all that was available locally in brass) and in the "actuators" picture one can see that there is more space between the bottom of the saucer and the base. It looks like 1/4" to 1/3". So I think the cap would come off with that one, or more precisely, would go back on once that actuator was tightened up from the front.
The feed pipe is old galvanized and it comes out under the main electrical panel, where the ground is attached. See "side_far" and "front_far". Note that the galvanized goes down from a tee through a roughly 18" square of concrete. Tearing this all out and replacing it is complicated by that and the very old bush with a 6" trunk which no doubt has its roots wrapped around everything below ground in that area. Water has to be shut off to the whole house to work on this. Removing that galvanized pipe coming down from the tee opens up another can of worms involving the electrical ground.
I think I need some bizarre twisted wrench that will reach between the valves to access the actuator "stem". (Whatever the piece is called below the saucer where the wrench goes.) Or two of them, because the old actuator has a square cross section, and the new one has a hexagonal one.
Ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks.
The backyard is a different situation altogether. I believe they are the same valve body but they are partially buried (the expected union nut is not visible) and they are only a few inches from the wall and closely packed side by side (see "top_close" and "top_medium") so getting a wrench in behind them is not trivial. The silver wrench in those pictures is an 8" crescent. My best guess is that whoever installed these spun them on fully assembled while the trench was still open, then filled that with dirt. The 8" crescent barely fit onto the square riser on the actuator, with its tip touching the wall. I doubt I can get enough leverage to rotate it using that small a wrench, especially since my hand would be several inches in from the end, further reducing leverage. I used a 12" plumber's wrench to remove two in the front, and it took some effort to get them going even with a hand all the way at the far end.
In theory the cap for the backflow valve should come off, providing access to the front. But with these old champions it just does not work that way. The cap screws off until it hits the bottom actuator "saucer". The plastic pieces underneath can be dropped down by sliding a narrow screwdriver in, but the cap still won't come off once they are detached. I have only ever been able to remove an actuator (in the front yard) by loosening the cap, then unscrewing the actuator part way, then removing the cap, then removing the actuator. (Install in reverse order.) I bought a Superior 800 (even though there is a school of thought that says it won't work here, it was all that was available locally in brass) and in the "actuators" picture one can see that there is more space between the bottom of the saucer and the base. It looks like 1/4" to 1/3". So I think the cap would come off with that one, or more precisely, would go back on once that actuator was tightened up from the front.
The feed pipe is old galvanized and it comes out under the main electrical panel, where the ground is attached. See "side_far" and "front_far". Note that the galvanized goes down from a tee through a roughly 18" square of concrete. Tearing this all out and replacing it is complicated by that and the very old bush with a 6" trunk which no doubt has its roots wrapped around everything below ground in that area. Water has to be shut off to the whole house to work on this. Removing that galvanized pipe coming down from the tee opens up another can of worms involving the electrical ground.
I think I need some bizarre twisted wrench that will reach between the valves to access the actuator "stem". (Whatever the piece is called below the saucer where the wrench goes.) Or two of them, because the old actuator has a square cross section, and the new one has a hexagonal one.
Ideas? Suggestions?
Thanks.
