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Rood

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Mar 13, 2011
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Location
Marana, AZ
So yesterday, a friend of mine broke the handle off on my watts regulator (backflow preventor from what im hearing). The valve is 1-1/4" and is currently stuck between open and closed. I have water in the house but am getting the occasional leak out of the "vent" in the middle section.

So, I've been researching the cost of replacing the whole thing. I found this online...( Watts 0062920 009M2QT 1-1/4" QT on eBay! ) You may need to copy and past the link if it doesn't turn blue for quick open. Its being sold by SimplyPlumbing.com on ebay.

Here are my questions. One, is there nayway to just replace the left ball valve that broke with a new ball valve? I realize the one that broke is actually the one with the gauge thing on top. Second, my dad seems to think if I remove the packing nut thats around the broken rod, I should be able to put vise grips on the rod and turn it all the way open.

Am I looking at substantial fees to fix this? Any help is greatly appreciated. I have a couple friends who say they can sweat pipe, if I find the replacement piece. Here are a couple pictures. I can take more if someone thinks they need to see more.

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Take a pic of the whole setup but that is just a tapt ball valve and you can probably get away with just replacing that instead of the whole RP. It looks like you have a union just to the left of the valve that you can undo to avoid doing any soldering. I am very familiar with these and it is a pretty easy fix. You might be better off calling a Backflow certifier and see if they have the part lying around. Other than that you can get that part locally from any waterworks supply house.
 
Also I have not seen any tapt valves like that around here, you should find out if that test port is even needed and if not you can swap it out with a regular ball valve.
 
Getting the pics on here shortly. Real quick, do you think the test port on top could be preventing the valve from opening and closing or does it have nothing to do with it?
 
Chris, accrording to the manuel my buddy is reading online, it says the first port is needed to test the first check valve. Again, we don't know much about it except what we are reading. I have several inquires into Watts, and other companies that sell this part. Basically, I have been asking them all if they sell just the left side ball valve with the test port. Im hoping though, like you said, maybe one of these local backflow plumbers here will have one of these valves.
 
The test port will have nothing to do with the valve operating, it just screws into the casing and is technically just a smaller valve itself. Unless the manual has a picture showing that port I would think it was the next one in line they are referring to but I could be wrong on that.

The brass nut to the left of the assy is a union so you can unscrew that and then unscrew the whole thing from the other side to work on it without having to do any soldering unless the new parts are different lengths or there is just not enough room to unscrew.

Watts should sell just that valve and in the mean time I believe the only thing it is affecting is the volume of water going through. Let us know if you find that part locally or if you have any more questions. Also the only time we use those ports here is in the initial install to certify them and then if they ever give us problems so maybe once or twice in there life span. I am not sure if this is 100% private or city monitored but if it were me and it was private I would just toss on a regular ball valve from a big box store and forget about that port.
 
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So I had a company come out and put a new valve in. The had an 1-1/4" valve from a previous job. They came out yesterday morning and did the job in less than 30 min. Now my issue is the vent is still leaking water. When I got home last night, I noticed the dirt/rocks under the water line was wet. Last night around 10pm I put a small/medium sized plastic container under the vent section. I checked it just now and the bowl is pretty much full. Do I now need to call a backflow certified plumber to come out and adjust it so it doesn't drip?? That seems like a significant amount of water to be dripping out.
 
Ok so I made several calls. Learned I got ripped off by a plumbing company out here. They charged me $125 for service and $75 for the new valve. Got ahold of a landscape company, one that is actually certified in backflow testing and repairs. They quoted me at less than $100 for new valve and service!!!!! So, fastforward to the part of the covo that we discussed the leaking vent. They said it most likely either need to be flushed or just have a new repair kit put in. So he tell me he would stop by after work as he lives in the same housing edition. I get off work tonight, come home, and the bowl is only about half full?!?!?! I start wondering if it "fixed itself", although with my luck, thats not likely. So the guy just showed up, said he has the repair kit but doesn't think it needs to be messed with as it didn't appear to be leaking. He tested one "test cock" and said he really didn't think it would do any good to open it up and mess with it. Also said what might have happened was turning the water on and off all day may have dislodged whatever was blocking the vent or whatever you call it from closing. Thus allowing for it to work properly and not need to be repaired. CROSS YOUR FINGERS!! Im hoping it conitues to function properly!!!
 

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