vonkas wrote:Fixed my valve today. This valve is 100% serviceable. If you buy a new one, sooner or later you want to do the mod described here.To disassemble, I took off plastic cover from external lever (the hard bit), took off top lid, took off top steam feed to valve, removed centre screw from hand lever, removed valve bracket, pulled valve free from lever, undid clip & exit pipe from olive seal. Disassembled valve, polished ball with metal polish, inserted stainless washer under bottom teflon ball seal, the thickness does not matter, wrapped teflon plumber's tape around boss thread and hand screwed home. Assembled in reverse. Lever now has a little more resistance and valve seals 100%. Can re-adjust without disassembly by tightening the bottom boss via pipe connector hex nut thanks to omitting sealant and use of teflon tape instead. Perfect and cost nothing. Please refer to pictures form others earlier in this post. I should note that I only removed half the parts that others did, so my process is simpler and faster.

Jim Vonkas made this post (his first) and one other on the same day in Dec 2019, and presumably rode off into the sunset with his leak-free steam valve - never to be heard from again (mike drop). The quoted post above raises a couple of questions:

• He mentions using Teflon tape on the threads for the short piece connected with the 6mm end, which previously had the threadlocker. Has anyone else done this, and is it really necessary?

• Regarding bolded text above (emphasis mine), Jim suggests the seals can be further tightened against the ball (as future leaks occur) by simply getting some sort of tool on the lower wrench flats (I believe they are 15mm) on the lower part of the valve while it is still fully mounted in the machine. Of course this assumes the threadlocker was previously broken on those threads. If this is actually doable, this would be a great convenience and time saver. It's worth noting that at least for me, removing the 2 horizontal screws and washers holding the valve in place is a bit of a hair-raising experience even with magnetic screwdriver, as it would be exceedingly easy to drop something into the abyss. Same goes for the lower hairpin clip. I'm trying to imagine what sort of tool one could use to get to those lower wrench flats in that confined space. I'm guessing a very stubby wrench. Has anyone been able to successfully pull this off?

DaveB wrote:Jim Vonkas made this post (his first) and one other on the same day in Dec 2019, and presumably rode off into the sunset with his leak-free steam valve - never to be heard from again (mike drop). The quoted post above raises a couple of questions:

He'll be back. He's coming due for another leak

DaveB wrote:He mentions using Teflon tape on the threads for the short piece connected with the 6mm end, which previously had the threadlocker. Has anyone else done this, and is it really necessary?

Can't hurt anything. And might help. I didn't use it myself. But I might going forward?

DaveB wrote: Regarding bolded text above (emphasis mine), Jim suggests the seals can be further tightened against the ball (as future leaks occur) by simply getting some sort of tool on the lower wrench flats (I believe they are 15mm) on the lower part of the valve while it is still fully mounted in the machine. Of course this assumes the threadlocker was previously broken on those threads. If this is actually doable, this would be a great convenience and time saver. It's worth noting that at least for me, removing the 2 horizontal screws and washers holding the valve in place is a bit of a hair-raising experience even with magnetic screwdriver, as it would be exceedingly easy to drop something into the abyss. Same goes for the lower hairpin clip. I'm trying to imagine what sort of tool one could use to get to those lower wrench flats in that confined space. I'm guessing a very stubby wrench. Has anyone been able to successfully pull this off?

Hmmm creative idea. I think you could do this if you as you already guessed it... took off the U-bracket. I'm away from my machine right now so I can't look at the available space. Might be just as easy to unclip it top and bottom. Either way I don't know how you do this without removing the U-bracket.

Alternatively, the U-bracket might be overkill. The screw holding the shaft might be enough on it's own.

-Peter

pcrussell50 wrote:Can't hurt anything. And might help. I didn't use it myself. But I might going forward?

My thinking is the threadlocker was to keep that part in place so the lower section could be snugged up without increasing the tightness onto the seals. Doesn't seem to be a leak prone area, so not sure what Teflon tape would accomplish.

Hmmm creative idea. I think you could do this if you as you already guessed it... took off the U-bracket. I'm away from my machine right now so I can't look at the available space. Might be just as easy to unclip it top and bottom. Either way I don't know how you do this without removing the U-bracket.

I just had another look and I don't think the bracket would prevent the lower section from turning, as it seems to be clamped mainly on the body, not so much the ends. However if I'm wrong, I think it would only be necessary to loosen the 2 screws slightly, so that section was free to turn. This would greatly reduce my anxiety about removing those tiny clamp screws and washers above the bottomless abyss.

Alternatively, the U-bracket might be overkill. The screw holding the shaft might be enough on it's own.

I would prefer to leave it in, as it was put there for a reason. Also, less small parts to keep track of!

DaveB wrote:My thinking is the threadlocker was to keep that part in place so the lower section could be snugged up without increasing the tightness onto the seals. Doesn't seem to be a leak prone area, so not sure what Teflon tape would accomplish.

I must just have wonderful luck then, I serviced my valve yesterday and now have a leak from these threads so I'll be going back in with some Teflon tape later today.

Hopefully it works if not I'll move to Loctite 567

That's interesting, because I would think water would first have to get past one of the freshly-flipped Teflon seals. Again, I'm going on the assumption that the threadlocker compound was there to hold a optimum pressure of the seals against the ball, not to prevent leaking.

*sigh* wrote:I must just have wonderful luck then, I serviced my valve yesterday and now have a leak from these threads so I'll be going back in with some Teflon tape later today.

Hopefully it works if not I'll move to Loctite 567

Unfamiliar, but I looked it up. You might want a thread "sealer" but I don't think you need any thread "locking" capability. Though admittedly, that one is not a high strength locker. Were it I, I might experiment with sealers that don't lock. Something that persists on the threads after screwing and unscrewing but does not lock. JMThoughts.

Some other options might be: plumbers PTFE paste (as opposed to tape), plain old skool RTV silicone, from marine apps: 3M 4200, Boat Life Caulk (like RTV but not the vinegar), or liquid polyurethane (Shoo Goo)

Let us know how it goes.

DaveB wrote:That's interesting, because I would think water would first have to get past one of the freshly-flipped Teflon seals. Again, I'm going on the assumption that the threadlocker compound was there to hold a optimum pressure of the seals against the ball, not to prevent leaking.

You certainly don't want the two halve spontaneously unscrewing because you left them not too tight after your seal flip. So your mind is in the right place. It's just that if I had my guess, I don't think one half of the valve would rotate with respect to the other, the way it's held in place by that U-clamp. To be sure though, You could verify by putting a sharpie mark across the joint and check to see if it moved after a couple of months?

-Peter

pcrussell50 wrote:Unfamiliar, but I looked it up. You might want a thread "sealer" but I don't think you need any thread "locking" capability. Though admittedly, that one is not a high strength locker. Were it I, I might experiment with sealers that don't lock. Something that persists on the threads after screwing and unscrewing but does not lock. JMThoughts.

Some other options might be: plumbers PTFE paste (as opposed to tape), plain old skool RTV silicone, from marine apps: 3M 4200, Boat Life Caulk (like RTV but not the vinegar), or liquid polyurethane (Shoo Goo)

Let us know how it goes.

From what I've read that loctite is a really gentle thread lock but can also act as a sealer, but it's a bit costly for what it is so I figured some PTFE tape might be a good start. Plus it's also approved for use when in contact with drinking water per loctite's website. I think my issues came as I definitely inadvertently removed some of the thread sealant as I was addressing some minor scale build up so it's definitely, at least partially, a user error induced issue.

I have some RTV silicone coming as well as my backup plan, I'll report back what works. It's not a major leak and since it's on the wand side of the ball valve it only leaks when I use the wand (which isn't that frequently) so I'm sure I can find a reasonable solution.

It's great not having a sputtering steam wand now though!

*sigh* wrote: I have some RTV silicone coming as well as my backup plan, I'll report back what works. It's not a major leak and since it's on the wand side of the ball valve it only leaks when I use the wand (which isn't that frequently) so I'm sure I can find a reasonable solution.

It's great not having a sputtering steam wand now though!

Might also try the paste version of plumber's teflon tape. It should be safe enough for this app. I'm sure plumbers use it all over the place. I think it's cheap and widely available, too.

-Peter

Thanks! I'll add that too the list of options. I have the tape at home so I'll start there and see if I can get something working while I wait on the silicone.

Alright, initial results from 2 layers of PTFE seem good so far. I'll watch it over the next couple of days until the silicone arrives then I'll probably take it apart and reinstall with new tape/silicone.