Unions and Automated Valves Qs

[Scott Townsend]

Seems like I hear somewhere that putting some Vaseline on the o-ring of a union was a good Idea. though I was not sure if that was for Water or something else?

I will have several unions in my plumbing panel so I can replace parts and pieces of it if a component fails. The unison are all PVC and are either 1

1/4" or 1 1/2". Should I add a bit of Vaseline to the o-ring?

For Automated Valves I was looking at the In-Line Sprinkler Valves. I have 2 Storage Tanks that I will be filling. Each of the Tanks will tell me if it needs to be filled. With the Input I can decide which tank will get the water and how long it will get it for. My question is, with the Sprinkler Valves it seems like they need pressure on the input side to function Correctly. If the Well is not pumping then there will be no Pressure on the valve in-let. Will it close? If I leave the pump on and then turn the valve off, then turn the pump off, how will that affect the pump with the back pressure caused by the closed loop??

Thanks for any Suggestions and Input...

Scott

[Joe]

Unles you are absolutely, positively, unconditionally sure that the O- ring is compatible with Vaseline, don't do it. Rubber compounded for water resistance just ain;t the same as rubber compounded for grease and oil resistance. Since you don't know whether the O-ring is Buna-N, silicone, Viton or whatever, just leave it alone. HTH

Joe