Hello all,
I have a 65-year-old range. The knobs are difficult to turn.
I'm thinking of lubricating the valves with an off-the-shelf lubricant suc h as Alfa ? Lo-Two ? Four Oz Super Lube Oil instead of the more expensive grease I'm finding online for "antique" stoves.
Would it make a difference?
Deguza
uch as Alfa ? Lo-Two ? Four Oz Super Lube Oil instead of th e more expensive grease I'm finding online for "antique" stoves.
IDK, but grease and lubricant oil have different properties. The oil is thinner, will work it's way easily into tight spaces. Grease typically isn't going anywhere unless you get it where it needs to go. Are you taking the valve apart?
Would graphite be an option?
replying to Deguza, Iggy wrote: You definitely don't have any antique setup, so don't use that grease stuff. Use one of your oils instead and just drip, squirt or spray it around the knob's shaft to get them free-turning again. You likely just need to soften and even flush out debris and light corrosion. Here's a video example of a slightly newer valve being freed-up, to give you an idea
The only effective way to use the greases is to pull the valve stem from the core and repack it.
More than likely you can get a thin oil down the stem some; whether it'll get to the surface of the mating cone/cylinder sufficiently to loosen the valve operation is hit-or-miss...depends on just where and how badly they actual binding is.
Can't really hurt in reasonable amounts...
The valve grease (typical product BASO YY70AA) isn't all _that_ expensive given that a 2-oz tube will outlast your lifetime of need.
But, if you go look at the MSDS you'll find it's basically a moly-based grease with some specific formulation.
I've redone brass cutoff valves in which the original grease has hardened and/or been carried out of the working area simply using a standard gun grease -- the only real issue is they're typically a little less viscous and somewhat more messy to have to be a little more judicious in application.
The grease will work into the pores and provide sealing as well as lubrication; I also routinely use it on the sealing faces of unions for example. Just keep it out of the actual piping and where it needs must be...
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