toilet main shut off valve does not work

[samster]

wow ... i have the worst luck on Earth

there are two toilet water shut off valves. the one underneat the tank and the one that cuts off water for the entire apt

NEITHER WORK!!!

the one underneath the tank drips and shoots out a thin stream of water when I disconnect the hose (after turning it to the right completely)

the main shut off valve is turned off but i can get water out of my bathroom cold water sink ... which wasnt the case before.

called the HOA they say its my problem ... called a plumber and they say the valve maybe broken and may need repairing. I can schedule an appt tommorow because its not an emergency (which would entail paying time and a half)

anyone ever had both VALVES not work?

[frank megaweege]

Yes. Have a plumber replace the faulty main valve with a ball valve. It took one hour and the valve was about $25.

[Clark]

I was working on one of my rental apartments (the house was built in 1902) I shut off 5 valves and none of them worked ! one was also a water closet feed, I have allot of plumbing exp. as I used to do side jobs with a Master Plumber, so I shut off the Main and sweat on some new valves.

Clark

[samster]

How much would you have charged to "fix" those valves? I am kind of happy to have discovered this now and not later when I might really need it./

The HOA provides an emergency plumber but thats ONLY for shutting off the entire townhouse in the case of flooding NOTHING MORE

Fortunately i am not there yet ;)

I am talking to some plumbers waiting for estimates.

[samster]

Will this involve smashing the tile behind the two valves?

The failure of the main valve is whats freaking me out because I might need that .. and that worked a year and a half ago. But this is an old building so ... (1970's in a way its great since its all brick, and not wood like they make nowadays ... in another is bad since a lot of the pipping is wearing down)

I take it plumbers can replace/fix valve without tearing the tiles out?

If the tiles have to go then so be it. I am just thinking how much it would cost to replace tiles in addition to all else

I have a feelign this is gonna run into the hundreds if i am not careful :)

[Big_Jake]

Old Building...1970's HA! Old buildings we ones built before the war

- the Revolutionary War!

Of course those didn't have plumbing.

JK

[Al Bundy]

samster wrote in news: [e-mail]:

old?...I wonder what that makes me :-(

[frank megaweege]

I can't imagine they would have to tear anything out, besides the old valve. To replace the main shutoff in my house it was less than a hundred. May be more where you are but not much I would think.

[Clark]

Well the part is around three to five bucks for the water closet, and plumbers in western mass charge $60.00 to $100.00 per hour I would hope you could get it fixed for about $60.00 each When they do the Main it should be a BALL valve. link

If you get a good plumber it should go well

Clark

[Clark]

another image of an install

Clark wrote:

[samster]

It cost me $250 and afterwards water still trickles. he had changed the stem on the main valve.

he says the backing behind it maybe damaged/rusted out and he would have to come back (at an additional cost) to break open the tile, install an access panel and get to the guts of the piping.

I am in a condo

[samster]

As luck would have it .. I dont have the ball valve. I have the other type with a stem and a knob that must be rotated a few times to shut it off

It cost almost $300 to replace and determine that ... THAT wont fix the "trickle".

Its gonna cost more to break open the tiles, install an access panel and replace the guts with a ball valve

[mkirsch1]

Everybody told you to replace the old valve with a new ball valve... Why didn't you do that?

[borne]

My in-laws needed a new toilet fill valve. I'd done a bit of plumbing and thought nothing of it. But their house was built in the early 60s and still had the old shut off valve. Probably never turned in those

40 years. I turned it about a quarter turn before it broke off in my hand and water started shooting across the bathroom. Worst of all, no one knew where the main was located. So I was running all over the front yard until I found it and shut off the water. After that, I replaced all the valves in my house with ball valves.

[frank megaweege]

I don't understand why he would need to break anything open, but if he does, it may not be too big a sacrifice to have a reliable shut off valve (ball valve). Is it somewhere highly visible? And for nearly 300 to fix the stem valve he ripped you. Find a different plumber.

[franz frippl]

Things mechanical sometimes break and often when least expected. Easiest solution is to change them and then go forward.

Parts should cost less than $20. Time should be less than an hour.

Good DIY project.

[jim]

Don,t understand how you would not use anything but ball valves this is a diy if you know how to solder if not call a person who doe's

[Big_Jake]

Don't know where the OP lives, but where I am, a ball valve would not be acceptable by code for the main shutoff valve coming into a house.

Here a "code valve" for a water service is a gate valve with a non- rising stem. A 3/4" one is about $25 from a plumbing supply house.

JK