Why aren't plumbing shutoffs quarter-turn on/off ball valves?

Mine ARE all 1/4 turn. MOST installed around here in the last 10 years or so are 1/4 turn. Before the Chinafication of the supply chain 1/4 turn valves were significantly more expensive than the standardt type so were seldom used.

I believe my newer ones are all also quarter turn. Old shutoff valves have been my recent plumbing problems with leaking and needing replacement.

The nice thing about the old shutoff valves is that in my experience, I can easily repair the two most common problems I've seen with those valves. Either the washer needs replacement if the valve isn't completely shutting off the water, or the packing nut needs slight tightening if there is leaking where the valve stem penetrates the packing nut. Don't have a clue what to do if there is any malfunction with a quarter turn valve. Actually, I've had quarter turn valves refuse to turn after a long period of non-use. I've never had an old style valve refuse to turn.

FWIW, before retiring, I owned 5 homes built before 1971 in 2 states. All had "rotary" shutoff valves. If they leaked then they were repaired not replaced. I only saw 1/4 turns at other newer homes, or repairs at older.

My plumbing pet peeve is why do tubs and showers NOT have their own shutoffs of any kind ?

It costs less that way.

Every fixture in our house has its own shutoff. Needless to say, we did all the plumbing ourselves.

My last two houses did. This one does not. Only reason I can think of is cost for the valves and access panel.

My last house had a "distribution manifold" in the garage that provided the capability to shut off the hot or cold water to any faucet in the house. It came in very handy on a couple of occasions.

It wasn't this exact model, but it was very similar. Separate valve for hot and cold, each faucet clearly marked.

our house in Flyover Country, built 1990ish, has utility water piped in under our basement and then coming up, with a rotary shut off valve about a foot off the concrete.

As this is a contracter, 35 y/o cheapie, if we ever needed to use that valve it would have been a "cross your fingers that it'll close and then reopen without major leaks" deal.

So... the next time we had some real plumbers here, we had them shut that valve, cut out a foot of pipe "downstream" (inside the house), add a couple of inches of new pipe, then a new valve, more pipe, a garden house faucet, some more pipe, another new valve, and then reconnected to the home plumbing.

(rotate 90 degrees)

This way, if something goes wrong with interior plumbing and we have to shut off the whole house, we can cut out 95 percent of the building and still have marginally useful water from that new faucet [a] until we fix the problem.

The multi-turn angle-stop used with most lav and toilets is significantly less expensive than the quarter-turn (ball) valves, which require machining at higher tolerances. In standard housing developments, the developers are too cheap to use quality valves.

As for showers, there's no easy (read inexpensive) way to provide access to the lines feeding the shower (unless they're in an unfinished basement). An access panel would often need to be in the adjacent room, or exterior wall.

The standard angle-stop will last much longer if it is used regularly (to clear any hard-water buildups), open it only to 90% rather than 100% to reduce the chances that hard-water scale will cement the valve.

snipped-for-privacy@slp53.sl.home (Scott Lurndal) wrote in news:CNSgR.191303$ snipped-for-privacy@fx09.iad:

So you're saying with an angle-stop valve, open and close once or twice a year? to flush out any minerals? Why leave open only 90%? How does that reduce hard-water scale buildup?

Thanks.

If you get buildup in a fully open valve, you have to use force in one direction to close it. If you leave it at 90%, you have some room to wiggle to loosen.

Ed P <posting.blocknews.net> wrote in news:6984abb2$1$23$ snipped-for-privacy@reader.netnews.com:

I see. In other word, you have a running start.

Thanks.

Virtually every one I had to replace with a 1/4 turn was because I couldn't turn the old one. Hard water really did them in. Wxercising a

I'm talking the little 3/8" shutoffs - the 1/2 inch and larger valves are generally easy enough to rebuild - and back when they were all noth American standard valves you could buy a replacement valve and just switch the "guts" if a shaft corroded or the washer screw twisted off. Today's ChinaCrap the guts aren't interchangeable from one batch to the next from the same supplier half the time. - but I've switched all of them to good 1/4 turns as well -

The rotate type are cheaper. The builder has satisfied whatever code there is.

My house was built in 1967 and no plumber or inspector has ever found a whole house shutoff valve anywhere. I always had to use the one outside on the lawn to shut off the water when replacing valves in the bathtub/shower fixtures or anywhere which didn't have its own shutoff valve.

A couple years ago the water company replaced all the meters to the houses with electronically controlled ones. Now you're supposed to call the utility company and wait on the line for 20 minutes to get someone to shut off the water. I finally had the plumber install a whole house shutoff valve which comes up into a hallway closet then goes back down under the house again.

Plumbers don't even like working with copper plumbing these days. They replace everything with PEX and press fittings.

I have a well with in line sediment and iron filters with quarter turn shut off valves where I can bypass the filters when changing and also cut off the whole house if needed. Four of these valves with no problems. I can also cut off water by shutting off power to the well from a nearby fuse box.

Plumber I had in a few days ago said he does not like the SharkBite fittings as they do not hold up.

With well water being more corrosive my next door neighbor had copper replaced with PEX and later occupant said 16 of the fittings leaked. Apparently bad coupling was used.