Isolation valves

You can get isolation valves with a colour coded metal lever it being about

The ones fitted for our washing machine had blue and red coloured knobs. No screwdriver needed

The problem is not the screwdriver slot, but the leaks. The ones I've used had a plastic lever which chewed up and spun round - a screwdriver would be better.

But they're just creating more problems if you had a solid bit of pipe and now you have a valve which leaks.

Or is that not a problem for most people?

Theo

Can't say I've ever had one which leaks.

Isolating valves are a legal requirement under teh water regs. tehe screwdriver ones are a waste of space, less reliable than what they aare supposed to isolate. I try to get a branded (Peglar) lever or butterfly type, always full flow versions.

In theory I operate them every 3-6 months to avoid them seizing up, In practice the months may be years. I don't try to operate any screwdriver ones as there's too much risk of the valve falling apart or leaking.

Theo <theom+ snipped-for-privacy@chiark.greenend.org.uk> wrote:

But the red and blue knobs are made of plastic which falls apart at the first sign of any torque being applied.

They are a LOT more reliable than the small screwdriver or plastic handled ones.

I must have about 10 screwdriver operated isolation valves & haven't had any leak. They all came from Screwfix or Toolstation & were the cheapest going.

I've used and come across quite a few of the cheap inline/small screw type and never had a problem. maybe the soft water here has something to do with it?

I fitted screwdriver ones on all my taps and loos

The softened water so far has not resulted in one leaking though some came closes, but resealed quickly.

It does make a tap washer or loo flush unit change a lot more trivial than it might be

It does show that value of a whole house proper ion exchange water softener

The ones that leaked badly and fell apart were all in hard water installations

You may think a softener is expensive, but so is replacing all your plumbing every ten years

I'm not convinced. Our house was plumbed (before we bought it) by a very good plumber who labelled all the feeds from the hot and cold water tanks. They all have individual stop taps by the hot water cylinder. So all I have to do is go to the hot cupboard, find the appropriate stop tap and turn off the feed to the place where I want to do some work (often dealing with a failed screwdriver valve!).

How about something like this:

Some of these are to be located in less than accessible places (previously not seen the light for 40 years, although access will be easier in future). What might be the consequences if they aren't moved regularly? Hard water area.

Theo

They lime up. either wont move at all or leak when moved Note that retrofitting a softener to existing pipework does slowly remove the scale

I'm in a hard/very hard water area and never had a problem in 14 years. I was previously in a hard water area for 30+ years and never had a problem there either.