Mid Position Valve

[Nigel]

The mid position valve which controls the flow of hot water to the tank and the central heating needs replacing.

I've changed a couple of control heads but they break after a few months.

When I tried manually moving the axle on the valve, it's very stiff and my guess is this is causing the motor in the power head to burn out.

Anyway, I'm pretty competent with most DIY but I haven't done much plumbing (fitted a shower, taken raditors off for painting, fitted a sink).

Is replacing the tri-valve something that relatively easy to do. The valve is easily accessible, but I'm nit sure what the process is and what parts of the system need to be drained.

Any opinions, advice, pointers to helpful sites would be most welcome.

Cheers,

Nigel

[geoff]

In message , Nigel writes

It's probably one of the "O" rings passing water. It's possible to disassemble, lubricate (silicone grease) and re-assemble. I posted an exploded view (i.e. taken apart) photo a few years ago, I don't know if it's still available somewhere like the FAQ

[BigWallop]

If its seen its day Nigel, then best replace it. Don't think of draining just parts of the system, to be safe, drain the lot, it also gives you a chance to top up any inhibitor fluids and things at the same time, winters not that far away.

If you can get to it easily enough, then it ain't no big job. Just make sure when you put the new one in that you tighten all the nuts evenly around the valve to avoid kinking any of the pipework, and support the whole valve with a proper wrench while doing it.

It's also a good idea to take the head off while you're fitting the valve so you'll be used to that bit.

Good luck with it.