Hi! I have three brass gate valves surrounding a filter for my well. They are starting to show some signs of leaking. I realize that I might need to replace them... or, there seems to be a couple of places where they could be adjusted. Is this something I should do? Or, if I need to replace them, can you help me put a name to this type of valve so I can have an easier time tracking them down ?
Gate Valves usuallly leak around the valve stem. If they are, you need to tighten the Gland nut on the bottom of the stem slightly until the leak stops. Do not overtighten, or you won't be able to turn the valve.
if its the nut with the green residue on it just give it a little tighten if they still leek you can undue the nut an wrap ptf tape (plumbers tape) round the into the space left and screw it back in make sure the bigger nut going into the body of the valve does not come loose ( roll the tape in your hand so it more rope like wrap it around or even just poke it with a small screwdriver then tighten up ) O and think it is a male to male gate valve
The little brass nut under the handle is the packing nut. It compresses a packing material like Teflon or a graphite based twine or rope to tighten up around the stem. That is what keeps it from leaking. You can tighten this nut gently to stop leakage. That is what it's for. Just snug it up a little and it should stop leaking. The inline connections are simply hose threads, tightened by hand or snugged up with some wrenches. The small cap on the side of the valve is to drain or vent the branch line. It is simply finger tight. The valve is a 'Stop Waste' valve.
Creative, While those valves are open, you certainly could try to snug up those smaller brass nuts up on those gate valves just below the handles. That might stop those leaks. If you find that you can't tighten those up anymore, there's nothing else you can do but replace them. Those are gate valves it looks like they are either 1/2 or 3/4. Those valves have female iron pipe (FIP) union-like fittings on each end. There are lots of different types, styles, sizes of gate valves. There are countless ways to replumb what you have there but, if you want to try to make it as simple as possible and just replace those valves, the thing to do would be to shut the water off, disconnect one of those valves, take it to a good plumbing shop and have them spedcial order THAT SAME VALVE! (3 of them) Because you want the exact same thing. (This would be the easiest way). By the way those gate valves that you have are not common ones. They are unusual because they have those union-like fittings at each end. You won't just be able to find those easily. That's why they will more than likley have to be special ordered. Good luck
