I was plumbing in Oconomowoc and received a phone call to repair a water leak. Some years back the previous home owner had called a plumber to install a new valve for the Laundry water supply. The replacement part that was used was a cheap Chinese made valve. Over the years I’ve had the chance to review all sorts of plumbing products and America still makes the best plumbing valves in the industry. The difference between an American made valve and a Chinese made valve is about $2.00 but what you get in return is worth much more than 2 bucks – You get a valve that wont explode. Oconomowoc Plumbing uses American made products whenever possible, I search very hard to find the best possible products for my customers so mistakes like this, that are preventable, don’t happen.
lets take a look at what happened to the water valve and the reason for it’s failure.
Below is the valve I removed. At first glance it appears in good shape. The photo was taken inside my service truck after the repair was finished.
Understanding how a valve is made
The nut you see on top seals the valve stem into the valve body. Inside and under the nut is what we call valve packing. The leak was coming from just under the bottom of the packing nut so after removal of the nut and stem I was able to clearly see the problem. The valve had leaked because the valve body had split. The reason the valve body split was because of something called core shift. In order to understand core shift you have to first understand the casting process. When casting a brass part the liquid metal is poured in a mold. The mold is nothing more than a box. The actual part is made out of special casting sand or casting wax. Once the metal is poured in the mold the metal either replaces the wax by melting it out, or in the case of sand-It simply fills the void.
The void is the problem in this situation. When the mold plug isn’t installed properly it shifts and can create a thinner wall for the metal material. Let’s look at the next photo and see if we can identify the problem further.
Do you see the split in the valve body? Take special notice that the split happened at the threads. Core shift is very critical where a part has threads because the threads get thin on the part. If the part is hallow and the manufacturing process isn’t watched carefully the inside of the valve body becomes thinner than normal. This is what caused the failure.
In America we have valves available that don’t have this problem. The manufacturing process is watched with absolute precision to prevent these types of issues.
The valves in my service truck are 100% manufactured, assembled, and packaged in the U.S.A. It cost me about $2.00 more for the valve, money well spent.
The home owner had $7,000 worth of damage done to the home. Besides ruining the wood work, drywall, carpet, and cabinets the family also had photos, documents, and personal belongings that will never be replaced. Water damage is second only to fire damage.
Mike