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Had to change a toilet filler and so turned off the valve at the wall. Everything fixed and went to turn on the valve and the handle broke off! It was actually the stem inside the valve that broke. Of course water is shooting out and I had race and turn off the main. Had to go back into town to get a replacement valve, this time a Brasscraft.
The original was a Keeney brand valve purchase from Ace Hardware three years ago.
I don’t what got into me to put that Keeney valve in in the first place! I’ll never use that brand again.
Anyone else with that kind of experience with Keeney valves.
VH07V
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Never used them but I have had bad experiences with service valve with plastic shafts. I won't us them. Even dong home inspections, I won't turn any valve.
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The shaft on this was brass. Maybe it was a bad casting.....
VH07V
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I definitely am, see my thread.
https://forums.woodnet.net/showthread.php?tid=7361016
Valve body swaged together wrong in my case. Could not figure out where my leak was coming from because it was slow and also because why would a new valve be leaking in the valve body. I could see that the threads in and out were dry, so I ignored the possibility it could be the source of the leak.
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Eric, I now remember that thread. Most of what I remember was the discussion of sweat vs compression valves.
It’s sad that’s the only brand of those type of valves Ace sells.
VH07V
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The replacement is threaded/compression. I have resolved to stop using sweated valves and make them more easily replaceable. I think I just did it because that valve was previously sweated and I replaced it with another sweated valve without thinking about it. I think all the other valves I have replaced have been threaded. Certainly going forward, it's easier to sweat on a threaded boss and use a threaded valve.
I was just looking at the cold water supply valve and wondering if I should replace it. But I think I just got a bad valve on the hot supply side. Even if there is a 50% failure rate, that means half the valves are fine.
Lesson learned about Keeney though.
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I have another Keeney issue. Installed a 'turn and seal ' basket stopper in our kitchen sink a few years back. Had a stoppage a few days ago that I couldn't get plunged free. Probably didn't flow enough water when using the disposal.
So I tried a lye based drain cleaner. Didn't work so I went to the acid type. Still didn't get broken loose. and it backup over the drain, immersing the strainer/basket in liquid. It was getting late so I waited till the next morning to climb up on the roof and add more acid to the vent stack. That broke the stoppage in a few minutes.
But, the little handle the you turn to plug/unplug the drain was...gone! I purposely selected a stainless steel unit but Keeney elected to use some other metal for the handle. All that was left was the chrome plating.
Lowes was the original source, but they no longer have the replacement strainer in the store and the total replacement unit that Keeney is now suppling is totally different. So I couldn't even buy a whole piece and swap the strainer. And I don't want to tear the whole thing out.
Most online sources now show the replacement strainer as out of stock. Lowes online showed the PN available so I ordered one. I really don't think they have it in stock, but we'll see
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(04-11-2021, 03:09 AM)EightFingers Wrote: Eric, I now remember that thread. Most of what I remember was the discussion of sweat vs compression valves.
It’s sad that’s the only brand of those type of valves Ace sells.
Brasscraft is in our warehouses also. I would ask your store to see if they would bring them in. That said, our Ace branded ones are apparently made by keenly, but in 13 years I may have had 1 or 2 returned defective. I've personally installed 30 or 40 of them with zero issues...
Well, Bye...
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I could ask, but it would be big deal since they only stock the Keeneys. If I had my receipt I would have asked for my money back too.
VH07V
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The lack of returns doesn't impress me much. I didn't even think about returning mine. It's extremely unlikely I have the receipt and it failed after at least a year. I did think about sending it to Keeney with a note in the hopes that it would make it to someone that could look at how it failed and do something about it to help the unlucky people that buy their products. Which is not going to include me in the future.
