Broken Brass Valve

Brass Valve Function

• Brass valves allow water to pass through copper tubing, and some allow you to limit or completely stop the water flow by closing the valve. These valves come in different varieties such as check valves that only allow water to flow one way, and ball valves or gate valves that allow you to stop the flow of water. Brass valves also come in different sizes to fit different pipe sizes.

Broken Brass Valves

• One common cause of valve failure is corrosion caused by minerals in the water. The minerals form deposits in the valve chamber or the pipe, and these deposits hinder the valve from operating properly. A valve with mineral deposits in it might, for example, suffer damage when you close the valve and cause the deposits to grind against plastic or soft membranes in the valve.

Replacing Valves

• When a brass valve is broken and needs to be replaced, the valve must typically be removed from the pipe and replaced with a new valve. Brass valves typically attach to copper pipes, and the process of replacing a valve or joining the valve to the pipe is known as sweating. Sweating a valve requires you to drain the plumbing system of water, use a blow torch to heat the solder holding the valve to the pipe, prepare the pipe for the new valve and solder the new valve into place.

Brass and Plastic

• Modern copper valves often have plastic pieces inside of them. Though the brass valve itself is mostly heat resistant, the plastic pieces can easily melt or suffer damage if not properly protected during the sweating process. Waiting until the copper pipe is cool before attaching the valve and protecting the valve from excess heat are important to protect the plastic pieces of the new valve.