Leaking Ball Valve

Question

I have a Ball Valve that's leaking on some piping that I'm working on for an irrigation project. In the image, it's the one with the pink square around it. I bought 3 of them from Home Depot, all identical and that one is leaking.

It only leaks when it's open (not closed). The water pressure is 60 PSI in that section and the product says it can handle up to 150 PSI. The problem is that I've already glued everything in place and it will be a real pain to cut out and replace.

My questions:

• Is there a way to repair that type of Ball Valve without replacing it?
• In the future, how do I test a Ball Valve that I've bought before gluing it in place so I don't end up in this situation? (i.e. If I have to replace it I don't want to replace it with another faulty one.)

I believe that this is the Ball Valve I bought

Answer 1

This is a problem with plastic pipe & valves most are not designed to be rebuilt, unfortunately your joints are so close together that you may have to redo several of the valves in the photo. , I usually try to give at least a few inches between fittings if possible for this or frozen pipe fractures so I won't have to replace everything, luckily pvc valves elbows T's and glue are cheap you may be able to save the lower one but the upper joint and the vertical looks two close for a coupler. So replacement is the best path forward unless the leak is really small. If it were me I would take this photo to the store I purchased the parts from and ask them to make it right since you bought good parts but did not get them and now you have to do more work to repair their faulty merchandise. This has saved my but on a job with 2" valves similar to yours , now I never have less than 4x the diameter between couplers, valves or elbows to allow for repair on hard plastic.

Answer 2

That type of ball valve is not rebuildable. There is no way to disassemble to get the ball and packing out to replace. Unfortunately, you will be cutting things apart.