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I have a filtering system with a bypass and one of the valves was badly installed and it also leaks through the handle gasket. The valve is in a system that looks like this:

enter image description here

enter image description here

The encircled area is where the problematic valve is. As you can see, it would be very hard to cut the line and add a new valve, because I cannot bend the main line too much. The valve is cemented to the pipe and threaded to the filter (the blue rectangle), but connected to the main line with a cemented T-shape fitting. In other words, I cannot just unscrew it, as it is permanent. What options do I have in this situation, without needing to do the entire system?

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  • One option is build a whole new manifold, replacing pretty much everything you drew there.
    – Jon Custer
    Jul 3 at 14:12
  • Yeah… I was afraid of that, but aren’t there really no other solutions? I was thinking that cutting the line, remove the valve, add a new one and add some sort of ring around the cut, but I can’t find anything. Maybe because I don’t know how to search? Or maybe it is nonexistent?
    – CuriousPaul
    Jul 3 at 14:19
  • You can cut at the valve and even use heat to disassemble and reuse the fittings but couplings would be needed and freeman would be easier. Couplings or new pipe and some new pipe will be needed.
    – Ed Beal
    Jul 3 at 14:51

2 Answers 2

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Usually these fittings are glued in place, and failures mean replumbing.

Since you don't have a lot of space to work with on that short horizontal run, make space like this:

  • Cut the pipe coming out of the T and put a cap on it (Yellow Square)
  • Cut the supply pipe and put in a new T and an elbow (Red lines)
  • Put a new valve in, oriented for vertical flow (Green rectangle)
  • Finish the plumbing into the filter system with more straight pipe and another elbow (other red lines)

crude drawing of depiction above

Should there ever be another failure, you should have a little more pipe to work with. You could, of course, use compression fittings and screw all this together if you really wanted to, but gluing is the standard here.

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  • You beat me two it , probably a half dozen ways all of them require a little work even using the heat method to re use the fittings couplings would be needed to repair cuts that is what I was thinking but yours takes less experience probably a better diy method.
    – Ed Beal
    Jul 3 at 14:49
  • Thank you for this idea. Seems like the best. Two questions, though. 1. Won’t adding two extra bends affect the pressure drop? And 2. Is cementing better than compression in this case?
    – CuriousPaul
    Jul 3 at 15:01
  • The flow rate will be impacted by elbows, but, unless your city/well pressure is really low, you'll never notice.
    – FreeMan
    Jul 3 at 16:25
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    Makes sense. Thank you for your advice. I guess that’s what I’ll do. Should there be pressure loss, I would just try to redo everything.
    – CuriousPaul
    Jul 3 at 16:43
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    There are plenty of options, @FreshCodemonger. That was the first that popped into my head.
    – FreeMan
    Jul 3 at 21:33
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cut the pipe to the right of the bad valve, flex the pipe sideways parallel with the cut (eg into the photo) then unscrew the bad valve and pipe stub from the filter block.

install half a pipe union on the cut pipe end. Assemble a new valve and pipe stub to the other half of the union screw it in, (un)flex the pipe back and close the union.

All joints to be sealed with pipe cement or thread tape as appropriate (except closing the union).

You can probably cut the pipe stub off the bad valve and reuse that, but a new piece may be needed to go between the union and the valve.

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