Bad Y Valve

Forum|Forum|7 months ago
July 15, 2025
3 replies
144 views

Several years ago I put a brass Y at an outside faucet to go in 2 directions... I have a heater wire that I plug in during the winter so the water line going into my wife's greenhouse won't freeze, and the wire is wrapped partially around the faucet and the Y valve, and covered in foam insulation, so there has never been a problem in the winter with anything freezing
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A few days ago one of the fittings suddenly started leaking... a new gasket did not fix the problem... during testing I turned the Y over so the leaking fitting was now on the top... and it leaked while the one that was switched to the bottom did not leak... the rim where the gasket goes is still smooth, so I am sure the problem is a crack in the thread area... I bought a new Y and nothing leaks... I can't see anything (no magnifying glass) but there is clearly a crack hidden somewhere in the thread area that is letting water out
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Has anyone ever heard of a brass valve cracking... in the summer?

John T Smith

Author

Community Expert

Reply to both... brand Orbit... label says brass... made in china on the back of the label

Valve had been in place for several years, and the old fitting connected to the leaking part was PVC so I was careful not to tighten too much so the PVC wouldn't break... before I discovered that the Y valve was the problem I replaced the PVC connection with the brass connection that has a PVC fitting screwed into it, with pipe tape wrapped around those threads so the PVC to brass connection would not leak

Oh well... the new Y valve works so wife and her hoses are happy again