Is it possible to open and close the water supply tap in the apartment every day

The shut-off valve is located at the entrance to the apartment (not a ball valve). Can I use it, close-open every day? How will this affect its service life and reliability?

Tatyana

Expert Answer

You, Tatyana, have a so-called valve with a crane box installed. A locking device of this type includes a housing with a seat made in its body and a threaded spindle with a valve disc and a sealing collar. While you are starting to rotate the valve handwheel, the spindle is threaded down the thread. The gap between the plate and the valve seat is reduced, and the fluid flow loses its strength. Details of the device of a water tap can be seen in the drawing below.

Here, the number 1 denotes the spindle, 2 - the cover of the crane box with a sealing gland, 3 - the cuff, 4 - the body of the crane with the valve seat.

In order to completely block the water, you have to force the cuff to be pressed, which does not do it any good. During regular use, the sealing element deforms and loses its tightness. How quickly this happens depends on the quality of the cuff itself and on the efforts exerted on the flywheel. One thing is for sure - sooner or later it will happen.

The second malfunction of valves with crane boxes occurs due to increased forces when shutting off water. The fact is that locking valves of this type are most often made of brass. As you know, copper alloys do not differ in high hardness, so a sufficiently thin thread of the thread on the spindle can be damaged even by hand, in the process of numerous open-close cycles.

If you need to constantly block the highway, then do it as delicately as possible, with minimal effort - so it will last longer. In general, we recommend installing a ball valve. The resource of high-quality valves of this type is tens of thousands of cycles, so they can be operated without restrictions.