11
Living Room / Re: how to fix a persistently leaking water valve seat
« on: May 15, 2020, 11:38 AM »
@holt: Thanks, that's very interesting.
The corrosive erosion that seems to occur in plumbing has always mystified me, because it is presumably attributable to some sort of electro-chemical action in the water supply, but it doesn't seem to matter which water supply, or even whether the eroded part is made of a good or inferior alloy.
So I deduced that the unknown could well be the chemical composition of the rubber/neoprene valve seats.
Your fix is interesting. The metal in electric solder is usually inert and is a fusible alloy made up of 2 or more metals (typically including tin and lead). Using it as you have done would generally leave an inert metal layer on the face of the valve seat that was treated, and the proof is in the pudding - i.e., it works and it lasts.
However, using such alloys in the plumbing might not be a particularly good idea from a health standpoint, as minute traces of the inert substance (lead, tin etc.) could leach into the potable water supply from that faucet, contaminating the water with metals that are accumulative and toxic in humans and which - even at very low levels - can cause serious and irreparable long term and sometimes devastating damage to various organs (including brain, liver, kidneys) - especially children and the unborn. For this reason, in most Western countries there are very tight standards that have to be maintained by plumbing component manufacturers. For example, only certain maximum amounts of lead or molybdenum are allowed in tap and valve casting alloys, and some manufacturers pride themselves in achieving significantly lower levels in their castings than those maxima that are permitted by the standards.
Similarly, it's not a good idea to store/drink water from the heated hot water cylinder/supply, because it may contain traces of the heavy metals that the hot water cylinder has been lined with to prevent corrosion at high temperatures.
One can safely assume that what you have done in your innovative approach will have probably compromised your potable water supply to an unknown dangerous extent, and it will remain such for as long as the treated valve is left in situ - so it will be passed on unbeknownst to and unsuspected by any future buyers/tenants of your house, and their children (if any).
So the moral here is undo the fix and don't mess with the composition of components in the potable supply - and the reasons are varied and well-documented (e.g., do a DuckGo search for "contamination of potable water supply", and "toxic metals used in plumbing hardware", "toxins in potable water", etc.). In the literature, you will be able to find descriptions of how quite large numbers of people have been poisoned/harmed and/or killed by similar well-meaning and accidental events affecting the potable supply. Over the years since probably the 1920s this has given rise to a whole raft of incrementally improving and increasingly more stringent international and local governments standards to eliminate dangers to people from the risk of toxicity in the potable water supply.
Sorry to "rain on your parade", but, as someone responsible for advising on the management of some old and some new apartment blocks, I am acutely aware of these issues as I have had to figure out how to get old/defective or non-standard water system installations fixed/upgraded so as to comply with national and local government health and safety bylaws and standards. If one or more units in an apartment building are reported to have "leaky homes syndrome" (poor/defective construction) or potable water supply contamination issues, then the resale value and potential rental values of all of the units in that block could fall (say) 50% or more overnight and stay there until the building has been fixed and officially certified as complying with prevailing standards. If the financial aspects weren't sufficient motivation to fix things, there is the additional motivation of heavy fines for not fixing it within a reasonable period of time.
The corrosive erosion that seems to occur in plumbing has always mystified me, because it is presumably attributable to some sort of electro-chemical action in the water supply, but it doesn't seem to matter which water supply, or even whether the eroded part is made of a good or inferior alloy.
So I deduced that the unknown could well be the chemical composition of the rubber/neoprene valve seats.
Your fix is interesting. The metal in electric solder is usually inert and is a fusible alloy made up of 2 or more metals (typically including tin and lead). Using it as you have done would generally leave an inert metal layer on the face of the valve seat that was treated, and the proof is in the pudding - i.e., it works and it lasts.
However, using such alloys in the plumbing might not be a particularly good idea from a health standpoint, as minute traces of the inert substance (lead, tin etc.) could leach into the potable water supply from that faucet, contaminating the water with metals that are accumulative and toxic in humans and which - even at very low levels - can cause serious and irreparable long term and sometimes devastating damage to various organs (including brain, liver, kidneys) - especially children and the unborn. For this reason, in most Western countries there are very tight standards that have to be maintained by plumbing component manufacturers. For example, only certain maximum amounts of lead or molybdenum are allowed in tap and valve casting alloys, and some manufacturers pride themselves in achieving significantly lower levels in their castings than those maxima that are permitted by the standards.
Similarly, it's not a good idea to store/drink water from the heated hot water cylinder/supply, because it may contain traces of the heavy metals that the hot water cylinder has been lined with to prevent corrosion at high temperatures.
One can safely assume that what you have done in your innovative approach will have probably compromised your potable water supply to an unknown dangerous extent, and it will remain such for as long as the treated valve is left in situ - so it will be passed on unbeknownst to and unsuspected by any future buyers/tenants of your house, and their children (if any).
So the moral here is undo the fix and don't mess with the composition of components in the potable supply - and the reasons are varied and well-documented (e.g., do a DuckGo search for "contamination of potable water supply", and "toxic metals used in plumbing hardware", "toxins in potable water", etc.). In the literature, you will be able to find descriptions of how quite large numbers of people have been poisoned/harmed and/or killed by similar well-meaning and accidental events affecting the potable supply. Over the years since probably the 1920s this has given rise to a whole raft of incrementally improving and increasingly more stringent international and local governments standards to eliminate dangers to people from the risk of toxicity in the potable water supply.
Sorry to "rain on your parade", but, as someone responsible for advising on the management of some old and some new apartment blocks, I am acutely aware of these issues as I have had to figure out how to get old/defective or non-standard water system installations fixed/upgraded so as to comply with national and local government health and safety bylaws and standards. If one or more units in an apartment building are reported to have "leaky homes syndrome" (poor/defective construction) or potable water supply contamination issues, then the resale value and potential rental values of all of the units in that block could fall (say) 50% or more overnight and stay there until the building has been fixed and officially certified as complying with prevailing standards. If the financial aspects weren't sufficient motivation to fix things, there is the additional motivation of heavy fines for not fixing it within a reasonable period of time.