I am rebuilding 64 Magic Chef stove/oven. A couple of stove valves leaked LPG out the front and I swapped them out with spares from parts unit. Now the NOS Harper-Wyman oven thermostat control I acquired leaks out the front, big leak. In disassembling it I found dried up “valve grease”.
What kind of valve grease can I use to rebuild propane stove valves?
Antique household stove repair sites sell valve cream, $20. Regular $1.29 ACE hardware plumbers faucet/valve grease doesn’t say anything about gas. Appliance repair guys only help is “it’s against code to rebuild gas valves you HAVE to replace that will be $200 please”.
Anyone regreased propane valves and oven controls? What did you use? Safari64
Alaska, the last foreign country still friendly to Americans
Go to your local appliance parts distributor and get a small tin of stove gas valve (conrol) grease. A tin of this stuff will last you a life time and it cost's very little. It is gray in color and a small amount will go a long way. Made only for gas control valves.
Ronpovey
I believe Safari64 is referring to the lubricant used for the turning valve body itself not thread sealent. Yes teflon tape or Otay sealent would work for the threads, but the rotating gas valves (Off, Low, High) require a differnt lubricant.
Be careful not to use any type of thread sealant/grease/teflon on any flair fittings normally found in the LP gas connections. It is the job of the 'male' flair to mate with the 'female' flair to form a vapor tight seal and the presence of ANY type of thread sealing material will impede the interlock of the 2 parts, preventing the complete 'coupling' of the parts resulting in a leaking LP joint. And of course, always use a back-up wrench when opening or closing a flair joint.
Sorry for the anatomy lesson, I know this is a family forum but it's the only way I could explain it .
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Tinsel loaf is correct. I need the grease used to allow the valve body internal shaft to rotate but still must seal gas. Threads aren't the problem. The tin of stove gas valve grease is what I need but can’t locate.
Not being smart but my local appliance parts distributor is not local (50+ miles), had none, had blank faces when I asked for it and they are the ones that insisted I had to replace the entire stove unit. They made it sound like they would report me to the stove police. Hardware and propane company same. Tried little shops too. Alaska has very limited fix old anything resources. Pretty much limited to what WallyMart and HomeRipoff brings to a “major” town.
Is the control grease graphite based? Will Vaseline (petrolatum) or high temp wheel bearing grease etc work? How about the plumbers faucet/valve grease, will it seal LPG?
Safari64
I may have a tin or two of the stuff you need. I'll pm you if I can find it. Otherwise when I'm in town in the next couple days I can pick up a small tin and senit it to you. Pm me and let me know it you would like me to help.
ok I am a bit confused.... I used teflon tape on the connection from the gas line into the furnace, where it elbows into the casing. Is this ok to do? when I put my furnace back in after cleaning and rebuilding the burner, this joint never seemed tight enough to me. As it is so close to the case its hard to snug up.
My home furnace repair guy said regular teflon tape would work ok...opinions?
__________________
Rallys twice a year..Lots of fun, food, and aluminum.
ok I am a bit confused.... I used teflon tape on the connection from the gas line into the furnace, where it elbows into the casing. Is this ok to do? when I put my furnace back in after cleaning and rebuilding the burner, this joint never seemed tight enough to me. As it is so close to the case its hard to snug up.
My home furnace repair guy said regular teflon tape would work ok...opinions?
It is OK to use teflon tape IF it is a NPT (pipe thread) fitting.
__________________
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It is OK to use teflon tape IF it is a NPT (pipe thread) fitting.
I agree - sort of -
The teflon tape on an NPT fitting CAN be used - but most all manufacturers will recommend against it - there is a "chance" of a small piece of the tape spalling off and getting caught in a very small orifice downstream of the tefloned connection.....
Having said that, I use the teflon tape on most all of my NPT connections - just be careful to start the tape one thread behind the lead thread - don't forget to install the tape with the same rotation as the male thread will spin when going into the female nipple - this insures the tape will set "into" the thread - if you spool the tape on in the opposite direction (as on a left hand thread) the tape MAY "unscrew" itself off of the thread and admit some small pieces of the tape into the pipe cavity - some may end up plugging the above mentioned orifice downstream of the connection.
Never use teflon on threads of connections that seal in any other manner than thread to thread -
If you want to take a chance on a problamatic leak on a bushing (compression) type of seal on a noncritical connection (like a very small water leak on the compression fitting of a 1/8" refrigerator water line) you COULD try one or two wraps around the insert sealing surface (compression bead) - but again, there is always a chance of a piece of teflon migrating down stream and getting hung up in a bad place.
You might also TRY a teflon "paste" on the sealing surface on a flare type connection of a water (or other non-critical useage - NOT gas). The lower the pressure of the system the better chance of the paste working.
__________________
Dennis
"Suck it up, spend the bucks, do it right the first time."
Gas fittings are usually compression or flare style. The compression style has the ferrule that slips over the tubing and is compressed on the tubing causing a seal in the seat. Tape can be used with the threads but really dose nothing to prevent a gas leak. If a compression seal leaks you do it over again until in doesn’t leak. You soon learn to do it right the first time. The other style is the flare fitting. There is the single flare or the double flare. When working with gas or hydraulic lines I usually make a double flare. Again tape or thread sealant is not needed because the coupled seats provide a positive seal. Thread seal is used to prevent the screw on coupler from unscrewing. Again, if the flare style leaks gas you cut off the tubing and do the flare over again until you get it right.
I looked at the baso web site and did not find the lubricant needed. They sell thread sealant. This is not what is needed. I will get a tin of the gas valve lubricant tomorrow and post a picture of it and spects, if spects are available for the product. Stay tuned..
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