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City water inlet rebuild '77 AS
After being hooked up to city water, then switching to the water pump, the city water inlet began leaking. I couldn't find a direct replacement for my inlet/check valve, and noticed that someone had rebuilt a different style valve.
The rebuild cost $0.35 for a new o-ring, plus about an hour of my time.
Tools and supplies: Adjustable wrench to remove inlet valve; 2 small flat head screwdrivers to compress the valve spring; needle nose pliers to remove the retaining pin; a paper towel to use as a stopper; vinegar or citric acid to dissolve mineral deposits; steel wool for cleaning/polishing the valve seat; optionally, a dab of vaseline or plumbers grease for the o-ring; a few inches of teflon tape to reinstall the valve.
I removed the valve from my trailer, and played with it to see how the valve is opened by water pressure and seals when the pressure is removed.
For reference, I'll call the side of the valve where the spring and cross pin are visible the 'hose' side, and the opposite side (where the seal occurs) the 'trailer' side.
I should have created a work area where i could not lose small parts! The cross-pin and valve spring are small and jumpy I nearly lost the small pin when it ejected from my needle nose pliers during reinstall, and flew across the work bench. I'm getting too stiff and near-sighted to crawl around on the floor searching for small parts.
I made a wad of paper towel and stuffed it the trailer side of the valve firmly, so the valve plunger stayed closed during disassembly. I stood the valve up with the hose side of the valve up. Using one hand, I depress the spring down away from the cross pin with the screwdrivers, and used the needle nose pliers to grab and remove the cross pin. The hole in the valve stem allows enough play for the pin to be removed, but I had to shift the valve stem to one side to provide enough clearance. Once the pin was out, I could remove the spring from the plunger stem, remove the paper towel and remove the plunger with old o-ring.
I taped the small parts to a sheet of paper to prevent loss.
The plunger has a small groove for the o-ring (and hopefully your old o-ring) can be removed from the valve body.
All my valve parts had mineral deposits, which I dissolved away with a citric acid solution (1/2 tsp in a cup of water), but vinegar would also work. I warmed up the liquid a bit to speed thing up. Rinsed and dried
Then, I shoved a wad of steel wool into the trailer (seal) side of the valve and polished the sealing surface of the valve by spinning the valve body in my hand. I also used the tips of the needle nose pliers jammed in the steel wool to provide extra pressure, but was careful not to score the valve seat with the plier tips.
A quick trip to my local Ace for the o-ring. Mine was 9/16" dia. X 1/16" thick.
I replaced the o-ring on the plunger, and added a dab of vaseline or plumber's grease to the o-ring.
Replace the plunger in the valve body with the narrow end of the plunger toward the hose side of the valve. Shove your wad of paper towel back into the trailer side of the valve, stand it on the bench, drop the spring onto the plunger, small end of the springup.
Using my best primate skills and opposable thumb, I depressed the spring with the flathead screwdriver(s) using one hand. With the pliers in the other, I grabbed and reinstalled the cross-pin. NOTE: Because I grabbed the pin in the very tips of the needle nose pliers, the pin shot across the bench! Again, it helps if the plunger stem is off-center to provide better access to the pin hole. Once the pin was in, I removed the screwdrivers and centered the plunger on the cross pin.
Reinstalled using the tape and no leak!
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