Seacock valve frozen

[Max]

You'd figure after many years of owning boats I would know better. I've been leaving the main water intake valve open for several years. It feeds the live wells and wash down, but unfortunately I haven't been closing it & opening in order to keep it working. Now it's locked. I tried with my foot but only felt the handle flex, so I'm thinking of tapping it with a hammer and then using a 2' pipe over the handle for leverage. I'm concerned that the handle will snap and the valve will get stuck half open. Then I'll have a new can of worms. Any ideas or tricks??

Thanks.

[rickf]

You'd figure after many years of owning boats I would know better. I've been leaving the main water intake valve open for several years. It feeds the live wells and wash down, but unfortunately I haven't been closing it & opening in order to keep it working. Now it's locked. I tried with my foot but only felt the handle flex, so I'm thinking of tapping it with a hammer and then using a 2' pipe over the handle for leverage. I'm concerned that the handle will snap and the valve will get stuck half open. Then I'll have a new can of worms. Any ideas or tricks??

Thanks.

You don't want to be forcing the valve while the boat is in the water. It could break off and then your can of worms would float away as the boat went down!!!! You could try tapping lightly on it in each direction and see if you can get any movement. If you do then just work it back and forth a little at a time. Do not use a lot of force.

[OReely]

Don't use any force multiplying levers on the handle. You're almost guaranteed to break the stem.

If this is a flanged seacock (the kind that is bolted to the bottom of the boat), you may be able to loosen the body with a large wrench. The body is made in two pieces. If you look at it, you can see a hex shaped section on the upper portion of the seacock. Get a wrench on it and give it a good pull. You don't have to take it apart, just loosen it a little to free the ball.

Rotate the ball a couple of times, tighten the body a little. Repeat until the body is very tight. The ball should move at this point.

If it's a ball valve mounted on a through hull, unscrew it, throw it away and mount a true seacock in it's place.

[welder]

If it's a ball valve mounted on a through hull, unscrew it, throw it away and mount a true seacock in it's place.

If the boat is in the water , use a plumbers helper on the outside under water to keep the water from flooding your boat.

In either case , REPLACE THE SEACOCK....

[welder]

Fat fingered the submit button

Edited July 10, 2010 by welder

[pmagrady]

Here's a very educational pictorial about boat valves.

valves

[Mal de Mer]

Here's a very educational pictorial about boat valves.

valves

good post....max...its time to change it