Kunkle valves are reliable, long-lasting pressure safety and relief valves for extreme operating environments. However, even the best valves wear out and need routine maintenance and even sometimes repairs to ensure they remain reliable, efficient, and safe.
Sales teams for valve distributors should know how to recognize symptoms of a valve in need of repair and communicate them with their customers. This skill is critical for helping your customers avoid valve failures that can lead to downtime and project cost/timeline overruns.
In this article, we will guide you through how to check for faltering valves, including pressure relief valves, check valves, and pressure reducing valves.
Recognizing the Symptoms of a Valve in Need of Repair
Whether you’re dealing with a pressure-reducing valve, a pressure relief valve, or check valves, there are some symptoms that they all have in common:
- Moisture or dripping water around the valve
- Unusual noises coming from the valve, such as hissing, banging, or whistling sounds
- Inconsistent system performance
- Visible rust, corrosion, or wear on the valve body
- Sluggish response to pressure or flow rate changes
When a valve fails, it grinds your customer’s operations to a halt, and can even damage equipment or pose a safety risk to people. Being able to identify these warning signs sooner rather than later ensures you can replace or have a valve repaired before it fails.
How to Check Your Valves
There are four ways your customers can check for a bad valve:
- Visually inspect the valve for signs of leaks, rust, or damage.
- Check pressure gauges and flow meters to see if the valve is consistently doing its job.
- Listen for unusual noises during valve operation.
- Manually open and close the valve to see if it operates as quickly or easily as it should.
While many valves have similar symptoms of wear and imminent failure, different types of valves also have their own failure modes. Here’s how to tell if a check valve may be faltering and in need of repair:
- Fluid is flowing the wrong way. This is called backflow, and check valves should prevent it from happening.
- The valve is producing rattling or banging sounds. This is a symptom of backflow.
- The pressure drops or fluctuates more than usual. This is a sign that the check valve isn’t sealing properly.
When to Recommend Valve Repair Services
You want to make sure your customers get their money’s worth out of their valves, but long-term exposure to hard water, debris, and constant high pressures can dramatically influence their lifespan. However, if a valve’s lifespan is shortened by its operating conditions, repair services can extend it.
Valve repair is often far less costly than buying a new valve, since only the damaged parts need to be replaced. Repaired valves function like new and can add many more years of service to a valve’s lifetime.
How long do pressure reducing valves last?
Pressure reducing valves and pressure relief valves can last ten years or longer. But that, of course, depends on how well they are taken care of and how demanding their operating environment is. With regular maintenance and inspection, valves can get the care they need to remain reliable, safe, and efficient for as long as possible.
If a valve is too old or the damage is too extensive, repair might not be a viable or cost-effective option compared to purchasing a new valve.
How to Replace a Leaking Pressure Relief Valve
When a customer asks, “How do I replace a leaking pressure relief valve?” you can walk them through these simple steps to remove the broken valve and install a fresh valve in its place:
- Turn off the system by shutting off water or steam flow to the valve.
- If needed, drain the system to avoid leaks during the replacement.
- Use a wrench to unscrew the old valve and remove it.
- Install the new valve. Apply thread sealant to the threads, then screw it in tightly.
- Open the valve to turn the system back on, then check for leaks.
How often should pressure relief valves be replaced?
As part of regular maintenance, pressure relief valves should be removed from the system for in-depth inspection at least once per year, then re-installed. If a pressure relief or regulating valve works in an extremely demanding environment, though, it should be removed for regular inspection more often—every six months, if not more frequently. This minimizes the risks of a bad valve catching your customers by surprise and costing them time, money, and business.
Dante Valve: Your Support for Valve Repair
With generations of experience with both ASME-certified and non-code Kunkle valves and VR valve repair expertise, Dante Valve’s technicians are your trusted, reliable resource for quick-turnaround valve repair services. When you and your customers spot symptoms of potential valve failure, send it to our Bellflower, California facility for inspection, evaluation, and repair. Our short lead times ensure minimum downtime and maximum satisfaction for your customers.