Pro Handyman Blog

Installing a Plumbing Compression Ball Valve

 Email Article  

Tweet  

  

 delicious  

  

Installing a plumbing compression ball valve shouldn’t be intimidating. You really only need a few wrenches and a little elbow grease.

Turn the water off before you start working on this. If you are replacing an existing compression ball valve, it is your choice to replace the nut and ferrule on the pipe. The valve will be threaded and will slide onto the bare copper pipe where it will contact the ferrule and nut. The nut screws onto the valve and compresses the ferrule in between to seal out any leaks. If it is a new installation, you slide the nut on first, then the ferrule, and finally the valve. However, I usually leave the old nut and ferrule on the pipe and reuse them. You can certainly remove them but it can be difficult and time-consuming. The nut will just slide off once you get the ferrule off, but that is the tough part. Since the ferrule is soft and has been compressed, it really grabs the pipe well. You can use a large wrench and grab it. Rotate it up-and-down while forcing it toward the end of the pipe. From there you can slide the old nut off and replace them with the new parts.

Use a wrench to hold the valve in an upright position while you use a 2^nd wrench to tighten the nut. Turn the water back on, check for leaks, and tighten a little more if you see a drip.