Water shut-off valves

[icellama21]

Looking for a lower-cost alternative water shut off to the ELK-WSV. Ideally should be solid-quality and rated for drinking water use. I've found a bunch of sprinkler control valves on liquidation for less than 100 dollars, but they don't seem ideal for residential water supplies. Anyone know a good supplier?

 

[Digger]

Looking for a lower-cost alternative water shut off to the ELK-WSV. Ideally should be solid-quality and rated for drinking water use. I've found a bunch of sprinkler control valves on liquidation for less than 100 dollars, but they don't seem ideal for residential water supplies. Anyone know a good supplier?

The water cop is a little cheaper if I remember correctly. Not much though. I had gotten one before the ELK valve came out. The ELK is a better valve and not much more in price.

PM me and I can try and help you out if you want.

 

[icellama21]

There are two problems I see with the elk valve. First, it requires plumbing work to install. And second, it costs a fortune. I went down to my local plumbing supply, turns out they have industrial quality electric actuators for around 100. There are even a few that fit on standard ball valves(just take off the handle, strap on the valve). You can get one for whatever torque you need, and no plumbing needed!

 

[Spanky]

There are several areas that have banned brass valves. Whatever you use, exercise it on occasion to keep it from sticking and not working when you need it. See if you have enough torque to chew a pencil into when the valve closes so that it will overcome any mineral buildup.

 

[drozwood90]

There are two problems I see with the elk valve. First, it requires plumbing work to install. And second, it costs a fortune. I went down to my local plumbing supply, turns out they have industrial quality electric actuators for around 100. There are even a few that fit on standard ball valves(just take off the handle, strap on the valve). You can get one for whatever torque you need, and no plumbing needed!

Do you have any brand names? I'd like to see about doing this. I was going to get a watercop, and hook it in just past the whole house shutoff...but that's a pain...and about $100-150(if I am remembering right). If it's something I can just hook up, in place of the existing valve handle, I'm all for that!

It was at an actual plumbing store...not a place like Home Depot, right?

--Dan

 

[Monk]

That does sound interesting - just add a motor to an existing valve - Having just plumbed a new bathroom, I can say that my quarter-turn valve will be requiring some torque. Its about what you would expect - but keeping in mind that the 4 inch handle takes some of the actual effort from the operation, placing a device directly at the "base" of the valve will require substantially more torque. Sorry for the ramble - must be the Saturday morning coffee.

 

[murphy]

Last winter I improved my ELK-controlled irrigation/watersysten with some valves from

http://stcvalve.com/Process%20Valve.htm?gc...CFRcXsgodLwn2AA

I beleave Wayne W wrote about that company in any thread.
At least there you find "some" valves, also out of stainless steel, brass, special enginered plastics etc...
And the ordering process was a little unusual because of the ordering form, but all together it worked fine, fast and smooth.
BTW, for my valves I needed metric (M4) screws, which was no problem.

 

[icellama21]

I didn't get any brand names. Call around town and ask plumbing supply houses about it. They stock a ton of different parts. The most expensive are the sprinkler/fire or gas/corrosive environment kind, moving all the way down to cheap irrigation valves. 12 VDC seemed to be special order in my experience, but special order was only a few days. Some home depots have hot water valves for heating systems, not sure how well the worked.

My strategy is to use a high quality bronze ball valve, and then attach an actuator to it. Two separate parts. I can splurge on a fancy, trouble-free valve so I don't have to exercise it much and then get a cheaper motor that does the trick, but real slow. I was offered a large book of different torques, ratings, sizes, etc, so getting higher torque is not an issue, but it does cost more. It is possible to get close to the price of the ELK valve if you buy the parts yourself. I was more interested in NOT replacing the existing valve and hooking an actuator up to it.

I also found a pretty good price on the elk valve. Check out spytown.com, they will email you a price, then ask them for a better price. Beat most every other internet seller by a lot. Can't say I know anything about the company though.

 

[Digger]

I didn't get any brand names. Call around town and ask plumbing supply houses about it. They stock a ton of different parts. The most expensive are the sprinkler/fire or gas/corrosive environment kind, moving all the way down to cheap irrigation valves. 12 VDC seemed to be special order in my experience, but special order was only a few days. Some home depots have hot water valves for heating systems, not sure how well the worked.

My strategy is to use a high quality bronze ball valve, and then attach an actuator to it. Two separate parts. I can splurge on a fancy, trouble-free valve so I don't have to exercise it much and then get a cheaper motor that does the trick, but real slow. I was offered a large book of different torques, ratings, sizes, etc, so getting higher torque is not an issue, but it does cost more. It is possible to get close to the price of the ELK valve if you buy the parts yourself. I was more interested in NOT replacing the existing valve and hooking an actuator up to it.

I also found a pretty good price on the elk valve. Check out spytown.com, they will email you a price, then ask them for a better price. Beat most every other internet seller by a lot. Can't say I know anything about the company though.

Not saying its falling off a truck but you may want to make sure they are legit.

Also the BBB record is iffy (not horrible I guess).


Name:
SPYTOWN
Address:
77-41 164th Street
Utopia, NY 11366
View Location Map

Phone Number:
(718) 380-8000
Type of Business:
Internet Shopping Services



This is NOT a BBB Accredited business

The information in this report has either been provided by the company, or has been compiled by the Bureau from other sources.
Customer Experience
Back To Top

Based on BBB files, this business has an unsatisfactory record with the Bureau because it failed to respond to one or more complaints.

 

[icellama21]

Not saying its falling off a truck but you may want to make sure they are legit.

Also the BBB record is iffy (not horrible I guess).

Hmm, I guess they fall in that grey area between buying 2001 stock "new" on ebay and the Brooklyn camera shops ...

Although in fairness BBB records are frequently ignored these days, life is more buyer beware.

EDIT: What I forgot to say is get good credit cards, and rotate through them on sketchy internet transactions. Makes filing disputes faster if you don't have a lot.

 

[Digger]

Not saying its falling off a truck but you may want to make sure they are legit.

Also the BBB record is iffy (not horrible I guess).

Hmm, I guess they fall in that grey area between buying 2001 stock "new" on ebay and the Brooklyn camera shops ...

Although in fairness BBB records are frequently ignored these days, life is more buyer beware.

I sell on ebay and nothing is more than a couple months old tops. I only deal with reputable mfg's and distributors. I dont float more stock then I can sell pretty quick as I really dont have the financial resources to do it anyway. I doubt Spytown is sitting on that much merchandise that it is very old stock in this economy.

There are a few Cocooners who can vouch that I stand behind everything I sell (ebay, Amazon, or my web site). I even help people out who bought elsewhere and have a problem and the other seller did not resolve (for whatever reason) when I can. I have no record with the BBB since I don't stiff anyone.

It is however buyer beware no matter where you shop. There is no return policy stated on Spytown web site that I can find (there is an RMA form but no terms such as 30 days etc).

 

[charliebarns]

Looking for a lower-cost alternative water shut off to the ELK-WSV. Ideally should be solid-quality and rated for drinking water use. I've found a bunch of sprinkler control valves on liquidation for less than 100 dollars, but they don't seem ideal for residential water supplies. Anyone know a good supplier?

The water cop is a little cheaper if I remember correctly. Not much though. I had gotten one before the ELK valve came out. The ELK is a better valve and not much more in price.

PM me and I can try and help you out if you want.

I'll PM you.

thx

 

[Neurorad]

I think if you're trying to add an actuator motor to an existing valve, you're begging for failure.

How much would a plumber charge for intalling the WSV? Doesn't appear that it would take more than an hour.

I like the fact that Elk has done the choosing for me - I believe they've found a quality valve to slap their name on.

It's probably higher quality than necessary, and you could probably save $100 and go with a different brand, especially if you set a rule to 'exercise' the valve regularly.

 

[Neurorad]

I forget why I didn't buy a water sensor from SpyTown the other day - might have been really high shipping cost, ~$12, for a $12 sensor. You actually had to go through most of the ordering process before they would tell you the cost.

I ended up ordering a GRI 2600 through a local electrical supply house.

 

[Digger]

I forget why I didn't buy a water sensor from SpyTown the other day - might have been really high shipping cost, ~$12, for a $12 sensor. You actually had to go through most of the ordering process before they would tell you the cost.

I ended up ordering a GRI 2600 through a local electrical supply house.

Shipping kills you on small items sometimes. To set up global shipping terms on a website some items wind up killing the deal and others you wind up losing your shirt.

I dont remember the cost of the 2600 (it would be about $12 though) but I sell the 2800 for about $9.5 on my site (once you add it to the cart) and shipping is $8 or so ($8.00 plus weight of $0.35 a lb in the USA). If you bought 2 the shipping would be about $0.35 or $0.70 more then the first. So for one item the shipping is horrible but for two it is reasonable the way the global settings are. Its hard to gamble on the shipping settings when the mark up on the product is low. Spytown is covering the shipping on the low end more then I am.