Print

Please login or register.
1 Hour 1 Day 1 Week 1 Month Forever
Login with username, password and session length

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

I suppose I'll need to invest in some sort of olive cutter. I doubt the old olives will yield easily......unless somebody knows of a surefire method of removing them.

I have both an Olive Cutter and an Olive Puller but for many years I just cut a diagonal cut in the Olive with a junior hacksaw. Don’t go too deep though, you just need to go deep enough to get a flat blade screwdriver in the slot and then twist the screwdriver to split the Olive. Clean up the pipe with a bit of wire wool and it’s job done. 

Just for reference, the old blue 3 way valve controller were generally produced by Switchmaster, and they were sold as a one piece item, so the electric part was a non-replaceable part.
I use the Honeywell 3 way port valve whenever I change one.

I may try this.

The problem I have is the 3 large nuts refuse to undo despite a drenching with WD40 and a lot of heat.

If I push any harder I could easily crack, bend or rupture the copper pipe. Dilemma.

I'm wondering if I should cut the whole thing out and replace the shagged copper pipe with plastic.

[YZ250]

Have you tried holding the port valve with pipe grips whilst turning the nut with a spanner.  I sympathise as I know that some compression joint nuts can put up a fight. 

[YZ250]

If the olives aren’t damaged you could try reusing them with a bit of jointing compound. Also, if you know your system and you still have a header tank, you can create a vacuum by sticking a rubber carrot in the header inlet and bung the vent loop pipe to avoid a drain down. It’s obviously safer to drain down and it also gets rid of some of the crap in the pipe work, but for time saving the bung and carrot do work. 
Your main issue is removing the old one though.

[biggriffin]

Looking at the state of those pipes, it's going to get messy

[STEMO]

Would anyone think me rude if I asked if Mrs Opti could make a short video of the process. Purely for educational purposes, of course.

[Rangie]

I suppose I'll need to invest in some sort of olive cutter. I doubt the old olives will yield easily......unless somebody knows of a surefire method of removing them.

.

Or you could " bite the bullet" and get somebody in who knows exactly what they're doing..👍

[STEMO]

I suppose I'll need to invest in some sort of olive cutter. I doubt the old olives will yield easily......unless somebody knows of a surefire method of removing them.

.

Or you could " bite the bullet" and get somebody in who knows exactly what they're doing..👍

Now there's a novel idea. It'll never catch on 

[Andy B]

Would anyone think me rude if I asked if Mrs Opti could make a short video of the process. Purely for educational purposes, of course.

 

[Viral_Jim]

If it were me I'd get some 22mm copper pipe and some speed fit elbows / couplers and cut all the old fittings away.

By the time you've pulled, heaved and twisted to try and get the nuts and olives off the valve you'll probably create a leak at one of the solder joints anyway. Just spend the extra £20 now and save yourself the trouble of going back to it.

If you use speed fit with copper pipe you don't need to buy inserts either, they just go straight on the pipe.

Alternatively you could use the speed fit plastic pipe and some inserts as it's easier to cut,.and gives you a bit of flex if you can't/don't line things up just right. Copper is less forgiving

[YZ250]

Surely Opti must have long finished this little job by now. I mean, a straight swap part for part and a few wires to change, just how hard can that be.   

[Kevin Wood]

If it were me I'd replace it with a pair of 2 port valves as they are much more reliable.

[Viral_Jim]

Surely Opti must have long finished this little job by now. I mean, a straight swap part for part and a few wires to change, just how hard can that be. 

Oi, don't disturb the Field Marshall.

He's currently midway through a YouTube DIY course on how to plaster a ceiling while he waits for the industrial dehumidifier to arrive 

[STEMO]

Surely Opti must have long finished this little job by now. I mean, a straight swap part for part and a few wires to change, just how hard can that be. 

Oi, don't disturb the Field Marshall.

He's currently midway through a YouTube DIY course on how to plaster a ceiling while he waits for the industrial dehumidifier to arrive 

 

[Marks DTM Calib]

If it were me I'd replace it with a pair of 2 port valves as they are much more reliable.

Trouble is you then need to also add a bypass of some sort to support pump run on

[Field Marshal Dr. Opti]

Well, I've had a quote of £180 provided I supply the new parts myself.

Plumbers can't be short of a bob or two.