Cheap 1/4 turn ball valve - direction of off/on?

[Johnny-Canuck]

This question comes from a dummy so I know it will sound pretty silly. Over 20 years ago I installed what I now recognize must have been a cheap quarter turn shutoff to a sink. (In my defense, 20 years ago, "cheap" was important ... "quality" / "durability" was not as important).

My question. So I have this admittedly "cheap" (= not Dahl) 1/4 turn ball valve. It's been doing it's job in it's open position for the last x years. I don't remember the last time I actually tried to close it, but I want to close it now. So I recognize it's cheap + it's small + it has a thin metal little handle + I don't see anything that prevents me from turning it left (counter clockwise) or right (clockwise) to close it ... which I now want to do.

The handle is currently open ... so it's lined up parallel to the direction that matches the water flow.

My problem is it's now 20 or more years later and I now want to close it, but it's "stuck"
= I can't easily turn it in either direction to turn it 90 degrees to turn it off
= I can't easily turn it left (counter-clockwise) or right (clockwise) to turn it off.

Before I take the chance of breaking something, what's your suggestion about the direction I should prefer when I try to "force" it?
1. Left (counter clockwise)
2. or Right (clockwise)
3. or do you think it doesn't matter = since I can't see any obvious stop piece that will stop the movement in either direction, it seems like it probably can go 1/4 turn in either direction. (In fact, I should probably be able to keep turning it continuously in either direction and it will change from full open to full close to full open etc. as long as I keep turning.

Thanks in advance for all suggestions before I try to "force" it.

 

[Jadnashua]

CCW usually turns them off. It would be rare for them to rotate fully with on/off alternating every 90-degrees.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Standardairconditioner]

Dahl valves always have the water flow in the direction of the end of the handle.

But you did say yours is not, I'm guessing it might be an Aqua Dynamics, those are popular in Canada, and those actually explode with the die cast fracturing, so please post a picture of it.

 

[Johnny-Canuck]

Dahl valves always have the water flow in the direction of the end of the handle.

But you did say yours is not, I'm guessing it might be an Aqua Dynamics, those are popular in Canada, and those actually explode with the die cast fracturing, so please post a picture of it.

Thanks. Hope this picture tells you something. I'm guessing that I would have bought these in a Home Depot in Toronto 20 or more years ago.

 

[Standardairconditioner]

Those are 100% in the open position.

That is easy to verify by seeing what comes out of those plastic supply lines as the main water shutoff is opened/closed.

You may be able to "unstuck them" by removing the plastic supply lines, giving you access to the i.d. to PB Blast the seized ball inside it.

A Mapp torch will heat the old solder sweat and you can twist off those old vavles, then use a pipe cutter to cut off the sweated copper, and finally install dahl vavles, either by sweating or compression. This is a rather quick job, you may or may not have the DIY skills for this.

 

[Johnny-Canuck]

Those are 100% in the open position.

That is easy to verify by seeing what comes out of those plastic supply lines as the main water shutoff is opened/closed.

You may be able to "unstuck them" by removing the plastic supply lines, giving you access to the i.d. to PB Blast the seized ball inside it.

A Mapp torch will heat the old solder sweat and you can twist off those old vavles, then use a pipe cutter to cut off the sweated copper, and finally install dahl vavles, either by sweating or compression. This is a rather quick job, you may or may not have the DIY skills for this.

Thanks for the response. I know what I need to do to replace these with Dahl valves, however my DIY skills are marginally higher than "dummy" and because of my age, dexterity and the closeness of stuff that could go up in flames ... my preference is to simply try to "force" them in one direction or the other to see what happens, before I decide I actually need to go to the trouble of replacing them.

I like your thought of trying some PB Blaster from the sink side to see if that might help. (PS: I know where I can turn of the supply that's feeding these valves before I try that approach or try to force them in one direction or the other).

But my question is still ... if it was you and you weren't prepared to replace them, would you try to "force" them in the Counter Clock Wise direction or the ClockWise direction?

Thanks.

 

[Jadnashua]

As you're looking down on the handle from above, I'd try CCW.

 

[hj]

The valves ALWAYS rotate "CW" clockwise, NOT CCW as stated elsewhere, to the right to turn off. Put a wrench on the handle and rotate it.