Removing old metal washing machine valve box

[Verdeboy]

In my recent project of removing a galvanized elbow and replacing it with a brass tee, the pipe that had to be unscrewed was the one that ended up in a laundry valve box with an old and corroded valve on the end.

I thought I was unscrewing the valve, but in reality, I was unscrewing the pipe from the elbow 6 feet below the valve! This would have been great except that the valve actually got a little bent in the process. Is there a hidden nipple with a nut underneath the valve box that may have gotten bent, like in this picture?

Nothing seems to be leaking, but if I need to remove the bent nipple and valve, how do I get at it without tearing this old metal valve box out of the wall? I don't see any mounting screws or nails.

 

[Cass]

I am going to guess that the threaded coupling under the box in the wall bent at the point where it screwed into the pipe. If this is so it will be leaking fairly soon because it bent due to the pipe threads being rusted to the point that they could bend. Under normal circumstances it wouldn't have bent.

Do you know for sure that it is not leaking now?

 

[Sponsor]

 

[hj]

valve

If it was a steel pipe I cannot visualize how it could have "bent". The valve is secured to the box with a locknut. The box is secured to wall structure with "straps" from the box to the adjacent studs. It cannot be removed or replace without opening some wall area.

 

[Master Plumber Mark]

the fun of plumbing

You got troubles if you screwed that out 6 inches or feet
below that laundry box...


you might want to do some "exploritory surgery" to see how
bad you screwed yourself....


you certialy dont want leaking in the wall for years and years into the crawl space

go to LOWES ...they make some real nice White fiberglass wall
paneling in 4x8 sheets for about $25 bucks....

do your damage to the drywall then you
can cut that stuff to hide the hole....

 

[Verdeboy]

Well, it definitely is not leaking. And it definitely is bent.
In fact, the threaded part of valve, where the washer hose screws on, is bent downward at a 45 degree angle. I had to notch out the valve box just to screw it on.

In retrospect, do you think I should have just tried to unscrew it from below at the elbow, or was I correct in trying to remove the valve first?

 

[Verdeboy]

You got troubles if you screwed that out 6 inches or feet
below that laundry box...


you might want to do some "exploritory surgery" to see how
bad you screwed yourself....


you certialy dont want leaking in the wall for years and years into the crawl space

go to LOWES ...they make some real nice White fiberglass wall
paneling in 4x8 sheets for about $25 bucks....

do your damage to the drywall then you
can cut that stuff to hide the hole....

If it was leaking even one drop, I'd see it from below. The reason I know this is because when the water was turned back on, there were a few drops coming down to the new brass tee from above. Once I tightened the packing nut on the valve, there were no drops coming down.