Replacing Leaky Hydronic Zone Valve

[Kiko]

I need to replace a leaky hydronic zone valve on my Burnham gas boiler. The new zone valve comes attached to a copper tee that needs to be sweated on. Since the same copper tee already exists (from the old one), can I just detach the valve from the new copper tee and reuse the old tee? Un-sweating that old tee would be very difficult for me, and cutting it out would require a lot of extra soldering, which I would prefer to avoid if possible.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

It's probably the tee that is leaking, it needs to be changed

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Kiko]

No, it's leaking right out of the valve itself. The tee is fine.
It would make sense that these valves would twist off from the tee portion to prevent melting the plastic part of the valve when soldering.
Does anyone know this to be the case, or do I need to call White-Rodgers for the answer?

 

[Tom Sawyer]

No, it is leaking out of the stem seal on the valve itself. You need to replace the entire thing.

 

[Kiko]

I talked to the fine folks at White-Rodgers, as well as some local boiler repair guys, and they all said that these hydronic zone valves are designed to be twisted out from the copper tee and replaced in a matter of seconds to avoid a lot of air being sucked into the system. They can also be rebuilt (new seals, new valve assembly, new motor) all without having to remove the copper tee.

 

[Tom Sawyer]

Yes, sorry, I was not being clear enough. You will need to shut the system down, drian the pressure and then remove the motor and the valve body from the tee. It's leaking from the stem seal. which is why I said the tee.