Replace shutoff or add another inline?

[Redline]

I started working in my new (to me) 1894 city house and need to replace the outdoor silcock. There are currently four separate water feeds that come out of the basement floor in various places, with no main shutoff inside (St Louis doesnt meter city water). I would assume there is a utility shutoff in the yard, but i cant find it.

either way, this is one of those feeds. The gate valve is pretty crusty and with no shutoff behind it, I am a little concerned with loosening all of the corrosion at this point. I dont know the age, but assume it could be 1950s/60s when they converted some of the lead pipe to galvanized.

is there any major benefit in replacing the gate valve (id have to have the city come shut off the curb-stop), or should i just change the union to a dielectric, put in a new ball valve down-line for winterization and plumb in the the new silcock?

 

[Sylvan]

Are you sure it is gate valve nad not a globe valve? The piping is a catastrophe looking to happen in a very short time

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Redline]

could be a globe, but i dont think they'd use those as a shutoff - how do you tell?

the galvanized isnt bad. Ironically, someone painted it "corrosion green" at some point and thats flaking off.

 

[James Hughes]

Yes, I agree.

 

[Reach4]

could be a globe, but i dont think they'd use those as a shutoff - how do you tell?

Yes, I agree.

You agree that Redline doesn't think they'd use those as a shutoff? Or you think that Sylvan is right about it being a globe valve. They can both be true temporarily, but Redline will come around to realize that globe valves were the norm for shutoffs for a long time, and he has one.

 

[Terry]

Your best bet is adding a shutoff between the existing and the union.
Good luck. Often the old galvanized where it meets the brass has taken a beating. I sometimes have to cut and thread further down.

 

[Sylvan]

A Globe pattern valve is slightly more rounded at the bottom and there should be an arrow on a globe valve indicating the direction of flow