ACCOR FlowTite Valve Replacement

[KP Texan]

Just wanted to share my experience doing this in case it helps someone in the future.

These valves are obviously junk used to save time/money, and I'm a bit confused as to why the builder of my home would allow these. This isn't a cheap home and has many other high end design elements, so I'm a bit miffed I even need to do this. I hate these valves with a passion and, although none are leaking right now, I do have one that seems to shut itself off in one of the upstairs bathrooms. I'm going to get rid of all 19 of them!

Most instructions you find online will tell you to simply twist the ACCOR valve off the pipe counter clockwise while pulling, but it's not that easy. You can twist it about 50 times while pulling before it comes off, all the while tearing up whatever precious length of pipe you have sticking out of the wall. I found one guy online who used a small pipe cutter (which I though was ingenious), but my mini cutter won't fit around the 1-1/8" body of the valve and my larger cutter is too big.

What I ended up doing is very simple: I took my ratcheting PVC cutter to the valve body, and cracked it around the outside with a couple cuts around the perimeter, while being careful not to cut to my 1/2" PEX. The plastic on these valves is pretty brittle, and cutting it with the PVC cutter just makes it crack. You can then easily pull the bulk of the ACCOR valve off the pipe. What's left after you do that is a plastic washer sandwiched between two thin steel toothed washers which grab the pipe, and then the remainder of the valve body behind that. I then took a pair of diagonal cutters and carefully snipped the set of washers and removed them from the pipe. Once those are gone, the leftover part of the valve will pull off the pipe with no resistance. The whole process takes a couple minutes, and its much better than twisting and pulling on the thing.

Hopefully this helps anyone else who has to deal with these junky valves, and here are a few photos:

One of the offending valves:

What's left after cracking the valve body and removing the bulk of it:

Newly installed Brasscraft supply stop and Fluidmaster SS braided hose:

 

[JohnCT]

You can also use a standard pipe cutter and work around the outside until it fractures. I've also used a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. Twisting the valve off as you point out just trashes the pipe. I don't know how good an O-ring seal will be after the barbs tear on the pipe.

As an aside, my opinion is that if the builder cheaped out on these valves I wonder where else he cut corners.

John

 

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[KP Texan]

You can also use a standard pipe cutter and work around the outside until it fractures. I've also used a Dremel with a cutoff wheel. Twisting the valve off as you point out just trashes the pipe. I don't know how good an O-ring seal will be after the barbs tear on the pipe.

As an aside, my opinion is that if the builder cheaped out on these valves I wonder where else he cut corners.

John

I mentioned the pipe cutter trick but, like I said, my mini cutter wouldn't fit that large of a diameter and my full sized Ridgid cutter is too large to rotate in the space needed. If you have a pipe cutter that fits within the constraints, that would definitely be a good choice.

I'm not too worried about the other aspects of this house. Structural/electrical/other systems look very solid according to the inspector and from what I've seen. It's definitely not a "cheaply" built home (granted, I wish the builder had used Toto toilets, but that's probably rare on a non-custom).

 

[JohnCT]

I mentioned the pipe cutter trick but, like I said, my mini cutter wouldn't fit that large of a diameter and my full sized Ridgid cutter is too large to rotate in the space needed. If you have a pipe cutter that fits within the constraints, that would definitely be a good choice.

I'm not too worried about the other aspects of this house. Structural/electrical/other systems look very solid according to the inspector and from what I've seen. It's definitely not a "cheaply" built home (granted, I wish the builder had used Toto toilets, but that's probably rare on a non-custom).

Yeah, I see you did mention the pipe cutter. I have like 10 of them so one of them would probably fit!!

The other thing that stands out is the stub-outs. I like to transition from the PEX to a copper stub out to mount the stops.

I guess if all your PEX is home run with no buried crimps, then they might elect to take the PEX right out of the wall directly. I like the look and rigidity plus the repairability of using a copper stub out.

John

 

[KP Texan]

Yeah, I see you did mention the pipe cutter. I have like 10 of them so one of them would probably fit!!

The other thing that stands out is the stub-outs. I like to transition from the PEX to a copper stub out to mount the stops.

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I guess if all your PEX is home run with no buried crimps, then they might elect to take the PEX right out of the wall directly. I like the look and rigidity plus the repairability of using a copper stub out.

John

Yeah I guess that would be the best of both worlds! I agree that PEX coming straight out of the wall doesn't look the best, and it's rigidity leaves something to be desired. I actually miss working with copper (my last 2 homes were copper). Seems like much more of craft than working with PEX.

 

[Reach4]

I have a SharkBite valve on PEX coming out of the wall. Pushed the PEX back into the wall, because it is not clamped near the wall. Looks good, but I know it is not ideal. I don't just turn the handle to turn off/o the water, but instead hold the handle and valve body with one hand, and manipulate.

I had eliminated some galvanized, and put in something better-- compression over soft copper tubing. Leaked. I now know that I had not tightened the compression enough because I was afraid of crushing the tubing. It was not a justified fear.

But at that point, I just took the easy way.