Washing machine valve movement

[Vdawg]

Hi,

I have a house built in 2013, and although I normally didn't use the washing machine valves to turn off the water in the past, I did recently when replacing the hoses. I noticed at that time that entire hot water valve body rotates about 15-20 degrees when turning the valve on and off, and it has me concerned that the valve connection might ultimately leak.

I tried to turn the valve body clockwise (from the top looking down) gently in an attempt to tighten it onto the threaded post visible in the attached images, but I don't want to use too much force and it just rotates back to its original position, making me believe the pipe below is actually moving with it when I do that.

I've attached photos of the valve box that I took while the house was under construction (walls open) and today with the hoses attached. Oddly, the hot water valve body pointed directly forward then, but now it points inward just a bit toward the cold water valve, so I don't know how/when that happened (could have been before I even closed on the house but after the construction-phase photos were taken). One of the photos with hoses attached is obviously the current state of the valve.

Should the valve body rotate even that small amount or does this indicate it's not attached to the incoming supply pipe properly?

When this happens, is it likely the entire pipe below moving/rotating or do you think it's the valve rotating on the CPVC threaded post its attached to?

Thanks in advance for any thoughts on this...

 

[Jeff H Young]

The nut underneath is loose, open dry wall hold valve and tighten . Or just remember to hold valve when turning water on or off. Not big deal I guess your pictures are while under construction not current? Not important though. That's your problem

 

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[Vdawg]

Thanks for the quick reply. So you're saying that under the wall box there's a nut on the plastic threaded post that tightens the valve to the box? Makes sense, I just couldn't see it in my photos.

Yes, the walls are closed now and the photos shown with studs visible in them and no hoses connected were taken during construction (2013) prior to drywall. The one with hoses connected was taken today. The back side of that wall is the garage so I could open it from there. Just need to move a laundry tub installed in the garage (right there of course).

 

[Jeff H Young]

Kind of a lot of work for that but if you open and close valves often might be worth it.
The valve has a threaded shank and a thin plastic nut tightened against box

 

[Vdawg]

Yeah, I was hoping I could pull of the box's trim ring and maybe have enough room to access the nut below, but the trim ring wasn't that wide and the wall below it was cut a bit smaller than the box opening, so I thought I'd go in from the back side of the wall (garage). Unfortunately, I had plumbed in a laundry tub when I first moved in (tapping into the laundry water supply line and main drain stack which is right there, so all of that had to come out. I opened the sheetrock and found the plastic nuts, but it was hard to tighten them without the valve turning back (I didn't have help holding the valve steady while I tightened it), but ultimately got it much tighter than it was, so I can now open/close the valves without moving them. I will likely not use them every laundry day, but wanted them to be correctly tightened anyway. Thanks again!

 

[Jadnashua]

The vibrations caused by the WM turning water on/off with shake the line and that can slowly loosen the nut over time. So, without getting it tight enough to overcome that, odds are, it will loosen itself up. You could slow that down by installing hammer arrestors that will cushion the water flow when it stops. A bunch of companies make them. In reality, the best place for them is on the WM, and not the valve, but most people put them on the valve so they don't have to move their washer! https://www.oatey.com/products/oate...machine-supply-line-shock-absorber--505252462

This will make the hose potentially last longer, as it won't be getting that shock numerous times during the WM cycle, the arrester absorbs it and keeps the hose from jumping and potentially making noise.

 

[Vdawg]

Thanks! I'll look into those! I like that they can be installed on the existing connections rather than having to replace the entire valve with an arrestor built in. Of course it is adding one more connection/point of failure, but I like that it reduces the long-term stress on the hoses as well as the valve. My washing machine inlets are at the top/back of the machine so I could add them there without much effort if that's better. Does adding them at the washing machine inlet save the hoses because the shock from the machine's valve closing is "arrested" before traveling through the hose or is it equally effective regardless of placement.

 

[Jadnashua]

When the stream of water hits the quick acting valve, just like hitting a brick wall with your car, things bounce back. The water can reflect, so it's best to absorb it at the 'wall' (close to the offending valve) which is in the WM.

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[Vdawg]

Thanks -- I appreciate the advice.