Rotating the shutoff valve

Hi,

I want to rotate the water shutoff valve on the water heater 180 degree.
Can anybody tell me what is the proper way of doing this? I ws thinking of during the following but not 100% sure if it is correct or not.

1. Shut off main water line
2. Open faucet to run off water
3. Heat up the connection using the propane torch
4. Roate and re-solder joint

Any advice is welcome...

Thanks,
Albert

When that connection is somewhat hot, take your flux brush and brush flux onto the connection before putting the solder to it; eliminates/removes the dirt that may suck into the joint when the solder first breaks.

valve

You will probably have to disconnect from the water heater unless you have two torchs to heat both sides at once.

This is iffy at best. Since the inside of the pipe is wet (albeit drained ) there is no assurance that the solder joint will remain intact. Now, this is often done by pros who have a real "touch" with the heat and the flux. I would usually not try it. I would disassemble and completely reprep the pieces. Just one man's opinion.