Taco Freedom Flanges Failure

About 2 years ago I zoned my boiler into several zones. Six at first and now it is at 8. The zoning was done with 007 circulators and I purchased Taco Shutoff Freedom flanges for each pump.

They are 1" threaded. Today I noticed what appeared to be a leak on one of the pumps. On closer inspection I touched the upper valve and it just snapped in my hand.

The brass valve/flange assemble just cut around where there appears to be a seam.

Has anyone experienced anything like this on one of these valves or any other type of ball valve? Ican't figure out what would cause this other than a manf defect.

Yep, they're crap.

I have ran into problems with flanges having cracked but have not had any problems with the Taco Flange/Ballvalve setup. Gotta be a Manufacturer defect.

Yes, they are crap. How should I know? I invented the modern flanged ball valves. My name is John Rocheleau and I am an HVACR tradesman with 32 years in the trade and over a hundred inventions for the trade under my belt. See my site MaverickInventor.com.

I licensed my flanged valves and threaded and sweat flanges to Taco in 1999. Soon, they turned my high-quality concepts into cheap crap made in China. Then, mysteriously, Webstone valves cornered the market on my designs after Taco created a "sham" (so-called by my patent lawyer) of the patent application on my valves.

I am writing a book about the harrowing life of an independent inventor and innovator.

Contact me if you would like to know more.

John Rocheleau

Add a chapter about the sabotage of American industry and homes by Chinese products and ethically bankrupt "American" manufacturers.

Wall street journal, B1 Wednesday, had a good article on quite a bit of MFG. coming home due to some of these issues and transport problems - and a ton of Americans that don't live as well as many Chinese anymore.