Leaking radiator valve

[sarahw97]

OK OK I probably should not have touched it.. but anyway I tried to turn off one of the radiators in my (old) house.

Now the valve is leaking.. dripping fairly fast - as far as I can tell it is leaking out the top of the 'spindle' part. I am not sure if the valve is actually working anymore - it doesn't seem to tighten one way or another, so it's probably now broken..

I don't think there are any shutoffs, it's a sealed system & the whole thing will probably have to be drained out to replace the valve.

Is there anything I can do tonight to minimize the leaking? I will have to get the heat guys out tomorrow I guess. thanks.

[Doherty Plumbing]

OK OK I probably should not have touched it.. but anyway I tried to turn off one of the radiators in my (old) house.

Now the valve is leaking.. dripping fairly fast - as far as I can tell it is leaking out the top of the 'spindle' part. I am not sure if the valve is actually working anymore - it doesn't seem to tighten one way or another, so it's probably now broken..

I don't think there are any shutoffs, it's a sealed system & the whole thing will probably have to be drained out to replace the valve.

Is there anything I can do tonight to minimize the leaking? I will have to get the heat guys out tomorrow I guess. thanks.

Try opening it back up fully open. This may help seal the stem.

[rmelo99]

Try re-opening it as suggested.

Also sometimes there is a nut below the handle stem that can be tightened. Might help. Good luck.

[sarahw97]

nope, tried re-opening as suggested but it doesn't seem to have any effect no matter which way I turn it; I don't think turning it is doing anything, must have broken inside. unable to get the nut to go any tighter; but I'm afraid to put much pressure on it in case I break it (more)... also I read about threading PTFE tape down into it but no luck in getting it down into the spindle. ah well heating guy coming in the morning, so I guess I'll just wrap towels around it until then.
tks anyway

[hj]

Hot water valves open and close by using a rotating sleeve, so it could rotate 360 degrees with nothing being broken except the limiting pin which stops the rotation. You would have to have an exceptionally bad radiator valve to damage it in ANY way. The packing nut, if there is one and you know what it is, will stop the leak, and should not break if you try to tighten it.