"nrp" wrote in message
oups.com...
George -
I've had a failure rate of about 20% with the gate valves normally
used for
water line shutoff valves. These are brass valves made in China or
Indonesia.
The usual failure mode is leakage around the shaft collar.

These are not cheap gate valves - at least the ones at HD I looked at.
They were 1/4 turn positive-stop ball valves with teflon or HDPE seals
thruout, and a good flow area. The ball appears to be stainless, and
the body is brass. I accept that they are not cerified and will
probably always be illegal, but I also understand the originator's
frustration. The older aircraft ones I've seen are really absolute
junk compared to these.


You are so right, NRP, and these Home Depot valves are already in use as
aircraft fuel valves. They work perfectly. They are of high quality.
And they are made in Italy, not China or Indonesia. I know a Cub with three
of them in it -- one for each wing tank and one just upstream of the
gascolator. They have been altered to look like they were custom-made.

I have one of those original equipment valves like Michael Horowitz
repaired. I keep it around as a conversation piece just to show what a
leaky klunker it is, compared to a bolla valvola. A Taylorcraft owner
wanted to buy it at one time, but I told him he would be assuming a foolish
risk.