Deb and Ed M wrote:
Of course not. But as a pool-and-spa store owner for years, and a Certified Level II Service Technician, I have seen personally what can happen when the seals around a gate valve dry out - it was one of my favorite service calls because they are so easy to replace. Of course it's a pleasant job when dealing with the clean water of a hot tub; probably not so much when you're replacing black tank valves. There is absolutely NO difference between an RV gate valve and a hot tub gate valve. And when the gate valves are new, there's some sort of greasy coating over the seals - kind of like vaseline. To keep them from drying out. So I will continue to keep my seals "wet", thanks.
Just curious and thinking out loud here...
Aren't there seals on either side of the gate of the gate valve? Assuming my understanding of that is correct, what keeps the seals on the downstream side wet and hence in good shape? I'd think if being moist was a requirement that we'd see far more cases of seals breaking down on one side but not the other of the valve.
I would tend to suspect that seals mostly wear out from aging rather than being dry, but I'm certainly no expert on the chemical properties of rubber or rubber-like gaskets.
