Inaccessible Seacock

[3reefs]

Hoping for practical tips from forumites who have solved similar problems.

I have a couple of seacocks that I can see easily, but cannot reach (bottom of a locker). I would rather not drill a hole in the handles, but hope to find a "claw" with 3 or 4 fingers that I can push onto the handle and rotate.

Has anyone seen or created such a device? Possibly plumbers have something like this for those deeply buried main stop cocks at the side of the road.

Suggestions welcome.

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[brianhumber]

Used to make up these at sea - these were 'proper job' sized valves, the valve handles on the sizes we have on yachts do not lend themselves to these kind of devices but you could try using welded prong onto socket with extended handle I would have thought. Also - if you can't get at them when were they last opened up for inspection and could you plug them in an emergency. If they are that inaccessible the designer is a pratt and you should move them or change the locker to get better access.

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[Stemar]

Have a look at a basin wrench from B & Q or proper plumbers' merchants. There are 2 kinds, the cheap ones like a big open-ended spanner with "claws" on the end,

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=13294&ts=39772

and an adjustable job a bit like one of those universal spanners on the end of a long handle

http://www.screwfix.com/app/sfd/cat/pro.jsp?id=14631&ts=39772



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[tcm]

depends on the type of valve. You may need a toolshop/welder too get thhis lot made.

To turn a valve in the horizontal plane, I wd start with a scaffold tube, hole thru one end for turning with er anything, and "castellate" the other end - small cutouts so it sits in the valve handle. Try not to go the route of welding on fingers as the weakest bit (the weld) will be where it needs most strength - making cutouts will preserve the metal structure/strength of a long tube. Careful when closing - if made correctly you could easily wreck the valve so just use the tube with your hands praps.

For a lever type valve, a scaffold tube could again be a good starting point. You would need to go the route of welding on an arm - so that the centre of turning is preserved and the tool you make doesn't try to open the valve by attempting to rip the valve handle in half. You lose leverage with lever-type valves which is why the larger valves are red twistdown gate type valves. Find some u-section (or go to a welding shop) that will fit over the top of the valve, and then make a cutout in the scaffold tube and that will fit this externally, and get it welded on.





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[steve_cronin]

It's all to do with what soort of valves they are.

If they are gate valves with thumb wheels as fitted to domestic hot water systems and the shaft is horizontal, best advice is fit new valves as these aren't proper seacocks and rigging a remote will not be cost effective. If of same type but shaft is vertical, get a length of aluminium tube and cut some slots in one end so that the remaining "prongs" fit into the holes in the wheel.

If the valves are ball valves with weak mild steel handles (often sheathed in yellow plastic) that just turn a quarter of a turn, then a visit to a Red Cross mobility shop for a "grabber" might do the job. Real Blakes seacocks might just be moved by the same device but don't get the lightweight one which is only good for retrieving dropped hankies!

All the above of course assumes that the valves are free moving. If not they need removing and servicing or replacing.

Steve Cronin

<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[JackFrobisher]

If the seacock rotates round an axis that runs between you and itself (i.e. rotates clockwise or anticlockwise from your point of view, like a Blakes), there is a handle that is used by the water board engineers to shut off stopcocks in the pavement outside houses, that might serve.

Its a "T" shape, with the horizontal part as the handle and the vertical part of the "T" elongated to about 3 feet, and an inverted "Y" shape at the bottom. The "Y" piece goes on the top of the stopcock (down the hole) and it's easy to rotate (or break off!) even the most difficult tap.

I have one that I got from a Builder's Merchants, but I can't remember where.

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[tcm]

Re: proper seacocks?

you say that the red gate valves "aren't proper seacocks"

But on larger boats, it seems that the lever style isn't available - only increasingly monstrous versions of the gate valves. I wonder if praps these offfer more levrage whereas a slightly stuck massive lever with no mechancial advantage wd be pretty much stuck solid.

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[steve_cronin]

Re: proper seacocks?

It's really what they're made of. Most are brass of an inferior grade and have been known to snap off whereas "proper" skin fittings are bronze. Also gate valves are really flow rate controllers and only completely watertight if you're lucky - try changing a washer in a hot tap and you'll see that the flow doesn't stop completely.

Steve Cronin



<hr width=100% size=1>The above is, like any other post here, only a personal opinion

 

[Mirelle]

Re: proper seacocks?

Er, Steve is right.

"Inaccessible" - I could have shown you "inaccessible" - the old cockpit drain seacocks on my boat were so inaccessible that the previous owners had the boat for 33 years without ever discovering their existence (being Blakes, they were none the worse when I did find them!)

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[abdiel]

If the cocks are of the 90' shut off type with a square spindle , why not try some
socket set extentions to the length you require ?

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