Seized Blakes seacock

[Caer Urfa]

High Gents

Unfortunately due to distance I cannot get up to help a friend with a seized Blake's Heads outlet seacock

The cone appears to be absolutely seized solid, to date he has on my advice
Tried turning it with an extension bar to a socket to the cone top nut
Soaked it overnight with WD40
Soaked it overnight with Diesel
Heated it

On each occasion hit the cone from the outside with a blunt end old chisel

It's not moved a thou, any bright ideas welcome as to replace the old cone completely is another nightmare to just get the old one out

 

[Kukri]

Tools needed: Spanner. Short length of broomstick. Club hammer.

With the boat ashore or on the hard:
1. Take the keep off (duh!)
2. Insert broomstick into cone.
3. Clout broomstick.

Done.

 

[Fr J Hackett]

He needs to poke something up from the outside preferably wooden then get someone with a hairdryer to heat the body inside he then hits the end of whatever he has poked up it with something like a club hammer.
I assume that he has removed the lock plate, the above is the standard procedure for freeing up and removing recalcitrant tapered cones.

Minn beat me to it.:encouragement:

 

[Caer Urfa]

tools needed: Spanner. Short length of broomstick. Club hammer.

With the boat ashore or on the hard:
1. Take the keep off (duh!)
2. Insert broomstick into cone.
3. Clout broomstick.

Done.

tried all that a number of times and no joy at all

 

[Kukri]

tried all that a number of times and no joy at all

You said he has been using an old blunt chisel. Use a broomstick and a club hammer.

PS: Plus Gas is much better than WD40 for this.

 

[Hadenough]

Cut it out and fit a proper seacock. I can't understand why anyone would want an ancient seacock that needs annual maintenance against regular exercising. My good quality ball valves are 30 years plus old and still going strong with a weekly exercise.

 

[Tranona]

tried all that a number of times and no joy at all

Just needs patience and as said use a penetrating oil and heat. Do not remove the keep plate completely as the cone will become an unguided missile when he does break the seal. Once it is out, grind it in, use the proper grease on reassembly. Then exercise it regularly and it will give no trouble for the rest of his life.

 

[vyv_cox]

You said he has been using an old blunt chisel. Use a broomstick and a club hammer.

PS: Plus Gas is much better than WD40 for this.

A wooden drift absorbs much of the energy of the hammer. A metal one does not. I remember hammering a length of broom handle many times when trying to do this job, unsuccessfully. One good bang on a metal drift shifted it.

It is customary to use brass drifts if the counterface is likely to be damaged but the interior surface of a seacock does not matter in the slightest, so a steel drift is fine. I find a 1 inch cold chisel fits just right.

 

[danielefua]

Cut it out and fit a proper seacock. I can't understand why anyone would want an ancient seacock that needs annual maintenance against regular exercising. My good quality ball valves are 30 years plus old and still going strong with a weekly exercise.

I am afraid that this a personal opinion which was not requested by the OP. Moreover you will find that all the boat forums are full of infinite and somehow useless discussions on this same matter so that another one would be just a waste of time and space.

Daniel

 

[ghostlymoron]

Use a bigger hammer. The grease dries out after a while of no use and acts like an adhesive. It can take a lot of force to shift it.
I must say, I'm with Hadenough on this. Ball valves need no maintenance apart from exercising to keep the limpets at bay. They're also cheap.

 

[vyv_cox]

Use a bigger hammer. The grease dries out after a while of no use and acts like an adhesive. It can take a lot of force to shift it.
I must say, I'm with Hadenough on this. Ball valves need no maintenance apart from exercising to keep the limpets at bay. They're also cheap.

Until the stem fails due to dezincification and the valve is seized shut. Brass and bronze ones alike have brass stems. I believe that DZR ones are all made from that alloy but not certain.

This is not theoretical, it happened to me, fortunately with the valve half open. I have photos of another, originally posted here.

 

[Kukri]

Until the stem fails due to dezincification and the valve is seized shut. Brass and bronze ones alike have brass stems. I believe that DZR ones are all made from that alloy but not certain.

This is not theoretical, it happened to me, fortunately with the valve half open. I have photos of another, originally posted here.

I am with Vyv on this. And it is fair to say that if a Blakes cone type gets regular use it won't "freeze" either, and the ones made over the last few decades have grease nipples...

 

[Kukri]

A wooden drift absorbs much of the energy of the hammer. A metal one does not. I remember hammering a length of broom handle many times when trying to do this job, unsuccessfully. One good bang on a metal drift shifted it.

It is customary to use brass drifts if the counterface is likely to be damaged but the interior surface of a seacock does not matter in the slightest, so a steel drift is fine. I find a 1 inch cold chisel fits just right.

True, O king. But the hammer must be good and heavy. So far, I have managed with the broomstick.

 

[Pete7]

I am with Vyv on this. And it is fair to say that if a Blakes cone type gets regular use it won't "freeze" either, and the ones made over the last few decades have grease nipples...

You might want to have a look at what they have been made from for the last couple of decades. I am fitting plastic valves as the last brass valve had to be changed at the 10 year point. Still worked just a bit manky inside.

 

[vyv_cox]

You might want to have a look at what they have been made from for the last couple of decades. I am fitting plastic valves as the last brass valve had to be changed at the 10 year point. Still worked just a bit manky inside.

Blakes were bronze until about 1985, even the makers don't know exactly when. Since then they have been DZR. Mine are probably some of the first in the 'new' material. They are still perfectly good.

 

[Kukri]

They were gunmetal in 1937; the ones that I took out in 1997, to replace with a larger size, were fine,

 

[Rafiki]

If a large club hammer doesn't work you could try a "post-rammer" with one person holding each side. For sure something will either release or break.
I must say though, when I had this problem in a previous boat the club hammer and broomstick approach worked OK, and after lapping in with grinding paste and an annual service they worked perfectly after that.

 

[yerffoeg]

Heat will work , but you have to get it seriously hot!

 

[Gwylan]

Tiny bit of Fred Wandering here.

What is the alternative to Blake's Grease? seems terribly expensive and there must be an alternative?

 

[vyv_cox]

Tiny bit of Fred Wandering here.

What is the alternative to Blake's Grease? seems terribly expensive and there must be an alternative?

I have never owned any. I used Castrol water pump grease for a long time, now have some thinner Italian stuff. Calcium soap is more water resistant than lithium, both of mine have looked white.