I need to replace a toilet shutoff valve (does not completely stop water flow) as part of process of fixing a leak I saw around the base of my toilet (suspect i need new wax ring??). I bought a new 1/4 turn shut off valve and turned off the main supply, but was not able to remove the old valve.
I believe it's because this valve is soldered on and thus can not be screwed on/off and replaced as such? Is there another way to go about this, aside from cutting pipe and soldering (no torch, saw, experience…). Wondering is there is an additional valve i could install further down the line to the toilet (realizing this is not the best method)? Also, am i correct this is steel piping not copper?
Best Answer
That's most likely a copper pipe covered in solder. You can try scraping the solder off to see if you get down to some copper to verify. A copper pipe cutter is cheap and easy to use:
Get this onto the pipe a close to the valve as you can, tighten the screw until it's snug, and spin it around the pipe making sure to keep spinning on the same location (you're making a cut, not treading the pipe or making a spiral). After every few turns, tighten the screw a little more and eventually the pipe will break off. Clean the pipe with some emery paper, and install a new compression style valve (this only requires a few wrenches (crescent or fixed, not a pipe wrench or pliers if you want to avoid teeth marks). If you removed too much of the pipe, you may need to replace the escutcheon with a flatter style.