I'm in need of installing a shut-off valve for my hose bib (sillcock), specifically a ball valve. But I was wondering if a threaded connection was better than a sweat in terms of effectiveness and maintenance.
Plumbing – Sweat or threaded connections for shut-off valves
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I'm not a professional plumber (though I did work on water treatment systems for several years), but in my opinion what you did is fine.
Gate and globe (stop) valves are prone to corrosion and generally wear out over time. Ball valves are much more durable and reliable. I've seen many, many old stop valves that are leaking or don't shut off properly, or more often, leak as soon as you open/close them after they've not been touched for years. I can't say the same for ball valves - I've seen many that were installed for many years and still worked. I can even think of a couple where the outside looked totally corroded, and though it took a lot of force to turn (and sometimes a replacement handle), they still reliably shut without leaking.
On top of the reliability, the fact they use a 1/4 turn (instead of several full turns) and a quick glance tells you whether it's open or closed, ball valves are just vastly superior to gate and globe valves for almost all residential applications. Worth the extra dollar or so they cost.
The only thing they are not as good for is applications where you want to limit/control the flow rate (such as an outside tap or sample port). They can still do that, but are harder to finely adjust, and especially when one hasn't been opened for a long time and is a bit stiff, tend to suddenly give and open to full blast (I've been sprayed while trying to take water samples many times).
You need to find the main shut off valve in the road, side walk or somewhere on or near your property. They are usually placed in mini manholes with easy access:
But if you're unlucky you will need to get some building plans and try to find where on the plans the supply pipe runs and find the valve at the connection point to the main supply. In most cases it will be near the connection point of the main supply:
but if its not, or if you struggle to close it call your council to help you. You don't want to break that!
NB
It is easy to snap these valves- if its rusted badly apply (known as WD-40, LN-40, HT-40) spray oil based rust release (spray leave an hour try again.. repeat a few times), TAP the valve with a hammer (!TAP!, do not whack it, to help release the valve. Also, usually opening the valve slightly helps to release it then try to close it.
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Best Answer
In terms of effectiveness there's no difference between threaded or sweat connection. In terms of maintenance, especially for a ball valve, the only maintenance to be done would be replacement upon failure. If that happens regularly threaded connections could be convenient.
Sweat could be preferred when the job is straightforward, permanent, it's inconvenient to measure and thread pipes to length, or the assembly must be built up starting from both ends and meeting at a joint in the middle. In this latter case threaded connections would require use of a union, whereas sweated connection could use a simple coupler - even a "no-stop" coupler if the fit is very close. This sounds like it might be applicable to your situation.
Threaded could be preferred when certain conditions exist. For example: if the assembly is temporary and the valve would be re-used elsewhere later, if fine-tuning the rotation of the valve could be necessary, if there could be a connection to a plastic pipe component near enough that heat from sweating could cause damage, if the person doing the work and the tools available aren't adequate for the sweating job (large pipes, for instance), or if the parts must be assembled wet.