Seacock

[BonesD]

Howdy, one of my bronze seacocks is dribbling
It’s coming from the cover plate that has the bolt coming through it with a nut.
The other side has the valve opening and closing nut on it. Anyway, I tightened the nut a bit and it helped but am hesitant to put to much torque on it.
So that’s my first question,
1 Is it a tighten it until the ball opens tightly but not so much it’s hard to open with the supplied wrench or is it a tighten it up like a regular fastener?

Second question, there is a small plug on two opposite sides of the ball,
3 Are these for zirc fittings and why do you soppose they aren’t installed?
4 Will they bleed if left installed?
5 If I install them do I need to grease on both sides
6 I’m thinking a good greasing might help to seal the dribble?
Recommended grease?
Thanks

 

[HopCar]

Please post a picture so we can identify what type of seacock it is.

The plugs on either side allow you to drain water from inside the closed seacock to prevent it from freezing in winter. Many people replace them with zirc fittings to make it easy to grease. You need to be careful using zerc fittings on ball valve seacocks as you might blow out the seals.

 

[BonesD]

Thanks for the info. Have to wait until tomorrow afternoon for a photo

 

[BonesD]

Picture as requested

 

[Nick F]

You appear to have a "tapered cone seacock", also known as a "plug valve seacock".

This is a valve which has an adjustment nut. I know one person who keeps his adjustment tight enough that it requires slackening before actuating the valve (he keeps a wrench tied to the valve). I think he does this to prevent any weeping.

This link has quite a thorough article about this type of valve.

Good luck!
Nick

https://marinehowto.com/servicing-tapered-cone-seacocks/

 

[HopCar]

It’s a Wilcox Crittenden tapered cone seacock. Follow the link Nick posted. Basically you need to disassemble the valve and polish the contact surfaces. Lightly grease the cone when you put it back together.

It’s safe to replace the drain plugs with a zerk fitting on this type of seacock. The valve should be in the open position when you use the Zerk fitting to inject grease. If you use it while the valve is closed you’ll just pump grease into the opening in the center of the cone.

 

[SoWhat]

For this season, I would just tighten up nut to stop dribble. It will make it harder to open and close so either keep seacock open or keep a wrench next to the seacock.

If the threads match a zerk is OK. Running a tap for new threads would require removal.

The link mentioned previously is a good guide on overhauling the seacock. Probably want to be on the hard before disassembly

 

[BonesD]

Thanks to all for the information.