This is a great stop & waste valve. In the 20+ years I have been doing water lines and sprinkler systems, I have never had one of these valves fail.
Other valves that I have encountered don’t perform like this valve. They are either extremely hard to turn on and turn off, or they are designed in such a way that it is hard to keep the meter key in contact with the valve. I think the advantage of this valve has over the others may be the oriseal feature in the top of the valve. This feature makes this valve easy to turn on and off compared to other valves.
Usually this valve is buried 3′ – 5′ deep, and access to the valve is through a stand pipe that is 2″ – 4″ in diameter. See my post on a typical stop & waste valve installation to get an idea of how these valves are used. Notice from the image that the valve has a flow arrow on the valve showing the direction of water flow. And notice on the valve that it has a drain port on the side of the valve that will drain the water out of the sprinkler supply line when the valve is shut off.
Remember when turning on or shutting off a stop & waste valve to make sure the valve is completely on or off. Otherwise the valve will leak out the drain port continuously. What I like to do is turn the valve until it “bumps” to make sure it is on or off. On this valve it requires a 1/4 turn clockwise to shut the valve off, and a 1/4 turn counter clockwise to turn the valve on.
Lastly, if you are installing a stop & waste valve remember to wrap the valve with valve wrap (I use landscape fabric) so that small rocks don’t get into the drain port and keep you from operating the valve.
Pros – Durability. Retains ease of turn on and shut off for years.
Cons – None that I have encountered yet.
The Mueller Stop & Waste Valve is what I need, can you tell me where I can get one?
I bought mine at a local plumbing distributorship (Peterson Plumbing) here in Salt Lake City. I would check local plumbing supply or sprinkler supply companies. I didn’t see the valve on an online search which is unusual.
I have a slow continuous leak out of the drain hole when it is I’m the off position. It does not stop. Also when the valve is in the on position it shoots a hard continuous stream of water out of the drain hole that also won’t stop.
Sounds like your stop & waste valve is faulty and needs to be replaced.
After opening my stop and waste valve after the winter the valve leaks (fills stand pipe) in the open position. It doesn’t leak in the shut position. I have cycled it once or twice to see if will stop but no luck. Should I try cycling it more? Is there anything else to try before digging it up?
Doesn’t sound good. If you’re sure the valve is completely open then you’ll probably have to dig it up. There’s nothing more I can think of to try.
Mueller stop and waste valves are very expensive ($130.00 wholesale. I have used them in the past with great success. I have always used a 1″ valve, but in order to save cost, can I use a 3/4 valve, 3/4 brass nipples, elbow, etc, and then transition to the 1″ main line after the first vertical nipple? if my highest demand on the system will be 26 gpm.
Not if your flow demands are 26gpm. You can only get 10-13gpm through a 3/4″ pipe and keep the velocity around 5fps. The psi loss/100′ would around 10. I wouldn’t use more than 20gpm through a 1″ pipe. If you go to 26gpm your velocity will be almost 10fps and your psi loss/100′ will be 14. I would stay with the 1″ Mueller and try to keep the flow around 20gpm per sprinkler zone.
I have a valve that seems to be backwards. When I turn it “off”, clockwise 1/4 turn, it allows the water to go to the house. When I turn it “on” counterclockwise, it drains the system. How can that be? Is it a different type of valve?
It does seem to be backwards with how most of the stop & waste valves now work. It may be an older valve. The important question is does it work correctly when operating the valve? That is, does the valve turn the water on and off like you want even though it seems to be backwards? I’ve run into valves that will rotate 360 degrees and at 0 and 180 degrees the valve is on and at 90 and 270 degrees the valve is off.
There are actually two at the rear of the house that seem to work this way. They are indeed 1/4 turns and seem to work. The problem is that there is yet another one in the front of the house that seems to have the correct “on” “off” turns but seems to be leaking. I can hear the water running in the house. When in the “on” position, water goes to the house but is running when everything is off. The reason I suspect the front valve is I can nudge the rod and can hear the difference in the sound of the running water. Also, it seems that if I back off of the full “on” position the meter runs much much slower. Do you think it is salvageable or does it need to be changed?
You can take the meter (shut off) key and put it on the valve, then crouch down and listen if you hear water running at that point. Also take a flashlight and look in the stand pipe to see if there is water in the bottom. I’m giving you these tips to help isolate where your leak is. It sounds like you have a faulty stop and waste valve but this may help confirm that. Also try opening and closing the valve a few times to see if it will quick leaking. Remember that a 1/4 turn stop and waste valve needs to be completely open or closed or it will leak out the drain port. Make sure the valve “bumps” the stop when you turn it on or off.
I am helpiing my friend with his system. When we changed a sprinkler valve, we noticed that there was just a very small flow from the supply side.The only thing it can be is that the stop and waste isn’t completely turning off which also means that it isn’t draining. I told my friend that there is a defenite possiblity of a broken pipe if we have a hard winter. I told him to pour some vegitable oil down the pipe that is for the turn on/off key and then in a couple of days try to shut it off again. What do you think?
It’s worth a try but probably won’t work. There may be a small rock or something else internally in the valve that is keeping it from shutting completely off. I’m assuming he is able to turn the valve on but having trouble getting it to shut completely off. You could try taking the key and turning the valve back and forth from on to off a few times and see if what’s obstructing the valve will wash through. If that doesn’t work the valve may need to be replaced.
We have installed our stop and waste in our cold storage room inside the house, but now have heard from others this is a bad idea. What is your opinion of this, we can still install another one outside, but since it’s already there I’d prefer to use the one I own. Thanks in advance for your help.
The shut off valves with drains I’ve seen inside the house are ball valves with a threaded cap on the side that you can remove to drain the supply line when the valve is shut off. The Mueller stop & waste is designed to be buried in the yard and is turned on and off with a meter key.
Let me check with my plumbing distributor and see if there are code issues on installing the Mueller valve inside the house.
I talked to my plumbing distributor today and he said that he didn’t know of any code issues that would prevent you from installing the Mueller stop & waste valve inside the house.
His only concern was that when you shut the valve off it is going to spray a little water as the drain port starts pulling water out of the sprinkler supply line.
My mueller stop/waste valve sprays water from the top and I have to tap it with the tbar to get it to stop leaking.
Does it stop leaking when you tap it with a bar? Does it leak with the valve off or on? I’ve never had a mueller stop and waste valve leak out of the top. It could be that the oriseal in the top of the valve is going bad.
Do I need to worry about heat damaging the seals when sweating on the connecting pipe to a threaded adapter? I’m replacing a valve in an existing system with one of these.
You should be fine. Be sure to use valve wrap when installing the valve. This will keep rocks and debris from getting into the waste port on the side of the valve. I use a piece of landscape fabric. That way the water can get through the fabric but it keeps the debris from getting in.
What is the corse of action if, when the valve is turned to the off position, water continuously sprays out the drain port?
Water should spray out of the drain port only until all the water in the supply line between the sprinkler valves and the stop & waste valve is drained out. This usually takes between 15 seconds and a couple of minutes depending on how long your supply line is. If water is continuously spraying after a few minutes and filling up a flowing out of the stand pipe, you may NOT have your stop and waste valve completely off. When valve is in the “on” position, it is a quarter turn clockwise to shut the valve off. Make sure the valve is completely off or it will continue to leak out the port. If you are sure the valve is off and it is still leaking, you may have a damaged valve internally.