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OT - Lubrication for brass valve for gas grill

awake

Titanium
Joined
Jan 24, 2006
Location
Angier, North Carolina
What sort of grease/lubrication should I use when I reassemble the valve for a gas grill?

I am repairing one of the valves on my gas (LP) grill. Why? Because I hate to throw the whole thing away just because I can't find a replacement valve. And the part that needs to be replaced will be a simple lathe job, which means I get to spend time in my hobby shop.


I have figured out why the part broke in the first place -- it was so old that any lubrication was long gone, and the force needed to turn the valve got higher and higher, until - snap! the small stem broke. (This stem engages the actual valve mechanism via a keyway and a spring.)

In my quest for a replacement valve, I verified that new valves of similar (but not quite the same!!) design have lubrication, both on the stem (looks like grease) and some sort of thin film down in the valve itself. Anybody have any ideas about what to use, especially down in the valve itself? I'm wondering what might or might not be compatible with propane. I had thought about using some of the silicon grease that I use in plumbing fixtures ... yes? no?
 
Awake,

Take your valve by your local propane dealer first thing some morning when their service people are there. They should a tube of special valve grease in their tool box and should be able to put a dab on the valve for you at little or no cost.

The stuff I used when I did service work is grey in color, but the tube is so worn and dirty I can't read the label any more to tell you what it is other than valve grease.
 
The plug valve controlling the gas entering your home is Vaseline.

That is the best for your gas valve. Very viscous. Damned near NOTHING will wash it off. Smear it on your hands and try to wash them. That IS a bitch!

The same that is used in the "streetcar" controllers.One of the best for these uses, NOT to get into the best for your headstock or anything like that.

I shouldn't even sign this, you're tearing into the INTERNALS of the valve?Ah, well.

Cheers,

George
 
Many thanks for the help!

George, I understand your concern -- I would not have been comfortable trying to machine a replacement for the valve itself. Rather, I machined a replacement for the spring-loaded stem that connects to the actual valve -- and not for a home, but rather for a gas grill (low pressure). The actual valve appeared to be fine except for being dry as a bone.

I machined the replacement piece, lubricated, and reassembled -- wow, what a difference. I don't know if it is considered standard practice to disassemble, lubricate, and reassemble gas grill valves; probably most people throw their gas grills away before (or when) the valves get totally dry and stiff. But I realize now that if I had disassembled and lubricated this valve three or four years ago, when it began to get so stiff, I wouldn't have broken the stem piece.

This gas grill is pushing 20 years old already, and is now ready for a few more years of service. I've replaced the burner three times, and the cooking grate once. I replaced the grate that holds the lava rocks a long time back, and just finished making a new one -- heavier duty than the last one (which was a cheap Home Depot replacement); we'll see if my home-made one lasts longer.
I've replaced the regulator and hose. So at this point, the frame is original, the white-metal box is original, and the valves are original except for the replacement stem. The wheels are original too, but not for much longer; theyve been needing to be replaced for a long, long time.

Let's hear it for old American iron ... er, pot metal!
 
I have had to clean several NG plug valves in my current house. the Ng has tar and such in it. this condensed out in the valves. so I took them apart and cleaned with rubbing alchol, since I had it, and it is low oder for the part I left inside the house. I actually had some stop cock greae,silicone, for lab use from some where.
Bill D.
 
does anyone have a brand or more specific description of what kind of valve grease to use? I'm refurbishing a gas stove and for the life of me can't find anything specific to grease the valves. Google comes up with thousands of hits, but none for a gas cock grease...
except for Dow Corning Molykote 1102, which doesn't seem to be available in the US.
 
If you MUST have a special grease, This is what I use for this purpose. The fellow who delivers my LP gas tanks gave it to me.

BASO Y70AA Gas Valve Grease
Johnson Controls, Inc.
800/424-9300

I think there's also something called "Valve Cream", but don't know who makes it.

Paul
 
it seems like LP would break down vaseline, but I ain't a chemist...

one of the vintage range restoration places sells something called 'valve cream' at a premium.. figured there had to be something more widely available.
 
The semi-crappy little old-time hardware store I try to shop at to avoid the Orange Borg Hardware Store carries gas valve lube, comes in a yellow plastic tube, as well as some sort of teflon tape supposedly made specifically for gas service, it's yellow as well. Only thing in that place that sells for 20 bux is the oyster boiling pots. I think I gave under 5 for the tape and lube together. A decent plumbing supply should carry it.
 
Quote from Rudd:

"Only thing in that place that sells for 20 bux is the oyster boiling pots."

Ok, I grow oysters on a sea farm and don't know what an oyster-boiling pot is. Or why it's different than, say, a lobster-boiling pot. Or why anyone wants to boil oysters, for that matter. Can you enlighten me?
 
Look, man, I cannot stand the the things, no offense meant. There is something here called a low country boil, that's what the pots are really for, but it would have taken too much translation. Then we would have gotten into the whole Brunswick Stew debate - Brunswick Maine, or Brunswick Ga? Your ancestors and mine had a slight disagreement over things that now seem trivial compared to the life this one has taken on. There's a rest stop not far south of me that has "The Pot The Original Brunswick Stew Was Cooked In" stuffed and mounted in a glass case.
Most times I've seen them cooked people get a big sheet of steel and put burners under it to roast the oysters. They can have mine too. Where I come from oysters are a byproduct of making steers, no salt water involved.

Edit: they use propane burners, which have valves, and therefore require gas valve grease. Thread hijack averted.
 
Yes gas valves, the mechanical kind are relubed all the time in the food equipment industry. It's actually part of a good PM program.
If anybody wants a dab of real valve grease[industry approved stuff] for their home grill send me a self addressed postage paid envelope.I'll send enough.
 
Rudd, no offense taken and didn't intend to hijack either.

Making steers, Walt probably has a story to tell . . . . but he doesn't need to, really.

Gas valves, LPG, I've been using "Rectorseal T plus 2." Is that OK?
 








 
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