I am trying to find the shut off valve for my outside faucet for the winter. I've got a bunch of mysterious shut off valves in the basement. Each one when I went to turn broke off.
Should I have loosened the packing nut a little first?
They look like this, but no where near as nice:
Can I simply remove the packing nut (with the water shut off upstream and other faucets, etc. opened to drain the water in the pipes), and go find another valve with the same size nut and stem or am I going to have to change the entire fitting?
Should I have loosened the packing nut a little first?
They look like this, but no where near as nice:

Can I simply remove the packing nut (with the water shut off upstream and other faucets, etc. opened to drain the water in the pipes), and go find another valve with the same size nut and stem or am I going to have to change the entire fitting?