FAQ: How Do I Adjust Valve Stem Packing? What About a Rebuild?

Below is a video on how to do a simple packing adjustment to get better performance from valves. Service instructions and rebuild kits are available in our electronic desktop reference guide (free download).

All of Swagelok's manually actuated valves—and several of our remotely actuated valves—can be easily serviced. There are rebuild kits available, and each kit has easy-to-follow instructions that guide the user on how to

• Adjust the packing
• Replace the packing, or
• Completely rebuild the valve if necessary

If adjustment isn't enough to improve performance, you may need to rebuild the valve. In that case, you first need to determine whether you can gain access to the interior of the valve by removing the top nut. In the case of our severe service valves, you may need to completely remove the upper works from the valve body.

Swagelok valve rebuilding or repacking video

Kit instructions are detailed, but sometimes it helps to see it done first:

(Note that some of our metering valves use O-rings instead of packing. They may need to be serviced if they've been in use for a long time.)

All the service instructions are available in Swagelok’s Electronic Desktop Reference Guide:

Swagelok valves - the big picture

Swagelok offers ball valves, diaphragm-sealed valves, bellows-sealed valves, needle shutoff and regulating valves, manifolds, check valves, metering valves, quarter-turn plugs, bleed and purge valves, excess flow valves, relief valves, sample stream select (actuated) valves, atomic layer deposition (ALD) valves, medium and high pressure valves, and valve locks. The variety means alot of literature, but we made it so you can get it all in one step.

Download it free here:

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