Removing a Flowtite valve

I'm remodeling my bathroom and need to remove the vanity to install some new plywood before laying the tile. I have Wirsbo tubing and a FlowTite valve made by Accor Technologies. I've sent an e-mail to them on how to remove it but haven't received a response yet.

This link states they are removable:

http://www.accortechnology.com/1533-SpecSheet-2a.pdf

Has anyone ever removed one of these valves?

Carter

If you have to remove that valve, you will need to cut the water off to the house first. I have never seen one of those used in a stick built residential! We did do a remodel of my wifes grandmothers double wide trailer that had hard lines going to all fixures with NO water cut off valves whatsoever. Find all replacement parts before attempting anything!

All of the homes in my area built within the last five years are plumbed with Wirsbo. I have found replacement parts here:

http://www.plumbersurplus.com/ProductList.aspx?Mfr=115

Hopefully I'll get an answer from the manufacturer soon.

Carter

Is there any reason you can't leave the vanity in place, and install the underlayment and tile AROUND it?

I considered that until we decided to replace the vanity and countertop so the old vanity has to go.

I'm kinda stuck here until I can figure out how to remove it. I'm going to print out the pdf page above and hit a few plumbing supply stores this weekend.

Carter

Well, I received an answer from the manufacturer that I'll paste below in case someone else runs into this problem:

Removing the valve is simple.

1. Shut off your house water at the mainline.

2. Disconnect the nut end of the connector first. This is the chrome nut that attaches to the faucet. It should only be hand tight, but some installers will wrench them on. A 6 or 8 inch adjustable wrench will work fine. For the toilet it's the large white plastic nut connected to the toilet tank.

3. Rotate the valve on the pipe counter-clockwise with a slight pull while turning.

4. After about 6 or 8 twists, the valve should turn itself completely off of the pipe.

5. When the valve is removed, you'll see about a half inch of the pipe tip will have these spiral scars. They look almost like a fine pipe thread. They're not. They're caused by the gripping teeth inside the valve when the valve is rotated.
This is the important part. When you go to re-install your valves (they are re-usable if there is no damage to the O-ring inside), cut-away the scarred portion of the pipe. If you can't, then just smooth the pipe surface with emery cloth or a fine sand paper before re-installing your valve.

6. Push the valve back onto the pipe with a slight turn of the wrist a full 1 and one-quarter inches. It works well to measure and mark the pipe. Try and avoid "screwing" the valve onto the pipe. Just push it on with a slight turn of the wrist to the 1-1/4" mark.

Carter

I just found this post on my search for the same information. This technique didn't work worth a flip. What I ended up doing was pulling out a hacksaw and cutting the plastic valve along its length (or as much as possible being limited to the toilet being in the way) on opposite sides (I.e. 2 cuts). I then used a screwdriver and needle nose pliers to break parts off and remove the circular metal parts with barbs. Sanded the copper pipe with some 150 grit sand paper and installed a typical compression fit valve. Works just fine now and no leaks at this time.

My Flow-Tite valves came with the house 10 years ago and now they are slowly all going bad.
It starts with the hose failing (leaking) where it connects with the valve. That is a crimp connector, so you can't replace it.
I have replaced 6 of these valves with compression fittings so far. The first 5 twisted right off, but the last one had to be cut off using a hacksaw using Michael's advice. After I cut the plastic on 2 sides I cracked the plastic housing by prying where the cuts were with the flat part of a screw driver until all the plastic broke off (wear safty glasses!) Then I was able to break the rest off with pliers.

I used a dremel with a tiny saw blade fitting. Cut both sides and broke it apart.
Worked fine and half it is now mounted at the local hardware store as an example on how to remove when the above directions do not work. That vavle is garbage.
Stp