Pressure reducing valve question

[daveyboy43]

I have to change the pressure reducing valve at my house and that's no problem. The current one which is over 30 years old is no longer available and the only supplier in my area has provided one that's no problem to install. My question is the old one was rated at 25 to 75 and my water pressure is around 50, the replacement is rated from 10 to 35 and I want to know if I can still use this valve or is there something I can do to maybe increase it's rating or should I not even worry about this? Any and all help is appreciated as I would like to do this today.

 

[johnjh2o]

If your water pressure without a PRV is 50 lbs. you don't need one.

 

[daveyboy43]

I didn't post that properly. Pressure is around 80 or so from street and valve is reducing it down to around 50 or a little less.

 

[johnjh2o]

This is what you should be using.
http://www.supplyhouse.com/Watts-00...hreaded-F-Union-Inlet-x-NPT-Threaded-F-Outlet

 

[daveyboy43]

Mine looks just like that and from what I can see, if I remove the spring from the bottom it will then be a standard pressure valve rated from 25 to 75 instead of the low pressure one only rated from 10 to 35.

 

[journeyman]

you need to get a reg that is set for between 25-75 psi. your pressure should be set between 60-65psi if you have copper pipe. or 50-55psi on plastic pipe. a wilkins 70 series or 600 series will do

 

[daveyboy43]

Got the PRV installed with no issues. Have a very minor leak where the sleeve meets the coupling that threads on to the valve. Everything is tight and I have used teflon tape on all areas. Do I possibly need to use pipe dope on the threads where the big coupling threads onto the valve? Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.