I have an opportunity to pick up a Leedal temperature control valve for darkroom water temperature control. Does anybody know of any source for Leedal retrofit kits for these, or if Leedal was bought out by somebody else, where I could get this serviced if it needs parts. Many thanks in advance for any info.
They appear to still be in business.
www.leedal.com
Hey Richard, yeah as far as I know they're still in business...here's the website:
http://www.leedal.com/index.htm
FWIW, we use some of their lab gear & film drying cabinets etc, and they make some good products. I have a Leedal water panel in my home darkroom as well...I picked it up used for less than $50 and had to rebuild it....but that's no big deal, because all water panels get grungy in use anyways....I didn't use the kits they usually sell, I actually found the inner rings, for the valve, at a Home Depot. The check valves on my panel weren't easy to access though, they were sweated into the copper pipes, actually, but I run all copper in my darkroom as well. We use Regal/Arkay panels where I work, and you can access those check valves for service. But as far as the Regal ones, the actual water valve is made by Powers I think....(we need to rebuild both one of ours badly)...so I wouldn't be surprised if you could get the rebuild kits from a variety of places...good luck, if you can find a good deal, water panels are great to have...oh yeah, you usually want to install both hot & cold water filters prior to the water panel, and if you're fussy, after it as well....doing them before, will help you maintain them. Some other things like overflow valves, and even flow meters are nice to tack on them too...good luck fixing it up.
ahh..one more thing!...You might want to check out the flow rate of the model you're looking at...water panels can be tuned up to read more accurately at certain flow rates....if you don't need alot of volume, you might be better served with a lower flow rate....(of course, I got a deal & didn't think this way for a used one....)...If I was buying new, I'd match the flow rate to what I needed for the process....
Richard, I just did my valve, here is the info. Call Leedal at 773-376-5900 and ask for the parts dept. Tell them what valve and what needs to changed. I needed to replace the bonnet, cap, spindel as they do lockup. It's a kit so all you need is a screw driver. It was $90 shipped. Good Luck, David.
Part# 004-332
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