The double check has two large ball valves with handles and four test cocks with slots. Test cocks are tiny ball valves, and all ball valves will trap water when fully open or closed. This trapped water may freeze and crack the brass body. The way to avoid freeze breakage is to leave these valves at a 45 degree angle. Half open, half closed. Note the handle above as well as the slot the screwdriver is in. Both ball valve handles should be left at 45’s unless there is no shut off upstream and the first ball valve is the only shut off. If this is the case the first test cock must remain closed too, for it is upstream of the first ball valve.

Here’s how the manufacturers word it:

If you reactivate the system yourself in the spring, remember to close the test cocks first- or you may get squirted in the face! You may need a stubby flathead screwdriver if the cocks are at a hard to reach angle. The slot should be perpendicular to be completely off. Remember the test cock doesn’t tighten, it spins around and around. Perpendicular = shut, parallel = open.

If you have plastic threaded plugs for your test cocks, please DO NOT tighten them as a way to stop leakage. Make sure you have the ball valve closed with a screwdriver instead. If a test cock won’t turn have it replaced.

The plugs are only meant to keep the female threads free of dirt, and only need to be loosely hand tight. Make it easy on your service tech. Multiple tightening and loosening with pliers grinds them down to an unusable condition.

THE WRONG WAY:

One shouldn’t need pliers to loosen or tighten plugs.  No no!

THE RIGHT WAY:

Yes! This is how easy it should be to remove plugs. YAY!!