Fumoto valve in the winter?
 

Anybody use their Fumoto valve year round in the winter months?

I went to Napa today to get one ordered and the guy highly recommended i only use it in the summer, because as soon as some sand, salt, winter crap gets in there it never shuts all the way.

i never even thought about it but it makes sense, but i havent actually seen the valve so cant say by experience.

whatcha ya'll think?

I've never had any issues.
I don't live in an area that uses salts and tons of sand though...
The way it's designed doesn't really look like stuff can get up inside of it anyway unless it's open.

Grease the valve like crazy, when it's time to dump, clean and repeat.

Wouldn't grease just make things stick worse? Think of how dusty your interior gets after using armorall.

I would assume you would want to clean it thoroughly then leave it.

Regardless of what you do, if you're scared of debris getting into it, just make sure you clean it before you drain it, use WD-40 or something similar that won't freeze. The grease would hold on to the debris yes, but also "stop" it from getting into the moving parts.

Two winters now in salty, icy Canada. Zero issues. I change my oil every 5000 so I should know if it was leaking etc.

Good to hear, do you clean it off at all or anything first? And do you scrape on deep snow a lot? Do you use the safety pin?

Thanks eh

No safety pin. Doesn't scrape. I'm lowered almost 2", my lip would scrape before the valve. Btw, I have the one without the nipple to attach a tube. And no, I don't clean it off, just open and drain then close.

Thank you sir, exactly the reassurance I needed.

You could just use the stock drain plug, I know it's not the cool thing to do but it works.

CT winters for over 5 years. Never did a thing to maintain it, it just always works. Dont listen to auto-part cash register racers.

It's a ball-valve, there's no issue with it sealing or not. Grime causing issues would make sense if it were one of those quick valves that have a bolt inside a bolt design since grime would get between the inner and outer pieces and the gaskets. But the Fumoto's ball-valve turns inside it's seal. There's no place for dirt to get in to cause it to leak.

I've used fumoto valves in the worst conditions and never had even a drop leak. Neither salt-belt winters nor competitive RallyCross have damaged one yet.

Remind your napa desk parts guy he's a parts guy not a well experienced mechanic lol. Fumoto valves are not allergic to anything ...

I've had my fumoto valve through the last 2 winters with no problem.