TL;DR
A gate valve is a shutoff valve that raises and lowers a flat metal wedge across the flow path with a multi-turn handwheel, offering full unobstructed bore when open but only crude throttling in between. Once standard at water mains and service entrances, it has a known weak point: the stem and wedge corrode, then the handle either spins free or the gate drops shut and will not reseat.
What it means
A gate valve is a shutoff valve that raises and lowers a flat metal wedge across the flow path with a multi-turn handwheel, offering full unobstructed bore when open but only crude throttling in between. Once standard at water mains and service entrances, it has a known weak point: the stem and wedge corrode, then the handle either spins free or the gate drops shut and will not reseat. Plumbers routinely replace failed ones with quarter-turn ball valves during repipes, and many recommend exercising surviving examples yearly so they work the day they are needed.
Where it sits in the glossary
Gate valve is part of the Trade jargon group inside the ProFix Directory glossary. Browse every term in this category from the glossary index.
Why Ohio homeowners should know it
This is a term Ohio homeowners encounter when reading contractor quotes, hiring paperwork, or inspection reports. Understanding it well enough to ask one good follow-up question is usually all the protection a homeowner needs.
ProFix Directory keeps definitions short on the index page and saves the longer context — Ohio-specific rules, where the term comes from, and which ProFix tools touch it — for these per-term pages so the term is easy to cite and easy to share.
ProFix tools that touch this term
See also
License: CC-BY-4.0 — quote freely with attribution to ProFix Editorial Team / ProFix Directory.