Ball valve on an old boiler

[jaquiss2005]

Looking to put a new ball valve and hop strainer on an old 45 litre "Corsair" boiler I have.

Have unscrewed the current tap which looks like a 1 inch diameter hole, but it also has an inner and outer wall which is about 1 inch apart as well.

Has an old tap on it which isn't really suitable as I see it and want to change for an up to date ball valve, but any suggestions as how I could do this, and what additional / different parts I might need (compared to various threads as to how to do with a Buffalo boiler), to be able to connect the 2 ends up and also adapt for the current hole size in the boiler

[Fil]

post a few pics to help us visualise the problem, u just need a flickr, photobucket or similar free a/c..

one thing i learnt quickly was 1/4" bsp is about 1/2" in diameter, so.... if your hole is about 1" in diameter it sounds about the right size for a 1/2" bsp or 15mm compression solution..

ist option as i see it is to ignore the outer skin and fit a standard 15mm tank connector to the inner skin tho u will probably have to open the outer skin hole to accept the locknut?? it may feel a bit flimsy supported only by the inner skin??

you could get a long length of threaded parralel nipple to bridge the skins with some suport between them??

but pics and actual dimensions would help, if over 23mm in diamiter you may need to look at the next size fittings up??

[lord groan]

just done a similar thing with a friend on his old burco, as Fil suggests we used a long threaded brass nipple, silver soldered a back nut to one end and fed the threaded part out through the wall leaving the back nut ( with a homemade silicon washer) pressed up against the inside of the tank. As long as that bit is water tight the rest doesn't need to be. For the gap between inner and outer skins we put in a spacer, it was part of the old tap assembly, this held the skins apart as well as bracing the inner skin tight against the washer inside the tank, last was a 2nd backnut screwed onto the outside to keep everything in place, this left about an inch of threaded tube on the outside and we put a ball valve with 1/2" compression fitting onto the end

This does mean you need access to slide a spacer into place between the 2 skins, we got at ours underneath. I would think a piece of 22mm copper tube, cut to fit snugly between the inner and outer skins would be ideal or if the hole is a bit larger - any piece of reasonably solid pipe, just feed the threaded tube through it to hold it in place.
One advantage of the threaded tube is that the internal bore is 15mm, this means you can fit a piece of 15mm copper tube snugly inside it which makes attaching a hop filter a whole lot easier
When I made my own boiler I did this:
As you can see my hop filter just push fits into the tube so it is easy to remove for cleaning. works well in practice too.

[jaquiss2005]

Hopefully have managed to add some photos

Tap - measuring the inside of the tap it is 200mm diameter. The boiler hole is 300mm wide from one side to the other if this helps with advice

http://i1349.photobucket.com/albums/p74 ... 1374426680

http://i1349.photobucket.com/albums/p74 ... efdce6.jpg

http://i1349.photobucket.com/albums/p74 ... 1374426457

[Fil]

Wow Great Pot for a boiler whats the volume ??

i hope 200mm and 300mm are typo's, 300mm is a foot!! and u mean 20mm and 30mm otherwise its a bloody monster too if so sounds ideal for either 15mm brass compression fittings or as its SS the 1/2" bsp threaded pipe fittings in SS mght be worth the investment if u have been bitten by the all shiny bug
may need to file out the hole a tad, or screw fittings in so lookin good.

one thing confusing me still is it a bottom drain to side exit or am i being fooled by a reflection in your pic?

loard groans silver soldered nipple solution would work well if a straight thu the side. Highlander has done some silver soldering and has made some bulkhead fittings for others too so a pm in his direction might be worth a punt.

if a bottom exit? check out how barneey and others (i copied it for my tun) uses ss deck fittings with bes ss 1/2" bsp pipe fittings elbows etc to plumb a bottom to side drain in the insulated thermopots.

lookin forward to seeing the finished project too

[lord groan]

Lovely boiler, I have a similar smaller capacity (18l) corsair which is used as an hlt. Sadly the small capacity means refilling twice while mashing. Anyway - you are already fully insulated, there is already a spacer to prevent accidently crushing the skins together so as Fil says , have a look at the various solutions different people have come up with and pick what suits you best. With the internal curvature of the boiler I'd look at keeping the inner flange as small as you can so that it tightens as flat as possible against the boiler skin inside, if you can find a thick silicon baking tray or similar you should be able to cut out a nice thick washer to seal it.
By the way
If you haven't already spotted it there ought to be a small screwdriver sized hole a little further around from the 'boil' lever. This adjusts the internal thermostat, I have fiddled with mine and got it to maintain the water at 80c +-2 degrees for mashing purposes. For boiling you may want to tweak it higher rather than lower.
good luck
keep us informed of progress

[jaquiss2005]

Yes its a typo error and should read 20mm and 30mm

The electrics are under the boiler so the base is about 6 inches up inside. The reflection I suspect is the "boil" lever which has snapped off and need to come up with some way of being able to connect a 15mm ball valve with a hop filter inside. Drainage is via the visible hole where I have removed the tap, and a couple of inches off the internal base of the boiler.

Capacity is around the 45 litre mark - wasn't aware of the thermostat controller but will have another look! It hold a rolling boil really well at the moment so will probably leave alone

[Fil]

45l sweet !!

visit bes.co.uk for bits, the site is just a list so email em for a free catalouge which is easier for a novice like me to browse..

probably got listed all the bits u need bar silicone baking sheet and perhaps washers

**** if u decide to go SS there is a problem with 1/2" bsp bes locknuts and what they fit on..

i would look at a long parralel nipple to bridge the gap like LG suggests and if u leave enough thread behind the locknut on the inside u can screw your filter onto that...