3-piece ball valve alternatives

[diymechanicalguy]

I like the 3-piece design as you can fully take them apart and clean components, which is obviously crucial. However, I'm not a fan of the 4 bolts it takes to disassemble. Does anyone use an alternative ball valve that still allows for complete disassembly? I'm not a fan of butterfly valves due to the disk being in the middle of the flow, but open to suggestions. I use these all over the place in my home brewing.

I typically use one of these: https://tameson.co.uk/ball-valve/bv-2-w ... p-3-piece/

[Kev888]

You can usually unscrew the 2-piece types, but they can be stiff (and you may need a big spanner and vice to crack them open for the first time).

Personally I altered/replaced the 3-way's bolts to make them captive in one end of the valve - so fewer loose bits to juggle. It took a bit of fettling to shave the nuts down in order to clear the valve body, but at least now not quite so fiddly to use:


IMO all these high pressure fittings are OTT for our needs, but the alternatives are usually really cheap things - there isn't much available in the middle ground. Blichmann make an interesting version that works like a tri-clamp, but too expensive for me:

[Bigbud78]

Yep I use 2 piece on my hot side, once that have been apart once its easy enough to split them. It takes seconds to pop them open and get the seals out to clean well.

I could do with a tap with no dead space, I use tri clamp butterfly on my FV and have to be so careful when connecting up my keg and FV. Even with pressure applied to top of the FV the air in the dead space of the valve can force its way up through the beer.

[vacant]

Personally I altered/replaced the 3-way's bolts to make them captive in one end of the valve - so fewer loose bits to juggle. It took a bit of fettling to shave the nuts down in order to clear the valve body, but at least now not quite so fiddly to use:

If you remove the bolt going through that loop on the centre piece and loosen the other three nuts then the centre piece slides out.

[Kev888]

Yeah thanks for mentioning that, it is certainly possible with some types and sizes.

Sadly, with mine the bolts couldn't be withdrawn like that, due to the relative diameter of the triclamp ferrules blocking them (the valve needed to be disassembled first).