NPT 316 Stainless Steel Ball Valve

Size 1/4" to 2" NPT
Body 316 Stainless Steel 3 piece
Seat Reinforced PTFE
Pressure 63 BAR
Temperature -20°C to 180°C
Actuation Lockable Lever

• What is a 3 Piece 2 Way Stainless Steel NPT Ball Valve?

  A three piece two way stainless steel NPT ball valve is constructed of three seperate body pieces and held together by the use of stainless steel tie rods with nuts at either end. This kind of design makes it easy to remove the valve from a line as you do not need to unscrew the ends from the pipework to maintain the valve. It is also very easy to change the valve seats as you can access them directly when the ends are removed making them ideal for applications where the seat is worn regularly. Our design also has a longer neck to reduce thermal transfer and a direct mounting pad for mounting actuators without the use of a bracket and drive dog. They also have a reinforced teflon (PTFE) seat which is filled with 15% glass filler. This allows higher pressures and temperatures up to 180 degrees celcius making it suitable for steam applications (refer to the temperature vs pressure graph). If a higher temperature is required these seats can be changed out to a 50% stainless steel seat. 

• How does a 3 Piece Two Way Stainless Steel NPT Ball Valve work?

  The 3 piece 2 way ball valves works the same as any normal two way ball valve whereby the ball is rotated 90 degrees within the body of the valve which will either open or close the valve. The ball itself has a hole either end which the media will flow through when it is open. When the valve is closed these holes are blocked off to the flow effectively isolating the media either side of the valve. The ball is turned by a handle (or actuator) which is connected to a shaft which in turn is mated to the ball by a female slot. When it is operated by a handle (our handles are lockable) there is a stop pin which only allows you to operate the valve in a 90 degree turn (this will take you from open to close or vice versa). When it is operated by a gear box the gear box will hit its stop on the worm drive which will not let the ball rotate past 90 degrees.

• How long will my 3 Piece Two Way Stainless Steel NPT Ball Valve last?

  Like any valve this depends upon the usage case of your ball valve, its environment, media and how many times it is cycled. For instance if it is on a clean media, in a clean environment and not cycled regularly the life will be decades. If it is on a corrosive media and in a dry application with a high cycle rate the life will be much shorter. We conduct regular lab testing and 30,000 cycles is a reasonable life cycle depending upon the application. Being a 3 piece construction it is relatively easy to change the seats out when there wear which is the main perishable in the valve. These are available as spare parts in a repair kit.

• How do I install a three piece two way Stainless Steel NPT Ball Valve?

  These have female paralell NPT threaded ends so it is best to put a male tapered NPT fitting into the valve ends. Thread tape or a sealant should be used to help the seal and also if dissimilar metals are used it will reduce dissimilar metal corrosion. The tie rods can be undone if needed and the ends installed by themselves but this is usually unnecessary and you would have to measure the exact face to face before your installation.

• What are typical uses of a three piece two way stainless steel NPT ball valve?

  These three piece two way NPT ball valves are used on a wide variety of applications. Being three piece they are a higher price than an ordinary two piece ball valve but possess many advantages. This means they are usually used in higher spec applications usually in industry. This includes water treatment, steam applications to 10 bar, chemical applications and many more.

• How long will my product take to get to me? 

  This depends upon where you are based and the freight method chosen. If the express freight option is selected it is usually next day delivery to metropolitan areas in Australia for under 5kg. If free freight has been selected it will go by road freight which can be anywhere from 1 to 10 days depending upon your location. It usually averages 3 days.

• What warranty do I get?

  All of our products come standard with a 12 month warranty. The good news is we have very strict quality controls and all valves leave our warehouse tested (full material and testing certificates to API598 are available) and inspected so there are rarely any issues. Also once your valve is in and operating it will most likely continue to do so for a very long time.