DERNORD Full Port Ball Valve Stainless Steel 304 Heavy Duty for Water, Oil, and Gas with Blue Locking Handles (1/2" NPT)

Busted a ball valve over the winter and really needed a replacementDecided on this 2 pack and replaced bothWorking perfectly to keep my auto sprinklers running this summerSturdy product

Some valves say they are full flow when actually the are not the stated full orifice opening. These surprised me that they truly are.Very well made stainless steel body with smooth operation. My one obsession after having worked my whole career in the hydraulic industry is never to use teflon tape on threaded connections. If a piece of string from the tape comes off and gets trapped in the valve, you will go crazy trying to find why it's leaking. Better to bite the bullet and get a good teflon based paste designed for all metals, and especially stainless, and be confident of a good leakless seal. A bit more expensive than tape, but infinitely better.

As with most people that own an Harvest Right freeze dryer, I ended up with a vacuum error. After researching the issue I found the original drain valve to the machine is pretty much garbage. I watched some videos and read other's troubles regarding this and found my drain valve was worn out. It lasted only about nine months. I found these valves on Amazon and decided to buy the double pack thinking that if they only last a year or so at least I'd have a spare. I ordered them, they got here in a day and I installed one immediately upon arrival. My issue with my freeze dryer not being able to achieve vacuum was no more. If you're reading this because you have the same trouble with your HR freeze dryer, make sure to read the troubleshooting section and then do a test on the machine following their instructions listed in the manual. I made the mistake of trusting a video I watched and it cost me a few hours trying to figure out why the new valve wasn't working properly. If I would have read the manual first, I would have discovered that the new valve was working flawlessly. These valves are much more substantial and better made than the garbage Harvest Right ships with their units. Hope this helps!

It didn’t seal well at first when I was adding an auto fill line to the pool. I used 13-15 rounds of Teflon tape, but it still leaked. A trip to hardware store and an 14” wrench did the job. While holding the other pieces, I rotated this two more rounds around the fitting (also stainless) and it did the trick. So far so good. I would suggest testing for leaks before adding any more components after this. Thanks for reading, and YMMV.

Stainless is what you need in a boat bilge otherwise they will rust up sold.

😀

I used these to replace brass valves which keep cracking in freezing conditions, no matter how well I drained the pressure vacuum breaker line. Galvanic corrosion was a concern but since steel is more anodic, these valves will corrode before my brass vacuum breaker does. They were cheaper than brass valves at my local big box stores and the shipping speed was excellent as usual. Based on all these factors I chose them over brass valves and if they last >2 years, I will be happy. Installation was easy but I read the reviews and wrapped a lot of teflon tape and that helped. Time will tell about longevity but 5 stars for now.

Works like it should, fast shipping.