At the mention of plastic valves, wgar generally people picture is the low cost and the bright white valves connected to their swimming pool, the aquarium and at most their sanitary connections. But what they overlook is that, nowadays most plastic valves possess a unique design and are rugged products. They have been recently replacing metal valves at large and are quite a better alternative. When conventional valves fail due to corrosion issues, high quality plastic valves mainly available as PVC valves are specified as alternatives. Contrary to the common notion, they sometime cost more than their metal supplants.
A Brief on PVC Butterfly Valves:
Butterfly valves are a type of quarter turn valves that generally possess equal percentage type flow characteristics. They are used in places where moderate flow control is required and can be used both for on or off and modulating services. The butterfly valves possess great tolerance to suspended solids. However, these valves are not recommended for use wherein slurries and debris are involved. The butterfly valves are so designed as to be applied for a number of fluid flow applications.
The main issue of valves for use in commercial or industrial applications is corrosion. Due to an extensive range of fluids being used in the process systems, it has to be made sure that the valves are corrosion resistant. Oftencorrosion and abrasion issues have lead to the failure of the valvesm. To encounter these issues, engineers came up with PVC butterfly valves. These valves met the properties and features missing in the conventional valves and the issues got resolved.
PVC Gate Valves:
When conventional metal gate valves could not meet the varied industry and commercial needs, plactic gate valves came into picture. A PVC gate valve has got a straight-through inflow which ensures a minimal pressure drop. Pressure drop is the major issue faced by valves which leads to their failure. These valves have got larger sitting area than conventional gate valves owing to the unique sliding plug design that is not possible in a metal gate valve.
The PVC gate valves are made of durable and corrosion resistant plastic mainly polyvinyl chloride. The bulit ensures there is no metal to media contact anywhere in the valve thus increasing their life cycle manifold. They are very light weight and as a result are very easy to install.
Knife Gate Valves:
Originally designed for use in paper and pulp industry, knife gate valves are generally used to cut through thick fluids. The benefits of knife gate valves lie in the fact that they are very easy to actuate and the manufacturing cost is quite low. Nowadays, PVC knife gate valves have replaced the conventional ones largely due to their versatility and unique design.
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