All you need to know about Ball valve
The ball valve, also known as a ball valve, is used to shut off part of a pipe network such as the outside tap or to shut off an appliance such as a central heating boiler in order to be able to carry out maintenance on it.
The ball valve owes its name to the mechanism inside the valve: a round ball with a hole in a metal or plastic housing. A lever on the outside of the tap is connected to the ball in the interior. This allows the ball in the housing to be turned in such a way that it lets water or gas through, or not.
Ball valve for water.
Ball valves are found in both water installations and gas installations. However, not every ball valve can be used for both installations. In order to know whether a ball valve is suitable for a particular installation, it must be checked which quality mark is on the valve.
Gas ball valve
For gas taps, it is often the case that it is often provided with a yellow button or lever (the color yellow is always for gas in installations) and must be provided with a Gastec or Giveg quality mark. With drinking water taps, it is often the case that it is often provided with a blue lever or button (and sometimes green) and that it is provided with a KIWA quality mark.
Method of connection
Ball valves for both gas and water can be mounted in many ways. For example, the gas comfort tap is screwed into a wall plate after it has been packed with gas tape, also called Teflon. A ball valve can be provided with compression fittings so that it is clamped on the pipe. Or it has solder fittings on it, so that it can only be soldered to the pipe. Some gas taps are connected with what is called a three-part coupling.
Sizes
ball valve straight with compression fittings or solder fittings 15 or 22 mm.
ball valve straight with compression coupling or solder fittings 15 or 22 mm on one side and a three-piece coupling on the other.
ball valve straight with compression fittings or solder fittings 15 or 22 mm with a lever where and also two connections for a drain facility.
straight ball valve with 1/2 ″ or 3/4 ″ threaded connection on one side and a three-piece coupling on the other.
gas comfort tap straight or angled with 1/2 ″ connection on one side and an M24 thread on the other side.
ball valve straight or angled with a red handle with 1/2 ″ thread on one side and 3/4 ″ thread on the other where a hose can be attached again. These are mainly used as fill-drain valves in central heating systems.
The above models and sizes are just a small selection of what is for sale. There are also many adapters and transition couplings, so the variations are endless. It is better to make as few connections as possible to connect an appliance, because that reduces the chance of leakage.
