Gate Valve - Best/Worst Manufactures 4

[DJME80]

The company I work for is in the planning stages of installing some new package boilers. We are going to make tie-ins to our feedwater system and want to get the best (most reliable/well built) gate valves we can find. Does anyone have any experience with a particualarly good gate valve manufacturer? Any direction of who's good and who to stay away from would be great help. Thanks in advance!!

 

[micalbrch]

Your question for good manufacturers is reasonable but not the opposite. This forum should not be used to blacklist certain manufactures. And keep in mind: Bad manufacturers do not exists because they cannot survive with only bad references.

 

[DJME80]

I assure you there are bad manufactures. There are a few manufactures (and I won't mention their names) that produce very poor quality valves. We have vales that have lasted 30 years in this plant, and then we get valves from some manufactures that barely last 6 months. That's BAD!!!

 

[gerhardl]

DJME80, I agree with micalbrch. I would not on principle 'blacklist' or give bad marks for any producer, as there usually is a price difference between higher and lower quality, and a lower price and quality could be the right choice for the right circumstances.

You are however obviously after the high quality end, and wish good value over lifetime.

Wich brand and exact material and trim solution to select will depend also details on your process (process water, chemical composition, pressures, flow etc) but also availability on the market, and commonly used and recommended in your area.

(Please remember that this site represents products and people from all over the world, so it is not that easy to come out with a particular brand. At the moment we can only make a guess that you want US standard, but it could be JIS or EN or anything else. And why are you so sure you only want to evaluate gate valves?)

By asking possible suppliers for suggestion of brands and types with recommended alternatives for longest possible lifetime (not only cheapest buying price), with argumentation for construction details, and with references to long-term customers and installations you can contact, you ought to get both a qualified range to select from and data to set down on paper a technical/economical evaluation of the different choices.

Good luck!

 

[mridey]

If you have gate valves that have been working fine for 30 years, then you have the answer to your own question; buy more of those valves!

Otherwise stick with the names you know, the "players" in the industry. Check Thomas Register, for starters.

 

[stanier]

It is hard call as many well respected manufacturers from yesteryear have been bought by investment companies. Worse still they rebadge dodgy brothers stuff from the Far East.

Look for Shell approved manufacturers with manufacturing facilities you can inspect . Dont rely upon QA, do some QC. Anyone with a laser printer can give you a compliance certificate. If its that critical send in and inspectorate like Moody or LLoyds to check complliance. Seek witness tests.

"Sharing knowledge is the way to immortality"
His Holiness the Dalai Lama.

http://waterhammer.hopout.com.au/

 

[rconner]

There have been some very good responses on this thread. All I would personally say about this specific matter is that (while I guess it is quite easy to do so based on some comfort of isolationism or interpretation of ethics/ altruism) it is, and has always been, dangerous to assume that “bad” and for that matter evil are not out there in this world. From this standpoint the OP has asked some very good questions. A couple quotes, from folks much smarter than I long ago but I think still applicable, immediately come to mind:

“All that is necessary for the triumph of evil is that good men do nothing.”
Edmund Burke

“Silence is the virtue of fools.”
Sir Francis Bacon

“There is hardly anything in the world that some man cannot make a little worse and sell a little cheaper, and the people who consider price only are this man's lawful prey.”
John Ruskin

While I guess there are hundreds of other similar quotes from history and to similar ends, I guess in a low bid or initial material cost only bean-counting atmosphere, the last concept is perhaps particularly pervasive.

[I apologize for the uni-gender nature of the words used in some quotes, but I guess it was a sign of the times in which they were made.]

 

[steamdog]

I think there are more good manufacturer's than bad, most try to put out a good product. For this reason I would go with the people who you trust and you know will back up the product should there be a problem.

 

[rconner]

Quality, dependability, and service (I guess best if reasonably prompt and understandable), at a low enough price

"Aye, there's the rub!" William Shakespeare

 

[lallina50]

Hi I am looking for manufacturing Valves companies in Norway - material Duplex, monel, Inconel? can you help?

 

[gerhardl]

To lallina: I suggest you put this question out in a separate string and add sizes , types and pressure classes to your question.

There are many suppliers/importers of valves with exotic material in Norway, but only a few producers, please remember Norway has only 5 mill. inhabitants!

For common offshore use valves are normally imported,

 

[hacksaw]

gee, I thought most valve manufactures were as smart as their customers, especially when price is the controlling objective...
with inspections, material certs, testing compliance taking a back seat...

 

[ricklts]

I noticed that very few actual names were given. Try Bel Valves in the UK.