Ball Valve

Will I get slamed for posting the name of a vendor?:confused:

Oh well! Valley Industries, Paynesville, MN 800-864-1649. Give them a call, I'm sure they will send you a catalog. The part number for the valve in the picture is 33-103323 3/8" Industrial Duty Valve. Steel body w/zinc plating, chrome plated ball, 7400 psi max.

Dave Olson
 
I believe I have purchased the same valve from E*spec for $20-$25. As indicated in my earlier post I have had problems with valve (won't open and close easily). Have purchased Apollo and similar ball valve ($28) from a small vendor that work very well, except for handles coming off with continued use (believe I have solved that problem). Don't have name and number here, but if interested email me at bill3752@aol and I will look up.
 
Another great use for ball valves versus trigger guns is if any of you wash heavy equipment. We charge an extra $50 when cleaning heavy equipment to steam rads (radiators) which are often covered with hydraulic oil, dirt, grease and other stuff that causes the engine to overheat. You have to be careful when hitting the rad because if you hit the fins directly you'll destroy the rad. You don't want to know the replacement cost for a Caterpillar D-10 Dozer Rad. If you remove your nozzle and turn on the ball valve enough to get a fine pressurized steam mist, it does the job great without too much pressure hitting the fins.

The handle problem can be solved by getting into the habit of tightening the nuts on your valves when you are cleaning up. Takes an extra few minutes, but it saves you the hassle of finding the metric nuts for those things which is a bitch in itself.

Now if everybody thought the ball valves idea was such a great one, why didn't you guys vote for it in the contest vote page for time saving ideas so we didn't have to end up with a 3 way tie? :)
 
Dave
Ball valve rather than the gun bring up-why would they prefer that over the gun? It would seem that system would be hard to control let alone the temp.

Thanks

David
 
David,

I can't speak for Dave, but we like using the ball valves instead of gun's simply because we have more control, less fatigue and can work in tighter spaces. We never get trigger fatigue when we've been power washing for 12-14 hours straight because we never pull a trigger. It's also more versatile. We can use an assembly as small as a ball valve with a quick disconnect and nozzle for a one handed mini-wand that isn't more than eight to ten inches long from hose end to nozzle. Plus, you have total control over pressure coming out of the nozzle from right where you are working instead of adjusting the washer itself. It's also a lot easier to make field repairs using these setups. If we run into a bind we can run over to home depot or a local hardware store and put together a new ball valve wand assembly using threaded black pipe and a hydraulic hose covering it for heat protection for less than $30-$40 depending on the length of the pipe/wand we need. And they last forever. Think about it like this, how many times can you step on an aluminum wand or drop it before you crack or bend it? With black pipe it's heavier, but you can throw it against a wall or run it over with a truck and never have a problem.

As for your temp question it's never been a problem. There is a point in terms of pressure control where your burner is going to shut-off, we just listen for it and adjust the valve accordingly. One of the neat things about using the helmets with face guards and ear protectors that we have is that even though everything is muffled with the ear covers the burners have a lower range distinct sound that you can easily distinguish from everything else. So it's like you're standing right next to the burner even though you might be several hundred feet from it. After awhile you just learn where the pressure needs to be for the burner to be on or off.

I recommend you build one and give it a try, you'll swear off triggers and wands in no time just like we did.
 
Matt,

Since we use ball valves we can reduce the pressure very low. We can put out a straight stream, fan or foam. If we want to spray a longer distance (second story of a building) we just open the ball valve more for more pressure.

When we do truck fleets we use a 1500 psi 2 gpm unit to run these hose end sprayers. The hole in the sprayer is quite large and I expect the pressure that it is putting out is 75 psi or so. We can also use garden hose pressure to run these sprayers. We use the same 1500-psi pumps in kitchens. In some cases the crew may prefer to use the pump or they have the option of using city water pressure.

The other things that we like about these sprayers is we can change the concentration of the product that we are applying right at the head. For most applications we apply at a 1-10 ratio. If the technician needs a stronger ratio he just moves the bar on the top of the head and can (in a heart beat) increase up to 1-3 ratio. We have another head that has a wider range approximately 1-150 to 1-10. The other advantage is that if the technician needs two different types of product he can simply bring 1 jug of each and apply as needed.


David,

Lance said if well. More convenience, less fatigue, etc. With regard to the temperature, our technicians are always wearing gloves anyway.

Dave Olson
 
Okay David,
I have a question.
What type of gilmore sprayer do you use, and where do you get them? I would like to experiment with it, but I want to get the right sprayer.
For that matter, maybe a picture would work.

For what it is worth, on this BBS you can always mention Vendors.

Scott
 
Hose End Sprayer

Hello Scott,

This is the only picture that I currently have.
tps-hoseendsp.jpg
. I will try to get a better picture.

In the meantime. Send me your fax number and I will send you a copy of Gilmour's description of this sprayer.

I have been using these sprayers since '86. Could not get them anymore locally so I've been ordering direct from Gilmour. You may be able to find them at a local janitor supply house in your area or you may need to get them direct. Their current pricing is around $60. By the time you add the fittings to convert to high pressure quick disconect you can expect to have about $75 in each unit. I no longer order the complete assembly. They will sell just the individual components.

Dave Olson
 
Lets say you are working on a hood system and you loose your balance and fall. With the gun system- shuts down so that one can recover control. With the ball valve you would have a problem trying to get control without shutting down let alone the damage to customers equipment and our employees.

I like the idea but this was brought to my attention today by one of our members. Please help.

David
 
David,

Maybe this "third Hand" that Steven was talking about would work for you............do they have a website?
 
In using the "Third Hand", how would that be used with the ball valve configuration? It would seem that it can only be used with the gun.

David
 
David, you are correct in assuming that the ball valve dropped in the "open" position would be a projectile until the shut down was completed. Picture firemen trying to catch a loose hose but on a smaller scale. I would recommend the ball valve as a replacement to the wand/trigger gun assembly to anybody here who does their own work. However, add employees to the mix and you may want to limit it to only guys you trust to know what they are doing. In situations like that you might want to stick with something like this third hand or something to lock the trigger open so you always have a shut off when dropped. Other than the obvious safety issue, I can say that the lower fatigue level will be noticeable the first time you use the ball valve versus the trigger gun assembly. Personally I've never had a problem with dropping the open valve, but then again I'm very careful when I'm working with pressure and chemicals.
 
Very well said Lance.

Like I said before, we have always used ballvalves. Yes we have had times when it was dropped. Has not been that big of a deal when you have folks working that are experienced. Another way of looking at it is we have never had a insurance claim for workers compensation or general liability in the 18 years that we have been in business (Knock on Wood) :)

Dave Olson
 
An idea to mitigate the "dropped ball valve" problem. When using long HP hose runs, connect the last two hoses with a second ball valve. Then if you drop the wand, you are only 50 feet away from turning off the uncontrolled wand. Might help out especially when on roofs doing exhaust work. I often use a second ball valve when I make several hundred foot runs so that I can add/drop HP hose without going back to machine.
 
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