New 3 Piece Stainless Steel Ball Valves

I just bought 2 new Stainless Steel ball valves on ebay for $27 shipped. These are a good deal right? Seems that the Homebrew stores charge about $25-27 for ONE + Shipping.

I looked up the manufacturer MCF and found that FRS66TEI is the Product code and it means that:

So anyway, heres the LINK. Let me know if I got a good deal or not!!

Actually, you got two valves that are worth about $100 each. I'd say it's a steal. Good for you, I would have nabbed them if I saw them first.

Bobby_M said:

Actually, you got two valves that are worth about $100 each. I'd say it's a steal. Good for you, I would have nabbed them if I saw them first.

Click to expand...

Seriously??? Wow. I thought it was a good deal, but I had no idea..

I saw them yesterday, and I was going to post before I bought them..but I decided for $27 it was probably better to buy them first and ask questions later

I has also sent some questions to the seller, but once I found the manufacturers site, i was like...Im jumping on this.

Thanks Bobby, you made my day! Now I can buy something else since I 'SAVED' so much money on these valves.

Holy crap, i just did some searching around and I found sites selling this valve or $168. Dang, maybe I will sell these and get some 2 Piece valves!!! At least one of them anyway. 1 is going on my boil kettle and te other is just going on my cooler mash tun....seems like such a waste to put this valve on a cooler, haha.

You won't really get their "new" value trying to sell them. Most people that require the robustness of those valves will buy them from an industrial supply and not even blink at the price. They certainly won't be scouring ebay for them.

Yea, you're right. O well, my cooler will have a really nice valve!!

To use "aerospace" grade equipment, most companies in the industry have to approve a vendor before purchasing ANYTHING. We audit the hell out of all our suppliers before we will even buy a bolt or washers from them. Traceability is the essential component for these parts. They usually get a S/N and P/N tag on them, along with a Cage code now and then. We buy valves like that by the box , and never even look at the price.

I just got two SS Ball Valves from a space shuttle test. You wouldn't want to know the retail on these MoFo's, cuz you probably start to understand why we pay such high federal income tax. I should probably inscribe "Thanks US Taxpayers" on my keggle when it's completed. The best part about these, is that once they are unpackaged and used, we get rid of them.

NoClueBrewMaster.... care to share the wealth?

I mean, if they're going in the garbage anyway......

The most "effed" up part of it is we have to dispose of them. You can see the sadness in all our eyes when 300 dollar valves get tossed away in sealed containers...

Because parts like these are tracked, we can't reuse them due to them being accounted for in all our hydraulic tests. Some of them get used as support equipment, but the majority just get disposed of.

The lower end valves get re-used over and over, which is what I have in my possession for my keggles. A good soak in rubbing alchohol gets the JP-8 right outta them...

NOTE to others who are going looking for these:

I bought two of those recently, and they are not 1/2" female pipe thread as advertised. Try screwing a known 1/2" fitting into one and you'll probably see the same thing as me-it's a straight thread with a small recess for an o-ring to seat right at the end of the valve.

Edit: just checked the pics-yours are like mine-might be a JIC thread...

I plan to disassemble, drill and tap for 1/2" pipe threads, and then use them.

If you have these with the wrong thread, I would buy them, give you a mark-up, pay you shipping, and then alter them also. I would like to just have matching valves, or I wouldn't be doing this.

I paid $28 for two. We can negotiate.

Sent an email.

I would bet its a CPI thread... a lot of high end pressure systems use CPI, also know as Instrumentation Thread. You can get those fittings as well...

aw man, that sucks. I just replied to your PM Henry Hill...but I responded before I read this. Maybe I will sell it to you if it's not NPT. I didn't even think of that. I'll let you know when I get them.

EDIT:

Just checked the MCF site again....I think they *SHOULD* be NPT threads...
http://www.tycoflowcontrol-na.com/getlit.asp?lit=ld/HOW TO ORDER MCF CHARTS.pdf

You should sell one for a pre-made Keggle MLT...

You can get them for $35 / piece through buyfittingsonline:

http://www.buyfittingsonline.com/Fittings/item6525.htm

That's about the cheapest I have come across.

$27.90 here: http://www.williamsbrewing.com/1_2_NPT_BLICHMANN_3_PIECE_BAL_P1986.cfm

Yeah you got a great deal! I'm super jealous lol. I get my stainless steel valves from hydraulics direct, but their prices aren't as good as that!!

In fairness, there's been almost 10 years of price inflation since that post was made...

Cheers!