1 piece vs 2 or 3 piece

I have been looking to redo my setup, and I am going with ss valves. Aside from preference and cleaning is there a reason to go multi-piece over single?

most 1 piece valves are not full flow, ie the ball opening is smaller than the threaded fitting
go with 2 piece full flow valves or 3 piece

the 3 are easier to take apart and clean vs the 2 piece. I went with the 2 piece ones.

Ok. great points so far. I guess how much extra would it be worth to to pay to go with a 3 piece instead of 2 piece?

I think it was $5 difference in price. I have two big wrenches. And honestly, how often are you going to take them apart? 2 piece was an easy choice.

I don't have any issue with my 1/2" ball valve (brass, 'one piece') when it comes to flow rate. IF you want to be able to take the valve apart for the occasional cleaning (if you really want/need to) then go with one of those. I don't see a burning need to do that, at least not yet.

Next time I setup a kettle, I might go with one that I can take apart to clean. Then again, I might not. I have a 1" nylon brush I can run through the valve, as well as clean the inside part of the ball.

I also just did a quick inspection of the ball valve I have... There's no flow restriction (at all) where the ball moves. It's flush with the rest of the valve insides, so the statement about it not being full flow is either from false information, or is with lower quality valves.

Another advantage of 3 piece valves is that they can be a bit easier to orient. When you tighten them down and find the handle is on the bottom, you can take the body apart and rotate it. So basically, all you have to do is get any side oriented where you want the handle and you are golden.

Ed

Plus one with Ed. I'm in the middle of rebuilding my system and just changed over to the three piece valve. Installed the first one and the handle was on the bottom, easy fix.

Didn't have that issue when installing my valves... Just used the wrench to hold the valve body as I wanted it, and tightened the nut on the inside (sounds more like a personal issue, I know)... I picked up a socket specifically for the nut used with the 1/2" ball valve kits, so that I could do it this way. Made installing the valves MUCH easier...

I'm sure you could make up good pro/con lists for all three types of valves, if you wanted to. IMO, it's more of a personal preference choice/decision than anything else... They all do the same job, with the same efficiency, it's just a matter IF you want to be able to pull it apart or not...