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Insane deal on stainless ball valves!!!!

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how do you know they are stainless? sure they are painted or galvanized?

Didn't you read the ad?

They were made in China and have no documentation.

2010-10-11-08-59-57525695084.jpg
 
I called and talked to the woman on the phone. It's a refrigeration company that ordered a bunch from china and they wouldn't work for the project they intended to use them for. If your skeptical you should contact them, the sales woman's name is linda, she's super nice. I can provide a phone number if you wan't
 
looks like you might be local...or are they able to ship? i'd be interested in some, but would love it if someone saw them in person first.
 
They're shipping them to me. I fully understand wanting a first hand report on the quality. I'll re post when I get them and let everyone know how they look. I just figured I'd go for it. It was only 28 bucks to get 15 valves, 5 of which have strainers, shipped to my door; so if they turn out to be crap, at least I know I didn't pass up a really good deal
 
That looks super sketchy. I'd do a thorough bench test on one of them prior to using them for any brewing applications.

Good luck, though. I hope it works out for you.
 
Thanks for posting this ... I just sent them an e-mail. Might be sketchy, might be legit ... seems like it's worth $10 to find out. Even if they're plated brass (like those Ebay valves people were talking about a little bit ago), they're still cheaper than any other brass valve you could buy.

Wait - just looked at the ad again. How do you know they're SS? The ad doesn't say anything about that.
 
I talked to the head of sales. The people are really nice, if you are worried just contact them and ask. like I said they might be crap but I still figured it would be a cool resource to share
 
Ah, ok. Yes, I definitely agree that it's worth sharing! I sent them an e-mail; as you say, seems like there's not much to lose by giving it a shot.
 
Just got an e-mail from them saying that the valves are plated brass.

Still ... that's mighty cheap ... hmmm
 
I get the feeling we will see an add up on the board in the next couple weeks for these valves but with much higher price tag.
 
Just got an e-mail from them saying that the valves are plated brass.

Still ... that's mighty cheap ... hmmm

Still, why would you want to risk the chrome plating flaking off and getting into your beer? There's inexpensive, and then there's cheap...
 
Is that a real risk? Seems like other people here have used plated brass with few problems.

Not challenging; I'm honestly asking.
 
Is that a real risk? Seems like other people here have used plated brass with few problems.

Not challenging; I'm honestly asking.

I honestly don't know. I just did a quick search within the forums on chrome-plated brass and saw a couple threads recommending against using them. Maybe it's not an issue. However, most brewing stores only sell SS or brass valves for use on kettles...
 
From what I can tell, chrome-plated brass is fine to use on the cold side (i.e., faucets), but on the hot side it should be avoided due to the thermal cycling which may cause the plating to flake off due to differing amounts of expansion/contraction between the base metal and the plating.
 
Just got them. They're definitely Nickel plated brass on the body, and the ball itself looks like it's chrome plated. So it looks like it was too good to be true. I'm probably still gonna use them though, if it becomes a problem I'll fork out the extra dough for SS. Apologies if anyone else got these
 
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