Weldless ball valve in thin wall stainless pot?

I have a thin walled cheap stainless pot that I'm using as my HLT, and was thinking about putting a ball valve so I can get away from the pouring gallons of scalding hot water by hand.

I've seen references to thin walled pots not being good for installing ball valves, but haven't seen anything definitive as to why and whether you really just shouldn't do it, or if it's just not preferred.

So what's the scoop? Should I do it? Or plan on investing in a new pot for a HLT if I want to go that route?

A thin pot may not hold up to the slightest abuse. Another reason not to do a thin pot is there may not be enough thread on the ball valve kit you are installing to put significant pressure to hold the seal.

I suggest trying to find a keg and someone to cut the top out so you can fit your own lid. The keg should be around $60 (just ask around people that sell kegs) and no more than $30 to find someone with a plasma cutter to cut the hole. From there, use a step-up bit to drill your holes.

The walls might flex a little when opening or closing the ball valve, but it will work just fine. People install weldless fittings on plastic walled coolers which are much flimsier than any pot I've seen.

The weldless bulkheads work fine on thin stainless. I have had no problems.

Keg won't work for me at this point in my brewing, as I currently do stove-top brewing. I might go that route at some point, but not yet. Also, I already have this pot and if the ball valve will work fine in it, seems like there's no reason to buy another one right now.

I realize a thin pot could dent, etc, but fail to see how any damage from abuse would adversely affect the ball-valve installation. Also, as far as not having enough thread on the nipple, I can't say for sure but that seems unlikely given that even the thicker walled pots are only 1.2mm thick from what I've seen online. What are the thin pots, maybe half that? Am I really going to run into a problem because it's .6mm thinner?

Maybe you're right and maybe these are valid concerns, but they seem weak to me.

klyph said:

The walls might flex a little when opening or closing the ball valve, but it will work just fine. People install weldless fittings on plastic walled coolers which are much flimsier than any pot I've seen.

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Gussymo said:

The weldless bulkheads work fine on thin stainless. I have had no problems.

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Cool, thanks for that info. I think I'll go that route for now, then. Bargain Fittings here I come!

pot will flex a little, still works, just remeber the little tabe that holds the handle in place

Little tabe? Huh? Even if you mean little tab, I still don't know what you're talking about.

He means the locking tab. I've been using a thin walled SS turkey fryer with a weldless fitting as my HLT for a year and a half and never had any problems. I built up a nice hip of teflon tape against the valve to seal with a large washer, then a silicone washer, the HLT wall, another large washer and then the nut. The two washers give the wall a little extra strength so it doesn't flex so bad.

I see no problem using a weldless fitting on a thin stainless pot. I use one on an even thinner and less rigid coated aluminum pot, and don't notice any displacement whatsoever when opening and closing the valve. Purchasing the set from bargainfittings.com is easily your best bet. You will definitely have enough threads to seat the o-rings tightly. Another plus to doing this is that you can re-use the valve assembly if you upgrade your pot down the road.

redbs said:

He means the locking tab.

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So, going off-topic here a bit, but I'm the OP so I guess I can do that.

What in the world are we talking about? The only ball valve I have right now is on my cooler mash tun. I looked over the ball valve and see nothing that I could identify as a locking tab, and I don't remember having to do anything special to make sure the handle stays in place. It hasn't fallen off yet. I'm super confused.

hmm, let me try this again. on my ball valve there is a little tab that slides up and down on the handle. when the tab is down the handle cant't be moved, to move the handle you must slid up the tab.
hhere is a pic of the tab up

here is a pic of the tab down, all it does is prevent the handle from being moved, not hold it in place.

Awesome, thanks so much for the pics. The ball valve I got at Lowes for my mash tun does not have one of those, but I can see how it'd be a really great idea.

You hawe valves in this catalog http://www.azimuth-dps.rs/images/stories/azimuth-catalog-english-2012a.pdf