Gas Ball valves or Needle valves

[kevbrew]

Hello,

I am building a gas manifold for my single tier system. Currently it consists of 1/2" black pipe to gas ball valve to 1/4" ID LP gas flex line to the burners.

Will the regular gas ball valve work ok in this situation or is a needle valve just a better investment all in all?

Second, are the blichmann needle valves the same for both LP and natural gas? It's just the orifice that changes between the two?

Thanks

Kevin

 

[ianw58]

Here's my new rig under fire for the first time. Needle valves would allow better control, but I need to order them and I couldn't resist theses ball valves at Lowes for about $5 a piece.

 

[cracked1]

Ball valves work fine for lots of people but I switched mine out for needle valves. I just didn't like the lack of control ball valves gave me in my system. With the needle valves I can get turkey fryer burners down to a trickle.

Homebrewstuff.com is a LHBS for me so I picked up these ones there: http://www.homebrewstuff.com/propane-shut-off-valve-1-4-npt.html

I don't believe it matters if you're running LP or natural gas but don't quote me on that... ;-)

 

[ColoHox]

I use both. On/off control and fine adjustments from both valves. I couldn't control my temps accurately enough with just the ball.