Anyone know where to source solenoid valves?

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bull8042

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I am trying to find some 1/2" solenoid valves that don't cost me an arm & a leg. I bought 5 on eBay a while back that sounded perfect, 1/2" full-port hot water/steam, slow-closing, 120VAC coil made by ASCO.

I plumbed one in and played with it, only to figure out after the fact that it is a piloted valve. It operates off of the pressure differential and requires 5 PSI minimum to reliably close. Obviously, this is not practical/possible with the March pumps I am using.

What I want is 1/2" valves, and either 120VAC or 24VDC coils. They will have to be direct-acting type of valves so that pressure is not required to open or close them. And also be able to withstand 200°F+ water.

Anyone have any ideas what is out there?
 
I just saw that, thanks. Being general purpose though, I am not sure how well they will handle boiling wort. A little investigation is in order here...
 
I grabbed one of these to experiment with. You can get them with viton seals that will handle the boiling, but I'm more worried about leaching or something clogging the orifice. Couldn't get a straight answer, so I'm testing one with a couple of different thing once I get it.
 
Got the valve last night and, to put it mildly, I'm very excited. The entire liquid is only exposed to brass and the seal. When off, the spring actuator holds the seal down, sealing the orifice. When energized, diaphragm is pulled up, allowing the liquid to "spill" into the orifice and out of the pipe.

I'm wiring it up this weekend and should be able to test it out.
 
Got the valve last night and, to put it mildly, I'm very excited. The entire liquid is only exposed to brass and the seal. When off, the spring actuator holds the seal down, sealing the orifice. When energized, diaphragm is pulled up, allowing the liquid to "spill" into the orifice and out of the pipe.

I'm wiring it up this weekend and should be able to test it out.

That sounds very promising. I got most of my rig tested out this weekend and I am very excited about it as well. So, if your valves work as well as you expect, I may be able to finish my project before I am too old to brew.
 
Thanks to a wicked sunburn this weekend, I managed to get it wired last night finally. The coil, as advertised, does indeed give a great opening and closing sound and kicks in right at the time the switch is flipped. I'm going to crimp some connections to the end and that should give me a easy quick disconnect. Later tonight, I'll hook it up to my keggle and run some water through it. I'll have it plugged into a GFCI as well.

Wonder what I could use to simulate hops and grain husk....
 
Tested it out and it worked ok. My only concern is the there is still pressure against the outflow and, without using a pump, your looking at a 10-15 minute at least to drain 5 gallons. Keep in mind I'm using the 1/2"/16mm orifice. With a pump pulling liquid through, it could probably go a good bit faster. Also since the pump and the valve can be fired by the same relay, it might could keep things running.

I'd say that, if you are hoping for gravity only system, consider getting the 1" valve. At that price, is there a cheaper alternative you've seen?
 
The best prices I have found were at the eBay store that HomebrewJeff linked in post #2. The are in Arizona and seem to be a good solution if you don't want to pay for names like SMC, Festo, ASCO, etc.
 
Hmmm. At that price, the 1" valves could be plausible, pending orifice size. I can't imagine they'd use anything different than the STC valves.

The problem stems from the seal method. The valves in the EBAY store and the link I posted use a, I guess, "butterfly", not a outright push down seal. I really think with a pump pulling on the valve, you'd get appreciable flow rates.....Hmmmm....

I could grab a pump from Harbor freight and test this little theory just to see.

If that works, substituting a march pump could work.

Thoughts?
 
I have 2 March on my system, and the valves will be after them. So I think the pumps will get the liquid through there with no problem. The ASCOs I have flowed well, they just wouldn't close completely because of being piloted. You should be fine if the valves are after your pump.
 
If the valves are after the pump, it would work for sure I think. You should be able to push the liquid through with no problem.

In the system I'm looking at, these valves were on the outside of the bulkhead, restricting flow coming out of the vessel. I guess that's where the ASCO's will come in. Is it the same for your system?

The only alternative, besides going bigger, is actuating ball valves, which is expensive by every thing I've seen.
 
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