Ball valve pop during keggle test

[kelphis79]

Built a single tier brewery and started testing it today but ran into a problem.

I attempted to get the kettle (furthest to the right in the photo) to boil. I kicked up the heat and about 16 minutes in the ball valve on the front let out a large bang sound and steam appeared to burst out for that instant. I cut the heat immediately. Tempurature readings were very high. The valve itself read 500+ at the base where the kettle attached to it and 80+ at the outlet. Now that everything is cooled i notice that the rubber sheath on the handle is melted but its still holding water and the vale works after a test.

Is there anything I should be worried about here? Im guessing that some water was tapped inside the valve and turned to steam and at that moment was all released. I didn't expect it and Im concerned now. Does anyone else have this issue with keggle conversions?

 

[EternalStudent]

Did you happen to run any liquid out of the valve before heating? Is there a dip tube to trap a pocket of air? Were the hoses connected while heating?

Probably stupid questions. But I've done lots of stupid stuff.

I have 4 conversions. I've done this before.

 

[orangehero]

Is the valve over one of the slots between the skirt and kettle bottom where all the hot gasses are coming out?

 

[kelphis79]

Did you happen to run any liquid out of the valve before heating? Is there a dip tube to trap a pocket of air? Were the hoses connected while heating?

Probably stupid questions. But I've done lots of stupid stuff.

I have 4 conversions. I've done this before.

Not stupid questions....
I did not run liquid out of the valve. Im sure it was a little pocket of water that was trapped and boiled and then released under intense pressure. I never tested a previous ball valve on a pot before so I never had to deal with this. Th valve did not have any hoses attached at the time. Tempurature readings at the base of the valve was 500+, in the middle it was about 250 and the nozzle was about 80 degrees.

The ball valve does have a 90 degree elbow dip tube connected on the inside of the BK. The dip tube goes to the center of the kettle and travels down to the bottom and ends about 1/4 to 1/2 inch above the bottom.

Is the valve over one of the slots between the skirt and kettle bottom where all the hot gasses are coming out?

The ball valve is not. The thermometer is, unfortunately. That seems to not be as affected by it thankfully.

 

[dyqik]

Run, don't walk, to Bobby_M's heatshield page...