To Check or Not to Check

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koilife

Always learning
Joined
May 19, 2019
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I am considering hard-piping with all TC fittings. I'd like to route pipe out of my kettles, down through the table, and into a manifold that feeds a pump. The plumbing under the table is accessible for cleaning/maintenance, but inconvenient to operate valves on the manifold itself.

The check valves I'm looking at involve 1/2 to 1 psi break open and have fairly large interiors (I assume to reduce head loss). An example is https://www.glaciertanks.com/sanitary-check-valves-b45mp-g150.html


My questions are:
  1. Is there any real benefit to having a valve on both sides of each leg coming down from the kettles? This question applies regardless of whether the lower valve is ball or check.
  2. What kind of head loss can I expect? Is it likely to have a material impact? (I have inquiries into the vendors to try and quantify this.)
  3. Is there a target break pressure for the valve that is ideal? (Weak enough to work w/o a lot of pressure, but still strong enough that the pump won't pull them open when their corresponding upper valve is closed)

upload_2019-10-31_9-18-47.png
 
My only input, I used to have a couple of similar check valves installed on my hard piped system and found that if I did not disassemble and clean them after every brew they would get dirty and mold even after running a c.i.p. I got tired of cleaning them and removed them in favor of butterfly hand valves. Much easier to keep clean and no places to hold residual liquid. I cant speak to your other questions since mine were used for a different purpose.
 
. . . if I did not disassemble and clean them after every brew they would get dirty and mold even after running a c.i.p. I got tired of cleaning them and removed them in favor of butterfly hand valves. Much easier to keep clean and no places to hold residual liquid. . . .
Thank you! Exactly the kind of first-hand lessons learned that I'm looking for.
 
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