Here in the Pacific Northwest we have (had?) a once fine hardware store chain called McLendon's. I use them for most of my plumbing needs. We use 3/4" and 1" ball valves quite a bit on our farm for irrigation of gardens and greenhouses. I probably have 40 or 50 valves in the system. As it is not winterproof, I designed the system to low-point drain for the winter. For many years I got brass ball valves made in the USA from Mclendon's. 10 years ago McLendon's began carring ball valves made in China. They had both types, side by side on the shelf. US =$12, China = $6. I was extending my greenhouse at the time and bought 4 valves Made in China. They have all failed that winter. I replaced them with US made valves. I have yet to have a US valve fail.
Here is the failure mode. Even though the system is drained the walls of the Chinese valves freeze and crack. This is because of voids and porosity of the castings. I have slabbed out cross sections and examined them under a microscope. It may include materials issues as well, but other than a slight surface color difference I haven't done any analysis in this direction. For the last few years I have only been able to get Chinese made valves at McLendon's. Whether the reason is availability or customer demand I don't know. Each spring is now an adventure as I bring the irrigation system up to pressure. One last question: This is a pretty low-tech, low-risk application. What happens when a significant portion of the infrastructure, perhaps some more critical applications, is of poor quality? Dick ----- Original Message ----- From: "John Kasunich" <jmkasun...@fastmail.fm> To: "Enhanced Machine Controller (EMC)" <emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net> Sent: Saturday, January 02, 2010 10:14 AM Subject: Re: [Emc-users] Brass fittings & EMC > Dave wrote: >> Probably a good idea... but not an inexpensive one! Brass might be >> cheaper. >> Stainless and Brass fittings in 1" and 1-1/4" sizes are pretty much >> specialty items not sold at the home centers. > > Don't go to the home centers. > > www.mcmaster.com > > If they don't have the fitting you need, it probably isn't made. > > > John Kasunich > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ > This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community > Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support > A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and > easy > Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers > http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev > _______________________________________________ > Emc-users mailing list > Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net > https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users > > ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ This SF.Net email is sponsored by the Verizon Developer Community Take advantage of Verizon's best-in-class app development support A streamlined, 14 day to market process makes app distribution fast and easy Join now and get one step closer to millions of Verizon customers http://p.sf.net/sfu/verizon-dev2dev _______________________________________________ Emc-users mailing list Emc-users@lists.sourceforge.net https://lists.sourceforge.net/lists/listinfo/emc-users
