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2) Use MALE threaded adapters on both sides of the valve body. Less likely than female to leak, and if you ever have to remove the body, you can unscrew it without having to rebuild the whole manifold
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An obvious need if you're going to allow valves to be unscrewed, but also obviously not needed if unions are to be used as your means of extracting a valve. However, I must say that from experience, unions are NOT a panacea for making parts replaceable. Because a PVC union uses rubber gaskets for sealing, the geometry of what you replace must be PERFECT. The only way I know you'll ever get that if you do replace parts is to place the unions 1st and then glue to them with them in place, because if you instead try to rebuild the pipe between the unions (including the unions) and then try to reinsert that into the system, the unions will NEVER line up exactly and you WILL have leaks....
3) Leave room between valves, so you can unscrew the valve body. Remember if this is ever necessary, you can remove the solenoid or the whole top to obtain the necessary clearance.
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Since I use FPT valves, I would have to insert a nipple between the manifold and valve. Extra parts = extra expense and potential for leaks, especially on the pressure side of the valves.
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Quoted from "Lowvolumejeff" ...
2) Use MALE threaded adapters on both sides of the valve body. Less likely than female to leak, and if you ever have to remove the body, you can unscrew it without having to rebuild the whole manifold
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I must say that I've never understood this. If you use threaded adapters on both sides of the valve, aren't they both going to be right-hand threaded? This seems to mean that you can never unscrew the valve because when you start turning to loosen on side, you'll be tightening the other side. What am I missing?
This post has been edited 1 times, last edit by "Lowvolumejeff" (Sep 17th 2008, 11:06am)