Guest Blog

Valves play an essential role in plumbing systems. They control water flow by limiting or stopping the flow based on placement. But one quick trip down the plumbing aisle, and you’ll quickly find that PVC valves come in various styles. Knowing what valve is needed for which purpose takes some skill.

As a general rule, if you’re looking for a non-corrosive plumbing option or you have specific needs to meet hygiene standards or green building goals, PVC valves check all the right boxes. While they are technically made from a plastic polymer, these valves have become a preferred option over most metal alternatives.

What is a PVC Valve?

Traditionally, plumbing valves are made from different types of metals. Brass, cast iron, bronze, stainless steel, alloys, galvanized metals, and others serve different purposes. For example, salt water is highly corrosive and requires stainless steel or PVC fittings as other metals will easily rust.

PVC, or polyvinyl chloride, is not a metal. It’s a synthetic plastic polymer that provides a highly durable and cost-effective option for plumbing fixtures. PVC has been around the plumbing world a little longer than you may have realized. Pipes made from this polymer were first introduced in 1932. By the 1970s, pipes and valves made from PVC had found their way to mainstream use.

These valves are some of the most versatile, fitting appropriate uses across many applications. PVC valves can be utilized for:

• Domestic Irrigation: PVC is the top choice for providing water for landscaping maintenance.
• Water Treatment: PVC is a chemical-resistant, non-corrosive material ideally suited for water treatment facilities.
• Water Features and Wellsprings: The same properties that make PVC a smart choice for irrigation systems also make it a natural choice for garden water features.
• Aquariums: PVC is one of the few materials aside from stainless steel that can resist the corrosion of salt water, making it a good choice for aquariums.
• Landfills: Any plumbing systems in landfills need to tolerate various chemicals, making chemical-resistant PVC a natural choice.
• Swimming Pools: This same chemical-resistant property makes PVC the best choice for chlorinated swimming pools.
• Chemicals: PVC is the best choice for a wide variety of corrosive chemicals.
• Food: The same properties that make PVC environmentally friendly also lend themselves well to food safety. PVC valves are a common choice in residential and commercial kitchens.
• Healthcare: More than 10 million quality-control tests prove that PVC plumbing fixtures are sterile and hygienic.

Benefits of Using PVC Valves

PVC plumbing valves are common across nearly every application, from residential construction to healthcare and manufacturing. It provides a lower-cost option to most metal valves with comparatively similar properties.

For starters, PVC is manufactured with energy-efficient practices so choosing this material over other options is a good step towards greener building practices. PVC also promotes cleaner water, keeping the supply free from sediment contamination.

Plus, most contractors appreciate the lower material cost of PVC fittings. PVC valves offer a durable, chemical-resistant, and corrosion-resistant plumbing option that is lightweight and easy to install.

Types of PVC Valves

As the popularity of PVC valves has grown, there is no shortage of options on the market. Even within each basic type of PVC valve, you’ll find different sizes for different uses. Here are a few of the most common valves.

PVC Ball Valves

A ball valve is a simple on or off-style valve frequently used in landscaping applications. It provides a water-tight seal using a ball to restrict or allow the flow of water. Ball valves are recognized for speed and efficiency. They’re a great option for emergency shut-off valves. If you’re choosing between a ball valve and other styles of on-off valves, speed of operation should be the primary consideration.

PVC Gate Valves

A gate valve is an on-off style valve best suited for low-pressure flows in larger diameter pipes. Gate valves become challenging to operate under higher pressures. Gate valves essentially do the same thing as a ball valve, but with a few more problems down the road.

PVC Check Valves

A check valve is a specialty valve that is designed to prevent backflow. While most valves are controlled by an external handle, a check valve is specifically designed to function internally based on the flow of material.

PVC Butterfly Valves

Butterfly valves are flexible control valves that allow the user to have precise control over water flow. These valves can function to restrict flow or entirely shut it off. A butterfly valve uses a disc to block water flow. Butterfly valves are used for variable control with a quick response.

PVC Diaphragm Valves

A diaphragm valve is a little less common than many of the other options on our list. These valves also serve a very specific purpose. A diaphragm valve is a regulatory valve that is used to control pressure.

PVC Foot Valves

A foot valve is a particular type of check valve fitted with a strainer. It’s placed at the end of a pipeline and assisted by a spring that opens and closes the valve when a pump turns on or off. A foot valve is designed to prevent fluid from draining out of a pump so that the pump remains primed and functional.

Final Thoughts on the Different Types of PVC Valves and Their Benefits

Polyvinyl chloride, or PVC, is commonly found in plumbing systems ranging from residential to commercial and industrial. While some pipes are still made from various metals, PVC has proven to be a durable and cost-effective alternative. Plus, as an added bonus, PVC offers several environmentally friendly benefits ranging from eco-friendly manufacturing processes to cleaner water.

Choosing the correct valve requires a thorough understanding of your needs and application, along with your options. In most cases, there is a PVC valve option that can save you money with a lower ticket price and long-lasting durability, providing clean water for a variety of commercial and residential applications.

Author Bio: Mark Ligon is the marketing manager at Commercial Industrial Supply, a supplier of commercial PVC and CPVC pipe, fittings and valves. Mark’s experience in industrial filtration has provided valuable relationships with suppliers, manufacturers and vertical resources online. CFS has more than a decade of experience providing name brand/quality products to the industrial filtration market. He enjoys educating businesses on the parts of piping systems so plumbing managers can make informed decisions.

Resideo’s global employees showcase their commitment to sustainability for Earth Day 2022.

RESIDEO EARTH DAY STATS

• Fifty percent of energy costs come from heating and cooling your home and 44% of U.S. Internet households say they actively work to reduce energy consumption at home. (Parks Associates, February 2022)
• More than 40% of Resideo’s revenue** comes from sustainable solutions, meaning those solutions with the capability to contribute to energy savings in your home or building.
• With more ENERGY STAR-rated products than any other thermostat manufacturer, Resideo’s Honeywell Home thermostats are energy efficient and can help save 8% of heating and cooling or $50 per year.
• According to the U.S. Department of Energy, you can save as much as 10% a year on heating and cooling by simply turning your thermostat back 7-10 degrees Fahrenheit from its normal setting for eight hours a day.

RESIDEO’S COMMITMENT TO SUSTAINABILITY

Each day, I’m proud to work for an organization that treats every day like Earth Day. We strive to advance comfort, safety and well-being with solutions that can benefit the planet and people living on it. Our goal is to deliver products and services that limit their impact on the environment and the people who manufacture, distribute, and use them during their life cycles.

Erin Woodward, Global Sustainability Leader at Resideo

Erin Woodward is based in Minnesota and served as a municipal development volunteer in the U.S., Peace Corps for two years in El Salvador, Central America. She leads sustainability for Resideo’s Products & Solutions business, where she champions bringing Environmental, Social and Governance (ESG) into the business strategy and innovation pipeline. Erin sat on the steering committee for the Sustainable Growth Coalition, a business led partnership building collaborative circular economy projects to advance clean energy and protect and restore the natural water cycle.

Speed and accuracy are the name of the game when it comes to a successful piping installation and a thriving business. Whether you’re installing potable plumbing or hydronic piping, the faster and more precise the job, the more time and money you potentially have to work on other projects.

While there are hundreds of tips and tricks out there to make your installs faster, easier, and more effective, I’m going to concentrate on the following three methods almost any plumbing or mechanical contractor can use to bring greater productivity to projects.

Flexible PEX pipe with bend supports

If you’ve never heard of PEX, it’s an acronym for crosslinked polyethylene. It’s a flexible, durable plastic piping product that provides numerous benefits over rigid CPVC or metallic systems, including faster installs, zero corrosion, and freeze-damage resistance.

Many residential contractors are already using PEX (considering it’s the most installed piping system for new-home construction over copper and CPVC combined). However, PEX is still a relative newcomer in the commercial industry.

The biggest benefit of PEX is its flexibility, which allows you to simply bend the pipe with each change in direction. With a tight bend radius of six times the pipe’s diameter, you can practically make 90-degree bends without the need for a fitting.

For times when you do have a tight bend that needs to stay in a particular place, PEX manufacturers offer bend supports. For those of you that prefer to watch rather than read, here’s a video that explains bend supports in detail.

These helpful products are available for ⅜”, ½”, ⅝”, ¾”, or 1″ PEX pipe. They hold the bend in place at the proper angle and take a fraction of the time compared to making a 90-degree elbow.

Most contractors agree that using flexible PEX with bend supports can eliminate most fittings in smaller-diameter pipe sizes 1″ and down, saving up to half the install time of a rigid piping system.

Expansion tools

When it comes time to make a connection with PEX pipe, the professionals’ choice is PEX expansion. Note that expansion connections are only designed for PEX-a pipe. If you’re using PEX-b or PEX-c pipe, you’ll need to use a different fitting type as PEX-b and PEX-c pipes aren’t made to expand like PEX-a pipe, and they will experience microcracking during expansion.

Expansion connections require one simple tool that expands the pipe and an expansion ring before inserting a fitting. As the pipe and ring shrink back down around the fitting, it creates a solid, strong seal that can withstand up to 1,000 pounds of radial force. It’s quick and easy to do and simple to learn, so it’s highly beneficial with the skilled-labor shortage that’s challenging the trades. Here’s a quick, 20-second video on how to make a connection.

Now, to make installs even faster, expansion tools have advanced to make connections even quicker. For up to 1″ connections, the Milwaukee^® M12 FUEL™ ProPEX^® Expander with RAPID SEAL™ Heads is the fastest tool yet — with up to 65% faster sealing times compared to previous models.

For larger-diameter pipe connections, the new Milwaukee M18 FUEL™ ProPEX Expander with ONE-KEY™ is taking commercial installs to a new level by offering 3X faster 2″ connections. To watch how much faster, check out this video from Milwaukee Tool.

Prefab

Finally, let’s talk about prefabrication. This is becoming a big trend for national residential builders or large commercial projects that have a lot of repeatability on the project. By prefabbing certain sections of a project, it can shave days, weeks, or even months off a timeline, depending on how big the project.

Prefabricating piping assemblies in a controlled factory environment not only adds more efficiencies, it also provides an additional benefit of greater accuracy. By doing a job repeatedly, it hones the skill and gives installers greater confidence in their work.

Plus, having rows and rows of prefabbed piping assemblies in a shop environment makes it a lot easier to perform quality checks. Instead of walking for miles on a job site, a supervisor can save significant time simply walking a shop floor.

And here’s another area where flexible, durable PEX provides additional benefits. Transporting prefabbed PEX piping assemblies is much easier than transporting rigid assemblies that can crack or break. Because PEX is super flexible, it can withstand the rigors of being transported to a job site without worry.

So, there you have it…just a few ideas to keep in mind the next time you have a project with a tight deadline, and you’re squeezed on time and skilled labor. Every little bit helps when it comes to adding productivity to projects. If you have other ideas, I’d love to hear them. Feel free to email me at kim.bliss@uponor.com.

Kim Bliss is the technical and marketing content manager at Uponor. She can be reached at kim.bliss@uponor.com.

Technology, and the advancement of technology, affect the mechanical industry in a pretty substantial way. Machines become more efficient, humans need to put less time into supervising machine lead tasks, and automation is getting better all of the time. 

So, how will the field of mechanics and mechanical materials be further changed (for better or worse) going forward into the future? Although Gary Coleman has said “the fourth industrial revolution is in its nascent state,” there has already been a fair amount of change in the industry. Some think change can be hazardous, while others say it’s necessary.

Internet Of Things

IOI has changed the way people live their lives, but it also has implications for the mechanical industry. Imagine controlling machines via your smartphone. Products will be able to communicate with their manufacturer like never before. Software-driven controls are becoming more advanced all of the time, leading to mechanical engineers and other operators having to constantly update their supplier base in a rush to access the latest software. 

The internet of things gives those in the industry a higher degree of productivity. Machines are now having a higher degree of autonomy over various controls than ever before, leaving mechanics and operatories more time to allot to other areas of work. While some think this isn’t necessarily good and could end up costing them their jobs, others believe it’s great because they’re not spread as thin, and there are fewer chances for accidents to occur.

3D Printing

3D printing was spoken about for years before it became properly commercially viable. But as soon as it did, it blew up. 3D printing makes product and material creation extremely easy and immediate (no more waiting for shipping). The upsurge in 3D printing has brought about many firms offering a 3D printing service for other businesses and end-users. Some purely print products are then customized and sold, whereas others print bespoke components for broader usage across the mechanical and manufacturing sector. 

There are mechanical engineers out there who have managed to create amazing things in 3D printers. Think about prosthetic limbs or walking aids. These were usually pretty complex to create, but 3D printing has allowed their application across the world in poorer countries.

Nanotech

Nanotech, or nanotechnology, has been touted by many as the future. Its usage covers a wide range, and many people can be forgiven for thinking about science fiction when first coming across the term. In reality, it simply involves the study of materials and structures which are between 1 nanometer and 100 nanometers. It’s supremely useful in the scientific field, where it was originally developed. However, nanotech has vast implications for the mechanical industry.

Pinpoint measurements, fluid mechanics and enhanced robotic controls are but a few potential applications for nanotech. While the study into nanotechnology is still at the outset, it’s clear that it could completely revolutionize multiple industries and open up a whole new way of looking at mechanical engineering.

Machine Learning (and A.I)

It’s another term that could walk straight out of a science fiction novel. AI is basically a machine or program trying to simulate human behavior. It’s getting better all of the time. Machines are becoming more accurate, and able to make human-like decisions (or better than human decisions). Just look at driverless cars as an example. Tesla’s learn as they’re driven. There are still accidents from time to time and many countries are hesitant to adopt driverless as a full feature, but it’s clear that in the not-so-distant future, cars will be driverless. 

This applies to mechanical machinery too. Better production outcomes and timetables, robotic designs becoming believable and realistic,  virtual reality being far more believable, and much more. With AI in charge, it’s believed that the production of material and anything from an industry standpoint can become far more efficient. 

Solar Everything

The sun touches a lot of manmade material, so it makes sense to have it double as solar panels to generate clean energy. Instead of attaching solar panels to certain materials, material itself will be a solar panel. Take for example a window. It gets a lot of sun. Imagine if it could harness the energy from the sun and redistribute it as energy while still functioning as a transparent window. Look at roads. Imagine if they were made out of solar panels. Panels that can hold the weight of cars but still manage to collect and distribute energy. 

With constant pivots towards green energy, it’s extremely likely that more materials will be built and geared towards the harnessing of natural energy.