I broke my check valve on sunday when I was cleaning my tank, so in a hurry, I went up to petsmart and bought two plastic ones they had. I guess the pressure was too much and one of them split and sprayed water all over my corallife light timer and shorted it out.:icon_sad:
I returned both check valves and they gave me a new timer.:smile: But now I need to know where to find good check valves.
I have no idea. It would depend on what kind of LFSs you have locally.
Have you emailed GLA to see when they'll be getting more in stock?
You wouldn't think this would be a difficult item to find, but I did a search on it, and all I could find were either the cheap plastic ones, a brass one from Rex Grigg (but I hear he's MIA and not shipping stuff), and some other one that's running $35.
Maybe put up a post in the WTB section? Someone might have one sitting around they wouldn't mind parting with.
There may be other CO2 parts sellers that have them as well. I've used the Clippard inline check valves for years and I've never had a problem with them.
Yes we are talking about co2 check valves. On my cerges reactor I have one at the reactor (the one that broke) and one between bubble counter and needle valve.
On the mcmaster valves which part number are you using?
Why is that crazy? It's good to spend a few extra dollars on a good quality product. I've used dennerle valves on a couple systems and now prefer those to the others.
The medical grade ones are not good, I had one for three months and it started to let water past it. I was not happy with those and they are expensive. I just want metal ones they will not crack.
Nilocg are the ones you have metal? Btw thanks for the ferts my tank is exploding with new growth.
Generally medical grade components and equipment are superior to consumer grade parts. If there was a check valve that was spec'd for CO2 delivery, I would bet its reliability would be significantly better than standard aquarium or industrial stuff. Safety of life has its price.
I've used at least half a dozen of the silvery valves with the arrow ...and they've all failed. I had what I thought was a nice clippard check valve with 10-32 ports ...and that failed after a few months.
I have yet to try some valves from USPlastics that I was looking at - they're PVC with a SS spring and poppet, and only $2 apiece.
I finally decided to go with the 1/3 psi Swagelok valves, both the type with compression fittings and the type with NPT threads. I bought some extras, so I'll probably offer them in the SnS at some point. So far so good, and I've heard only good things - same thing with the Parkers. So I'm optimistic, but no promises.
I've had the same experience with Clippards and the silver ones so I started using plastic valves. I get as much mileage out of them and they're cheaper to replace.
Kevmo911 what did you pay for the swagelok valves? I talked to the people at gla and they said they would have some more on Tuesday so I think I might try theirs
How do you know whether a check valve fails? Does it just leak water? If so, how does water even get in there? I use the little silver one with the arrow but always thought it was just a "in case" type of thing...didn't know that water always backs up in there?
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