Stainless Steel Sanitary Valves: Why Do Sanitary Valves Need To Be...Sanitary?

Chemseal manufactures and distributes a massive array of integral solutions, including products like fitting, valves, tubing, and pumps. Many of the products that Chemseal makes are also sanitary, such as our sanitary ball valves or sanitary butterfly valves. How can a piece of metal be sanitary, and why does it need to be that way? As it turns out, a lot of different industries require sanitary parts to help facilitate the flow of many liquids and fluids.

When people think of metals, they don’t typically think of metal as a sanitary material. Though stainless steel is extremely resistant to rust or oxidation, it is not fully stain-proof in low oxygen, high salinity, or poor air circulation environments. It is crucial, then, that stainless steel pipe fittings, valves, and other kinds of metal fittings for proper liquid flow are sanitary. In this blog, Chemseal explores this matter a little more deeply to give you a better idea of why sanitary processes are so crucial to our company.

INDUSTRY APPLICATIONS

Typically, sanitary valves like our sanitary ball valve or sanitary butterfly valve are designed for use in applications requiring clean or sterile processing. Industries that typically require sterile or clean processing include the dairy, food, pharmaceutical, medical, and chemical industries. Thus, Chemseal sanitary valves are commonly used in these industries to ensure the highest possible levels of sanitation.

Common features of sanitary valves for these industries include easy and crevice-free cleaning and polished contact surfaces, which makes the valves easy to inspect and clean.

VARIOUS TYPES

Generally, valve types include plug, ball, butterfly, needle, knife or gate, pinch, diaphragm and globe valves. Butterfly sanitary valves are quick opening valves that consist of a metal circular disc or vane. It pivots at right angles to the direction of flow in the pipe, such that, when rotated on a shaft, seals against the seats in the valve body. Butterfly valves are typically used as throttling valves to control flow. Ball valves are known for providing tight shut-off and characteristic control - ideal for brewing beer or other highly pressurized applications. Ball valves have a high rangeability due to the design of the regulating element, without the complications of side loads typical of butterfly or globe valves.

BENEFITS

Regardless of the industry that a sanitary valve is used in, the advantages are clear. When your business or vertical needs a product that is formed authentic and pure, you can count on the benefits of the sanitary ball valve, sanitary butterfly valve, or many other fine sanitary valves:

• Sanitary valves are crevice-free: this is especially important for the food and medical industry because crevices are associated with higher levels of germ contamination. Of course, if you go out to a restaurant or get surgery, you’d want everything to be as clean as possible, so you don’t get sick or hurt. Therefore, with no crevices in the sanitary valve, you’ll have no hygiene problems.
• Sanitary valves are easy to clean: the health and hygiene of the food and dairy industries are especially important. Because these industries are already so busy with things like regulating the flow of the product, ensuring the right amounts of product, and maintaining a consistent temperature, it is crucial that cleaning work is not too cumbersome. Since sanitary valves are not stained easily, they are easy to clean.
• Sanitary valves have smooth and polished surfaces: with a smooth and polished surface, a sanitary valve will not undergo the process of rust or corrosion. Preventing rust and corrosion is often a costly process for many businesses. Many businesses in the food, dairy or pharmaceutical industries save money by using polished stainless steel sanitary valves.

MECHANICS STILL MATTER

Though modern technology has vastly advanced many different aspects of the workforce, there are still many industries that count on reliable, sanitary mechanical fitting products, like the sanitary ball or butterfly valves from Chemseal. If any parts break or become contaminated, this will disrupt the integrity of the entire system that the sanitary valve is a part of, which costs businesses time and money.

Even if the machines that these sanitary valves support are automated through computers, a computer cannot physically support the sanitary and mechanical aspects of a machine, and that’s where sanitary valves and related products from Chemseal truly shine.

May 16th 2017 Chemseal