In the current economic times it can be difficult to convince a client that it is necessary to remove a working valve just to change out the pneumatic actuator controlling it.\u00a0 Re-piping and draining the system alone means down time and extra labor that probably isn\u2019t in the budget.\u00a0 The obvious solution is to leave that valve there and upgrade the actuator.<\/p>\n
There are companies out there, like Belimo, which have an entire section of business dedicated to retrofitting other company\u2019s old valves though there are limitations to this. They mainly focus on the most common valve lines for the major valve manufactures.<\/p>\n
Here at Kele we work daily with many of the manufactures that have been making valves that are still working away after 30 years of service.\u00a0 All it takes is a valve body model number and we can do the rest.\u00a0Though sometimes the valves are just too old and the designs have changed so much that there is no way to mount a modern actuator on it; more often than not we can offer an option.<\/p>\n
If you have a situation where you want to try to retrofit but don\u2019t know where to begin, start by getting as much info from the parts on sight as possible.\u00a0 First is the valve number, which is hopefully on the tag that no one has torn off in thirty years.\u00a0 If there is no tag (very common) write down all of the markings on the body itself and if possible take a picture.\u00a0 While you at it take down all of the info off of the actuator as well.<\/p>\n
It is important to note that it is never possible to choose a new actuator for a valve based on the old actuator number when going from pneumatic to electronic.\u00a0 This can only be done with the valve number.\u00a0 The info on the actuator is helpful however, and can give up clues to things like normally open or normally closed.\u00a0 Plus if an old valve with no tag has an old Barber Colman actuator on it that will at least point us in the right direction.<\/p>\n
As you can probably tell, this really isn\u2019t an exact science but it is a viable option.\u00a0 We are always happy to try, especially if it means saving you time and money.\u00a0 So, next time you are staring at an ancient valve and don\u2019t know where to start, give us a call.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
In the current economic times it can be difficult to convince a client that it is necessary to remove a working valve just to change out the pneumatic actuator controlling it.\u00a0 Re-piping and draining the system alone means down time and extra labor that probably isn\u2019t in the budget.\u00a0 The obvious solution is to leave […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7,12,13],"tags":[24,40],"class_list":["post-176","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-kele-makes-it-easy","category-technical-reference","category-technically-speaking","tag-actuators-dampers","tag-control-valves"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\r\n