Advantages & Disadvantages of Soft-Seal Gate Valve

Overview of Soft-Seal Gate Valve

Soft seal gate valve, also known as elastic seat seal gate valve, is a manual valve used in water conservancy projects to connect pipeline media and switches. The structure of the soft seal gate valve is composed of valve seat, valve cover, gate plate, gland, valve stem, hand wheel, sealing gasket, and hexagon socket bolts. The inside and outside of the valve flow channel are sprayed with electrostatic powder. After being baked in a high-temperature furnace, the smoothness of the entire flow channel opening and the wedge-shaped groove opening inside the gate valve is ensured, and the appearance also gives people a sense of color. Soft-sealed gate valves are usually used in blue-blue highlights when used in general water conservancy, and red-red highlights are used when used in fire-fighting pipelines. And it is deeply loved by users. It can even be said that the soft seal gate valve is a valve made for water conservancy.

Types and Applications of Soft-Sealed Gate Valves:

As a common manual switch valve on pipelines, soft-sealing gate valves are mainly used in water plants, sewage pipelines, municipal drainage projects, fire protection pipeline projects, and industrial pipelines for slightly non-corrosive liquids and gases. And can be customized according to the on-site use conditions, such as rising stem soft sealing gate valve, non-rising soft sealing gate valve, extended stem soft sealing gate valve, buried soft sealing gate valve, electric soft sealing gate valve, pneumatic soft sealing gate valve, etc.

What are the advantages of soft-seal gate valves?

1. The advantages of soft-sealing gate valves must first be considered in terms of cost. Generally, most of the soft-sealing gate valve series are made of ductile iron QT450. The cost of this valve body will be much more affordable than the cost of cast steel and stainless steel. Compared with engineering bulk procurement, this is quite affordable, and the quality is guaranteed.

2. Next, in terms of the performance characteristics of the soft-sealing gate valve, the gate plate of the soft-sealing gate valve is lined with elastic rubber, and the interior adopts a wedge structure. The top hand wheel mechanism is optionally used to lower the screw rod to drive the elastic gate downward, sealing it with the internal wedge groove. Because the elastic rubber gate can be stretched and extruded, a good sealing effect is achieved. Therefore, the sealing effect of soft seal gate valves in water conservancy and some non-corrosive media is obvious.

3. Thirdly, regarding the later maintenance of the soft-sealing gate valve, the structure design of the soft-sealing gate valve is simple and clear, and it is easy to disassemble and install. When the valve is used for a long time, the elastic gate plate inside the gate valve will be opened and closed frequently, and the rubber will lose its elasticity over time, resulting in loose closing and leakage of the valve. At this time, the advantages of the structural design of the soft-sealed gate valve are reflected. The maintenance personnel can directly disassemble and replace the gate plate without dismantling the entire valve. This saves time and effort and saves manpower and material resources on site.

What are the disadvantages of soft-seal gate valves?

1. When discussing the drawbacks of soft-sealed gate valves, let’s adopt an objective perspective. The key feature of these valves lies in their flexible sealing mechanism, where the elastic gate plate can extend and retract to automatically fill gaps. For non-corrosive gases and liquids, soft-sealed gate valves demonstrate excellent sealing and airtightness performance.

2. Of course, nothing is perfect. Since there are advantages, there are also disadvantages. The disadvantage of the soft seal gate valve is that the elastic rubber gate cannot be used continuously when the temperature exceeds 80°C or contains hard particles and is corrosive. Otherwise, the elastic rubber gate will be deformed, damaged, and corroded, resulting in pipeline leakage. Therefore, soft seal gate valves are only suitable for use in non-corrosive, particle-free, and non-abrasive media.

Conclusion:

Welcome everyone to inquire about all kinds of TWS’s products. Our gate valves have gained wide market recognition for their excellent performance, while our butterfly valves and check valves are also highly praised by customers for their outstanding quality. We look forward to providing you with professional product consultation and services!