Industrial Fluid Systems Blog

Take the Pressure off with Swagelok Valves, Gauges and Manifolds

Depressurizing the right way increases safety, reduces downtime and lowers costs


Pressure Valves (Depressurization Valves Blog)

Swagelok offers a wide range of components to safely and correctly depressurize your fluid systems. 

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Do you follow safe depressurization practices?

When it's time to depressurize your fluid system, what's your standard procedure? Too many people do it incorrectly by cracking a nut or a plug to relieve the pressure. That's a very unsafe practice because you don't know if the parts have been installed properly or not. There is a potential for a blow out and/or injury. 

Even if no one gets hurt, you might be relieving pressure in a way that can reduce the lifespan of the systems.

It all adds up to unnecessary downtime, unnecessary costs, and lost working hours.

Why take that risk when we have Swagelok products designed to make the procedure safe? Our CRN certified systems and parts are designed to relieve pressure safely and correctly.

Bleed valves and purge valves

Swagelok bleed valves can be used on instrumentation devices such as multivalve manifolds or gauge valves to vent signal line pressure to atmosphere before removal of an instrument or to assist in calibration of control devices. They can handle working pressures up to 10,000 psig (689 bar), and temperatures up to 454°C (850°F). These valves come with a back stop screw to prevent accidental system disassembly, and chrome-plated stem threads and tips to enhance valve life.

Our purge valves are manual bleed, vent, or drain valves. A knurled cap is permanently assembled to the valve body for safety. One-quarter turn with a wrench from finger-tight obtains leak-tight closure on first makeup. Snugging with a wrench ensures closure to the rated pressure with subsequent makeups. They can handle working pressures up to 4,000 psig (275 bar) and temperatures of up to 315°C (600°F).

Compact gauge valves

Swagelok compact gauge valves provide fast, convenient installation and gauge maintenance in a lightweight package and smaller footprint than conventional assemblies. Designed for use with Swagelok pressure gauges with tube-adapter end connections, the compact gauge valve enables easy dial alignment and reduces gauge installation time and cost. 

The tube fitting end connections reduce valve installation time and cost and provide robust tube grip and vibration resistance. An integral purge valve eliminates a threaded connection, reducing potential leak points. The purge cap is crimped permanently to the valve body for operator safety and to prevent accidental disassembly.

Instrument manifolds

Swagelok offers instrument manifolds in 2-, 3-, and 5-valve configurations. The 2-valve manifolds are designed for static pressure and liquid level applications; the 3- and 5-valve manifolds are designed for differential pressure applications.

Flow is controlled by a series of stainless steel needle valves. Each valve has a specific function: to block pressure, to bleed off pressure, or to equalize pressure—depending on its location on the manifold. We offer a large-bonnet needle valve for manifold orifices of 4.0 mm and a small-bonnet needle valve for manifold orifices of 3.2 mm.

Metal-to-metal seals eliminate the need for O-ring seals.

Venting ball valves

Swagelok's 40 Series and 60 Series ball valves come with external venting options. The vent port evacuates trapped pressure from the system directly to atmosphere when the valve is closed. The ball contains a vent passage isolated from the ball orifice to prevent continuous leakage from the body vent port when the valve is open.

With 2-way, straight pattern valves, when the valve is closed, the downstream port vents to atmosphere through a vent hole in the side of the valve body.  With 2-way, angle-pattern and 3-way valves, when the valve is closed, the bottom port vents to atmosphere through a vent hole in the side of the valve body. 

Which components or combination would be best for your system? We're here to help you decide. Getting started is easy: Call us at 780-437-0640 or send a note online through our contact page.

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