Brasscraft Excess Flow Valve

[Chefwong]

For those familiar, are those Brasscraft Excess Flow Valves OKAY to use or more troublesome installed ?

I've got a bunch sitting in my stash from previous installs and they were included with it.
I'm redoing a small section of gas lines in the mechanicals room and was just curious about these in real world usage...

 

[hj]

I don't know why you would need them, if you are using a metal supply line. At one time there were a bunch of supply lines that would break off spontaneously, and they WOULD have benefited from a device like that, but that was 30 years ago. I also wonder why they "reduce the flow to a 'safe' level" instead of just shutting it off completely.

 

[Sponsor]

 

[Chefwong]

Indeed. Aside from the HW....since I got the plumbing tools out, I wanted to tweak the laundry room a bit.

Those *devices* are just sitting in my box of plumbing parts.....was just curious whether it was worth it to put it in-line or not. Gas is gas, so IMO it should either be on or off, not rate limited...

 

[hj]

I guess if the gas line breaks, they want enough gas coming through so you can roast hot dogs and marshmallows in the flame, until the gas utility and fire department get there.

 

[Jadnashua]

A gas-fired device typically runs the supply through an internal shutoff valve and then to jets or a burner. Each of those usually adds some flow resistance. It was my understanding the external safety valve could detect the difference between what is essentially a 'normal' device, and an open, unrestricted path, and would then shut off the flow. http://www.brasscraft.com/PDF/325.04_Safety-PLUS_Install.pdf It must be sized for the expected gas consumption of the device. No idea how well they work long-term, never used one.