Is a carbon steel needle valve okay?

[mogur]

Search did not turn up anything for me on this site in reference to carbon steel. Cheapo Anderson 1/4" brass needle valves suck. The cheapest stainless steel valve is well over 50 bucks.

But, a carbon steel needle valve goes for $13 or so. Would it rust in reality? Would that clear out in the foreshots? If not, could copper electroplating the valve with some pre-1981 pennies work?

[whiskeytripping]

I guess the real question is , what's your health worth to you?, either pony up,and get stainless trim with Teflon seat or stainless needle and seat, or at the least a brass needle valve pickeled, don't go with carbon steel, read some more before going any further, hopefully everything else is the right way, safety is of upmost priority.

[heartcut]

What WT said. If you look at what you save and what you gain with this hobby, a ss valve isn't very much. Your body will thank you years from now.

[rad14701]

Carbon steel is definitely not a viable option as exposure to alcohol or water will cause rust...

[mogur]

I take that as a big fat no, grin. As a safety issue, I'ld rather have rust in my drink than lead from even pickeled brass. But, I'll heed your experienced advice and just wait a little longer to save up for SS.

Thank you all for your input.

[rad14701]

Watts brand brass needle valves, available at Lowe's, are lead free... Most others available today are also lead free...

[mogur]

Thanks, Rad, I've spent hundreds of hours on the internet researching designs and sourcing parts, but few retailers provide more than just the type and size of an item. It's hard to make wise choices where hot ethanol vapor can leach toxins and destroy most synthetics. Of course, the high end stuff comes with full specs, but it's usually difficult to pin down the composition of the reasonably priced gear. Thanks for that tip, I could have swore I looked at Lowe's a dozen times and didn't see those valves. I'll give Watts low lead valves a closer look.

[astronomical]

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Whitey-Swagelok ... 1e6fa9ab11" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Swagelok-SS-Int ... 5d342d9b13" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I'd go with the angled one since its new...

[mogur]

Damn, astronomical, I feel like I just crawled out of the rabbit hole. I saw your post the first thing when I woke up this morning, clicked on your first link, and thought 'that's the ticket', and when I clicked on your second link, I thought 'no, that's the one' and almost bought it immediately. But, I thought it would be wise to look up the specs on these valves on the Swagelok site. I was surprised to find out that the usual PTFE packing in SS valves was actually PFA in these valves. Looking up PFA, I found out it is perfluoroalkoxy (fluorocarbon resin molding and extrusion material). However, the standard specification (ASTM D3307 - 10) costs $40 to buy. I was relieved at my next internet stop to find out that PFA was included in the PTFE category of plastics, but noticed something a little further down the list, called 'asbestos packing with PTFE', where they claimed that- "It can be utilized in paper mills, dyeing plants, foodstuff, pharmaceutical and oenologis industrial". Asbestos and foodstuff? Really? What is this site? Then I noticed it was a Chinese site and after all, they seem fine with melamine in their milk, mercury in their baby food, and chromium in their gelatin capsules, so what's the harm with a little asbestos in their valves? (<<Cheapshot alert>> couldn't help myself) http://www.chinaptfe.com/dongfeng/goods ... +PTFE.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

Well, I quickly found out that PFA is actually just as safe as PTFE (as far as we know), but I'm certainly awake now... thank you for that roller coaster ride I just took... wink, wink, nudge, nudge. Think I'll have some coffee now and squeeze some toothpaste up my nose.