Gate Valves

What is a gate valve?

Gate Valves are one of the most commonly used valves worldwide. They are used above and below ground across multiple applications including oil and gas industry, pharmaceuticals, manufacturing, automotive, and marine.

Gate Valves act as isolation valves to a system by either allowing or preventing flow through manually turning the head. In this way, Gate valves are designed to be either fully open or fully closed and should not be used as control or regulating valves.

Why Choose a Gate Valve

Gate Valves are very dynamic and can be used across a wide number of applications, including water supply, gas supply, wastewater treatment and fire protection. They are particularly applicable in high pressure, high-temperature environments. For example, Flowflex Gate Valves can operate between -10°C and 120°C, under 16 - 20 bar of pressure, depending on the product and application.

Gate valves are often used when minimum pressure loss and a free bore is needed as when fully open, a Gate Valve is designed to give no obstruction. Furthermore, Gate Valves mitigate the effects of Water Hammer as its threaded operation means it opens and closes slowly.

What Types of Gate Valve are there?

There are three main variations on the main design of a Gate Valve. Parallel or Wedge Shaped Discs, Metal or Resilient Seated and Rising and Non-Rising Stems.

Parallel and Wedge-Shaped Gates

Parallel and Wedge-Shaped Gates use a variation on the disc inside the Gate Valve. A Parallel Gate Valves uses a flat disc between two parallel seats and the Wedge-Shaped Gate Valve uses an inclined disc which resembles a wedge.

Metal Seated vs and Resilient Seated

Metal Seated Gate Valves use a depression in the base of the Gate Valve in which the disc will sit when fully closed. A Resilient Seated Gate Valve has a plain valve bottom allowing free passage for the fluid and any suspended matter.

Rising Stems vs Non-Rising Stems

Rising stems are fixed to the disc and so move with the disc when the valve is operated. Non-rising stems are threaded into the disc, and the rotation of the Valve handle will only move the disc. In this way, Non-Rising Stems are more useful where access or space may be an issue.

Where Can I Get Gate Valves?

Flowflex offers several Gate Valves; Brass Gate Valves, Bronze Gate Valves as well as some Lockshield variations. You can see our full range here.

Alternatively you can always contact us for any enquiry or other questions you may have.