Honey gate valve

[luckyclover]

Hi all,

I have had enough of the standard honey bucket gate valves (they leak all around the opening when using) and would like to put a lever style metal one in for next year.

Would any type of gate valve made with stainless steel grade 304 be acceptable? Anybody already done this?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Hi all,

I have had enough of the standard honey bucket gate valves they leak all around the opening when using

I don't see why some sort of tap wouldn't work but it would have to be fairly wide bore or the flow would be very slow....very time consuming and lots of air in the jar

I thought I was the only one that experienced this. Bloody nuisance when you are filling jars on your own!
I need something to hold the honey bucket at an angle to get the dregs before it gets to the frothy head as well...... Victor Meldrew has a kiddies chair that seems to work. I might try to design something along those lines.....Must add this to husbands winter jobs

I shall keep an eye on the answers. Thanks for asking the question, luckyclover

 

[user 6228]

I'm suprised honey receptacles are not made with a hopper/funnel exit to the valve. I would have thought a 3/4 BSP stainless ball valve would have worked.
That would trap honey inside the valve when closed, but it still comes out eventually. Has anyone tried that?

 

[Cazza]

I need something to hold the honey bucket at an angle to get the dregs before it gets to the frothy head as well...... Victor Meldrew has a kiddies chair that seems to work. I might try to design something along those lines.....Must add this to husbands winter jobs

When you've designed it,let me know!

(P.s You can remove most of the frothy scum with cling film before you start jarring up.)
Cazza

 

[will]

I don't see why some sort of tap wouldn't work but it would have to be fairly wide bore or the flow would be very slow....very time consuming and lots of air in the jar

I thought I was the only one that experienced this. Bloody nuisance when you are filling jars on your own!
I need something to hold the honey bucket at an angle to get the dregs before it gets to the frothy head as well...... Victor Meldrew has a kiddies chair that seems to work. I might try to design something along those lines.....Must add this to husbands winter jobs

I shall keep an eye on the answers. Thanks for asking the question, luckyclover

put cling film on froth remove film and froth together

 

[beeno]

Hi luckyclover,
Thanks for asking the question. Same problem here with an all plastic one. Saw one demonstrated somewhere and it was metal and seemed to work OK. Looking forward to the answer!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

I'm suprised honey receptacles are not made with a hopper/funnel exit to the valve. I would have thought a 3/4 BSP stainless ball valve would have worked.
That would trap honey inside the valve when closed, but it still comes out eventually. Has anyone tried that?

Maybe a butterfly valve would have less trapped space and be easier to clean?

 

[itma]

Actually, I find the 'honey gate' valves work rather well.

I think its important to balance the tightness of the two nuts (and they really don't need to be particularly tight for operations like jarring) to get the rubber O-rings in the valve to work very nicely. (I do make sure the nuts are tight before transport!)

One of the points when considering other valves (and particularly spouts) is getting a sharp cut-off with minimal (ideally zero) drips after the valve is closed.

 

[Erichalfbee]

put cling film on froth remove film and froth together

Did that...... but don't like to remove too much honey which is what usually happens. Perhaps I'm doing something wrong.

Re the honey gates.......I have only the plastic ones. Perhaps the metal ones work better.

 

[REDWOOD]

I really don't think there is a better way of filling a jar via the gate valve, crude design and takes a bit of time to get the adjustment right, I have tried SS ball valves but drip honey in between changing jars and before long there is honey everywhere
I have thought of designing a spring loaded tapered cone valve , something like a fuel injector but with a handle/lever, this is the only way fluid can be shut off without a dribble

 

[richardbees]

(they leak all around the opening when using

Lucky,
I had the same problem and complained to the suppliers as I sheared-off the thumb screw trying to tighten it.

they pointed out (in the nicest possible way) that care must be taken in seating the hex headed plastic 'bolt' on the left side when attaching the 'gate'. If it's slightly incorrect it's impossible to tighten the 'thumbscrew' on the right side tightly enough to make a seal.

If you look at the L.H. plastic bolt you'll see what I mean......



richard

 

[Tom Bick]

I need something to hold the honey bucket at an angle to get the dregs before it gets to the frothy head as well...... Victor Meldrew has a kiddies chair that seems to work. I might try to design something along those lines.....Must add this to husbands winter jobs

I shall keep an eye on the answers. Thanks for asking the question, luckyclover

Check out thornes they make something it's simply a few pieces of ply

 

[Hachi]

You want to get Freefall's opinion on gate valves he knows all about them....

 

[Erichalfbee]

Ha ha Forty quid for a board for the tank to slip off.
I shall work refining VM's idea.

 

[enrico]

I found the secret of the plastic valve is to only loosen the screws enough for the valve to just open, when you start to slide it open apply a bit of back pressure to stop the honey moving up and then only quarter to half open the valve so that the honey runs out of the bottom and not the sides. It is a bit slower to fill a jar but I get no mess except for the odd dribble. I leave an empty jar underneath to catch any drops. To stop the froth coming out I tip the tank on the side of a table and rest the side of the tank against the top of my head! The lower down the tank I get the slower I pour the honey. All the froth goes in the last jar or maybe two if there is loads. I let that settle for a day and those are the first two jars I use.
Just in case anyone is interested!
E

 

[luckyclover]

Thanks for the replies everyone.

The problem really is when using the valve to fill jars no matter how well tightened the screws are the action of sliding it up to let honey out eventually moves honey around the opening. After enough jars it gets messy and although backward pressure helps as Enrico pointed out it is fiddly and slow when you have an eye on the valve, one on the jar and another on the scales!

Only opening the valve a quarter would be really slow?

I found a metal version
http://youtu.be/Ko0PJB9dXz4

The guy filling the honey is quite messy though (imo)
The valve is $180 (not what I am looking to spend!)

 

[victor meldrew]

Ha ha Forty quid for a board for the tank to slip off.
I shall work refining VM's idea.

Not much left to re design
VM


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[Erichalfbee]

A way of holding the tipped chair securely without using husband.
Ahhhh said husband says to put hinges on front legs where they join the work top. He was looking over my shoulder.

 

[victor meldrew]

No problem, the requirement to tip the chair is only when contents of settling tank is run off to a few inches above top of valve (the whole thing now much, much lighter )A piece of wood under the legs furthest from the front of the tank tips the chair forwards , Bobs your uncle .even if you tip it a little too far, there's not enough weight in there to cause a problem,kiss!

VM


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[victor meldrew]

There is one mod I forgot to mention !
The chair appears to float on the work top!
This because there is a nickel plated drawing pin pushed into each leg . Helps prevent the chair adhering to the work top ie reduced contact area
VM


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