Full Bore vs. Reduced Bore Ball valve

Hi Metla.ani

From my experience of selling them, it is cost, as they are usually cheaper to buy but it is important to check if the reduced bore valve will pass enough flow for the application.

Best regards,

John

Also, if the line will be pigged, full-bore valves are required.

A couple of places we had to use them - 1. In a service such as coatings or paint processing where, if the lines were drained and a valve was left open, the paint or coating could dry on the ball and that valve will never close again (similar problem that was mentioned above), and; 2. In dense phase solid transport where the exposed ball with get eroded severely by the entrained solids. In both cases we will normally specify full cavity fillers around the ball. Those fillers lead to another issue that needs to be overcome - larger required operating torque on the valve.

Many a times it depends upon the extent of shutoff required. Reduced bore ball valves provide more tight shut-off than full bore ball valves(useful in flammable atmospheres). This is particularly suitable for multiple port ball valves.