How To Choose A Ball Valve
Publish Time: 2025-05-13 Origin: Site
When it comes to fluid control solutions, choosing the right ball valve is critical to the safety, efficiency, and performance of your system. At FLOWX, we specialize in manufacturing high-performance ball valves designed for a wide range of industries — from water treatment and HVAC to oil & gas, chemical processing, and beyond.
Here’s a step-by-step guide to help you select the right FLOWX ball valve for your application:
1. Understand Your Application Requirements
Before selecting a ball valve, you need to understand the following:
Medium: What fluid or gas will flow through the valve? (e.g., water, steam, acid, gas)
Temperature & Pressure: What is the operating pressure and temperature range?
Flow Control: Do you need on/off control or flow modulation?
Automation: Will the valve be operated manually, pneumatically, or electrically?
FLOWX offers manual, pneumatic, and electric actuated ball valves — including explosion-proof and remote control options.
2. Choose the Valve Body Material
FLOWX ball valves are available in a variety of materials to suit different environments:
Stainless Steel: Corrosion-resistant, ideal for aggressive chemicals and high-pressure systems.
Carbon Steel: Suitable for high-pressure, non-corrosive applications.
PVC/Plastic: Lightweight, cost-effective, ideal for low-pressure systems and water treatment.
Brass: Great for water, air, and non-corrosive fluids in general use.
Tip: Always match the valve material to the media and environment.
3. Select the Valve Type
FLOWX offers various ball valve designs:
FLANGE BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. The valve body casting uses silica sol, high platform, the valve body appearance is smooth and beautiful, the surface is uniform, and there are no casting defects such as burrs, sand sticking, cracks, and flesh.
2. The ball is processed with high precision, it is a solid ball, the surface is smooth and round, without burrs, and it is not easy to leave residue after passing the material, causing pollution. The high platform valve body does not need to make a bracket.
3. The valve will not be unable to open and close completely due to the torque error of the valve.
THREE-PIECE CLAMP BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. The clamp ball valve adopts high-quality sealing materials, and achieves good sealing effect through the close fit between the ball and the valve seat, effectively preventing medium leakage.
2. The material of the clamp ball valve has good pressure resistance and corrosion resistance, which can meet the use requirements in various harsh environments.
SCREW BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Small fluid resistance, its resistance coefficient is equal to that of the pipe section of the same length
2. Simple structure, small size and light weight
3. Tight and reliable, the sealing surface material of the ball valve is widely made of plastic, with good sealing performance, and has been widely used in vacuum systems
4. Easy to operate, fast opening and closing, only need to rotate 90° from full open to full closed, which is convenient for remote control
5. Easy maintenance, the ball valve has a simple structure, the sealing ring is generally movable, and it is relatively convenient to disassemble and replace
THREE-PIECE WELDED BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Strong adaptability, no leakage within the scope of use.
2. The material is the same as the pipe material, and there will be no uneven stress.
3. The valve body is light and easy to insulate.
4. No maintenance, adjustment and lubrication are required, easy to install, and long-term reliable operation at low operating costs.
5. The valve cavity has a full-diameter structure with low fluid resistance.
THREE-WAY FLANGE BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. The three-way ball valve adopts an integrated structure, a sealing type of four-sided valve seat, fewer flange connections, high reliability, and a lightweight design.
2. The three-way ball valve is divided into T-type and L-type, with long service life, large flow capacity, and low resistance.
3. The three-way ball valve is divided into two flow modes according to the flow direction: L-type and T-type. The T-type can connect three orthogonal pipelines and cut off the third channel to play a diversion and confluence role. The L-type can only connect two mutually orthogonal pipelines, and cannot keep the third pipeline interconnected at the same time, and only plays a distribution role.
PLASTIC UNION BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Strong corrosion resistance
2. Not easy to grow bacteria
3. Flame retardant/heat-insulating
4. Strong pressure resistance/good earthquake resistance
THREE-WAY THREADED BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Any port of the three-way ball valve can be used as an inlet without leakage, and can be made into an L-type or T-type channel according to the working conditions, making installation more convenient.
2. After the system is depressurized, it can be inspected and repaired without removing the entire valve body.
3. The three-way ball valve is divided into L-type and T-type. The L-type is suitable for the flow direction switching of the medium, and can connect two perpendicular channels: the T-type is suitable for the diversion, confluence or flow direction switching of the medium.
4. The two-seat sealed three-way ball valve has a compact structure, beautiful appearance and good sealing performance.
SANITARY BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. The product is treated with high-end polishing equipment inside and outside to achieve surface precision requirements.
2. It can meet the special requirements of various media in the food and biopharmaceutical fields, and its smooth, seamless, self-draining manual fluid channel.
3. The smooth, seamless, self-draining manual fluid channel is also very suitable for steam cleaning
THREE-WAY Y-TYPE BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. The valve seat seal of the Y-type three-way ball valve can be made of soft seal, spray-welded nickel-based alloy (hardness greater than HRC60), supersonic tungsten-coated diamond alloy (hardness greater than HRC70) and special hardened materials according to different working conditions. It is suitable for various harsh working conditions. The soft seal is suitable for working conditions below 200°C. Hard seal carbon steel does not exceed 425°C
2. The Y-type three-way ball valve has two holes at 120° and 135°, which can realize two working conditions of switching the flow direction of the medium according to needs.
FLUORINE-LINED BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. The ball valve with FEP inner layer has extremely high chemical stability and can be used for any other highly corrosive properties except "molten alkali metals and elemental gases".
2. The full-diameter, floating ball structure is adopted, and the valve can be closed without leakage in the entire pressure range, which is more convenient for ball sweeping and pipeline maintenance of the pipeline system.
3. The ball of the opening and closing part is cast (forged) as one, eliminating the possibility of the valve stem impacting the pressure-bearing parts due to pressure changes, and fundamentally ensuring the safety of use in the project.
HIGH-PRESSURE BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Small fluid resistance, full-diameter ball valve has basically no flow resistance.
2. Simple structure, small size, light weight.
3. Tight and reliable, good sealing, can achieve complete sealing.
4. Easy maintenance, ball valve has a simple structure, the sealing ring is generally movable, and it is relatively convenient to disassemble and replace.
5. When fully open or fully closed, the sealing surface of the ball and the valve seat is isolated from the medium, and when the medium passes through, it will not cause erosion of the valve sealing surface.
THIN BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Simple structure, small size, light weight, and can be quickly opened and closed by rotating 90°, easy to operate
2. It also has good fluid control characteristics.
3. It adopts a double eccentric and a special oblique cone elliptical sealing structure. Achieve the purpose of extending service life and optimizing sealing performance.
4. The valve seat adopts an elastic sealing structure, which is reliable in sealing.
HIGH-PRESSURE FORGED BALL VALVE
Personal advantages
1. Small fluid resistance, full-diameter ball valve has basically no flow resistance.
2. Simple structure, small size, light weight.
3. Tight and reliable. It has two sealing surfaces, and the current ball valve can achieve complete sealing.
4. Easy to operate, fast opening and closing, only need to rotate 90° from full open to full closed, convenient for long-distance control
5. Easy maintenance, the ball valve has a simple structure, the sealing ring is generally movable, and it is relatively convenient to disassemble and replace
4. Decide on the Actuation Method
FLOWX provides a wide range of valve actuators, depending on your automation needs:
Manual Handle: Simple and cost-effective.
Electric Actuator: For remote or automatic control; options include intelligent, modulating, or explosion-proof types.
Pneumatic Actuator: Fast and reliable for industrial automation; available in single or double acting.
Our advanced electric actuators support 4–20mA, Modbus, or Bluetooth remote controls.
5. Confirm Certifications and Standards
FLOWX valves comply with international standards and certifications including:
CE, ISO, ATEX, SIL, and others.
Valves can be customized to meet industry-specific requirements (e.g., food-grade, fire-safe, anti-static).
Always verify if your project requires specific standards.
6. Consider After-Sales Support & Customization
With over 24 years of experience, FLOWX not only provides high-quality valves but also:
Custom design & OEM solutions
Technical support & installation guidance
Large inventory & fast delivery
Global service network in over 100 countries
Conclusion
Choosing the right ball valve means ensuring the correct type, material, size, and actuation method that fits your application needs. FLOWX is here to support you at every step with premium-quality valves, industry expertise, and reliable service.