Six tips to help you spot refurbished valves

The valve market today is a mixed bag, with unscrupulous traders passing off counterfeit and refurbished valves as genuine products in order to make exorbitant profits, thereby posing significant safety risks to installation projects. It is therefore essential to outline the methods for identifying refurbished valves. Currently, the following are the primary methods used by dealers in the valve market to produce counterfeit valves:

1. Manufacturing valves from cast iron or carbon steel, or refurbishing defective valves, to pass them off as genuine products.

2. Affixing the registered trademarks of major brand manufacturers to valve products from small local factories to pass them off as genuine.

3. Impersonating customers, dealers or agents of well-known major manufacturers to mislead consumers.

4. Forging steel stamps to re-mark standard-grade valves as Grade D valves in order to reap exorbitant profits.

Valve refurbishment poses significant risks; not only does it disrupt market order, but it also creates major potential hazards for construction quality, causing considerable harm to society. Merely being aware of these fraudulent methods is insufficient; we must also keep our eyes open. Even the craftiest fox cannot outwit a skilled hunter. Below, I will explain how to identify refurbished valves.

1. Check the colour: Refurbished valves differ significantly in colour from genuine products. These low-cost materials often appear whitish in appearance, which contrasts markedly with the greenish hue of genuine valve steel.

2. Check the stamp: Genuine valves are stamped using professional techniques before undergoing heat treatment, resulting in clear, crisp lettering. Refurbished valves, however, feature uneven and blurred lettering.

3. Check for oil stains: Counterfeit refurbished valves are coated with a thick layer of oil on the surface to prevent rust, which reduces the valve body’s natural finish.

5. Inspect the gate plate: Refurbished valves typically exhibit signs of grinding and corrosion on the gate plate.

6. Remove the nut at the top of the valve stem and the identification plate to examine the material of the internal locking nut. Genuine valves use brass; anything else indicates a counterfeit product.

We hope this provides some assistance to those involved in engineering installation and procurement, so that together we can combat the use of refurbished and counterfeit valves and ensure the quality, safety and effectiveness of construction work.