Plastic Honey Valve THOMAS 33/42 1″

01 · THE CALIBRE

An inch has a quarter of the bore of two

Double the diameter and the cross-section goes up four times, and with thick honey that shows in minutes. That is why an inch is the calibre of the bucket, the small settling tank and jar-by-jar bottling, where controlling the stream matters more than speed. For emptying several hundred kilos it falls short: the transfer becomes the bottleneck.

02 · WHAT IT DOES NOT COME WITH

Gasket and nut go separately, and there is a reason

It is sold bare because it often replaces one already fitted: the gasket and the nut are still in the wall of the tank and there is no reason to pay for them twice. If you are opening a new draw-off point, the catalogue has the same calibre as a set with nut and gasket included. Choose by what you already have fitted, not by the price on the label.

03 · THE SEAT

What kills a guillotine gate is sugar, not use

The gate closes flush, so one crystal of dried honey or a flake of wax in the slide is enough to stop it dropping all the way and start it weeping. Rinse it hot at the end of the batch, with the gate open, and do not force it when it is stiff: drop it hard with something inside and the sealing face gets scored, and that gate drips for good.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

Check the wall thickness too, and the room left inside to tighten the nut. The nominal size identifies the connection; it does not guarantee the fitting.