BS EN 331 Gas Approved Ball Valves

EN331 gas ball valves are available from every plumber's merchant in the United Kingdom, the question is are the valves that you’re business in buying any better or worse than we can offer you. The answer to that question is sometimes yes and sometimes no as all EN331 gas ball valves have to meet a minimum standard set by the CEN (European Committee for Standardisation) which brings together 33 European standard agencies including the BSI (British Standards Institute).

For the United Kingdom, the full standard is BS EN 331:1998+A1:2010 which is an update of the original 1998 standard, the standard covers manually operated ball valves and closed bottom taper plug valves for gas installations for buildings. What you can expect is that whatever EN331 gas ball valves you buy, they have a yellow handle and have a full bore and have the relevant length of thread to ensure a tight seal on installation.

In the past all gas standards required each valve to have a BSP taper thread, the EN331 gas ball valves standard altered this requirement due to the fact that other European countries did not use taper threaded valves automatically on gas installations and also allowed the use of taper/parallel malleable pipe fittings which in the UK was frowned upon and even now the preferred malleable iron fittings are taper/taper.

To add value to our BS EN 331 gas ball valves we offer the Lyne P40 and Albion's Art40P & Art40T which as well as being covered for gas use under EN331, are also WRAS approved for use on potable water installations although it should be noted that this is a voluntary code accepted by the UK water industry. This, unfortunately, allows the exclusion of European approved water valves from most installations such as the Genebre Art3020, approved for potable water under 98/83/EC.

It is my belief that our acceptance instantly of changes to the rules on gas installations due to the introduction of EN331 gas ball valves leads to accusations of hypocrisy when the same rules are not applied to potable water systems in the UK. The fact is these extra approvals have to be paid for by the consumer as manufacturers have to pay for WRAS for their certification. If a single European standard was adopted this would surely reduce prices for potable water approved valves in the United Kingdom. For more information on all we can offer in EN331 gas ball valves and any other valves, fittings or pipeline products we offer please continue to explore this website or contact our sales team for more information.

Disclaimer: Information correct at the time of publishing (September 2015) but is subject to change. E&OE.