Quote:
Originally Posted by martin417
I hope that the documentation provided by Gary is sufficient. It says that the the valve will not fail catastrophically at 125 PSI, it does not say that the valve is RATED at 125 PSI. The rule says: (emphasis mine)
By the letter of the rule, if your valve is not rated for 125 PSI (any SMC valve w/o a K in the part number is generally rated at 100 PSI) you must install a regulator to reduce the pressure to below the valves rating. Since the maximum allowable working pressure is 60 PSI, you should be OK, but they could require a second regulator downstream of the first for redundancy.
It also kind of irritates me that we paid extra ($$$) and waited an extra 2 weeks to get a special version that is rated above 125 PSI so that we would be legal, and it may be unnecessary. This is a catalog option that is available to all teams, anyone could have ordered it.
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Emphasis mine - that's not correct - the rule says a pressure relief valve, and as a fall back, we will be bringing an extra relief valve and a tee to set at 100 psi downstream of the regulator if there is a problem; that option is available to anyone and is what we planned to do if the GDC had ruled the other way. So if you spent extra time and money to save a few ounces of weight, that is your choice but don't get irritated.
However I understand your frustration. And if I look in the catalog at your valve it doesn't say "rated" anywhere, it still says maximum operating pressure. You could certainly infer that it must be rated above its operating pressure but it doesnt say that. Since the only difference appears to be the seal material, it makes sense that the valve may not operate and in fact may leak, but from a safety standpoint that should be adequate (remember, this depends on another component failing at the same time).
Also, the K option is not available on the SY series of valves which are the valves that FIRST had supplied for several years in the kit.