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Solenoids

soapy

Senior Member
I usually stock a few solenoids for quick replacement. I put in my last spare 1/2 solenoid yesterday and went to order a few replacements. It seems that solenoids of all brands have really gone up in price in the last few years. More than doubling in price. I ordered the standard ones and also thought I would try a few of the amazon US SOLID solenoids. Stainless steel solenoids run about 1/3 the cost of others. Has anyone tried these yet and had good luck with them?
 
I have never heard of them but thanks for being the guinea pig for us. At those prices I assume they are made in China but I could not find that out for sure.
 
I found the 24 volt ac on their website. They also offer motorized ball valves which might work better in some applications.
 
I looked them up on Amazon and found the 1/2" stainless 24V AC with Viton seat. This one is $25 cheaper than the brass DEMA from Kleen-Rite. The biggest issue I see is its maximum inlet pressure is only 100 PSI.


FWIW the last time I hooked up with a company to save money on solenoids (SMC Pneumatics, not related to Specialty Mfg. Co.) their solenoid coils all burned up. This was on equipment I/we (a distributor I worked for at the time) as well as an RO system manufacturer who also used them were building and selling/installing. Over two years probably 50 solenoids used, most of them failed within a year, very few lasted more than two. One just failed a few months ago, it actually lasted 15 years or so, but when it failed it caught fire and took out the wiring on one whole side of the room.
 
(SMC Pneumatics, not related to Specialty Mfg. Co.) their solenoid coils all burned up. This was on equipment I/we (a distributor I worked for at the time) as well as an RO system manufacturer who also used them were building and selling/installing. Over two years probably 50 solenoids used, most of them failed within a year, very few lasted more than two. One just failed a few months ago, it actually lasted 15 years or so, but when it failed it caught fire and took out the wiring on one whole side of the room.

Coleman uses a 1/2" stainless SMC on their wizard 2.0 presoak delivery that I've been real happy with. I've gotten about ten years out of mine.
 
US SOLID states that their coils are not rated for continuous duty but are fine for up to 8 hours at a time. Their Normally open solenoids would not work for a weep system but normally closed should be fine for car wash applications. The Parker solenoid that failed was only 18 months old and would be around $200 to replace.
 
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