Attribute Schema Library
Attribute schemaplumbing & PVF

Ball Valve Attributes for Plumbing & PVF Distributors

A ball valve is a quarter-turn shutoff — a bored sphere rotated 90 degrees between two seats. Plumbing and PVF distributors carry them in bronze, lead-free brass, carbon steel, 316 stainless, PVC and CPVC, from 1/4 in through 12 in, sold to a service plumber buying one at the counter and to a mechanical contractor buying two hundred against an approved submittal.

The data is hard for three specific reasons. The pressure marking is a dialect problem: the same valve arrives as 600 WOG, 600 CWP, 600#, or PN40 depending on whose sheet you opened. The spec that decides the sale — bore diameter, Cv, pressure derated to the actual operating temperature, ISO 5211 pad code — sits in a table on page 2 of a manufacturer PDF, never in the item feed. And one figure number explodes into hundreds of SKUs across size, end connection, handle style and seat compound, while the supplier describes only the base configuration.

The material also moves under you: lead-free reformulation changed body alloys, and NSF/ANSI 61 and 372 listings are granted per model and size range, not per brand.

Core

Every SKU needs these. Without them the record is not a product, it is a row.

Nominal Valve Size
enum · in (NPS) / DN
1 in (DN25)

The first facet every buyer touches. Must carry both NPS and DN, and must not be inferred from a description string.

Body Material
enum
Lead-Free Bronze (C89833)

Decides media compatibility and code acceptance. Alloy designation matters: bronze C84400 and lead-free bronze C89833 are not interchangeable.

End Connection
enum
FNPT x FNPT

Determines whether the valve installs at all. Must be expressed per end, since sweat x FNPT and FNPT x FNPT are different SKUs.

Port Type
enum
Full Port

Full port passes near-full pipe bore; standard port restricts it. Drives pressure drop and whether a brush or probe passes.

Body Construction
enum
Two-Piece

One-piece, two-piece, three-piece or true union. Three-piece and true union are field-serviceable in line; one-piece is not.

Max Working Pressure (CWP)
number · psi
600

The cold working pressure rating at 100 F. Store as a number with the CWP qualifier, not as the marking 600 WOG.

Temperature Rating
range · °F
-20 to 400 °F

Bounded by the seat and seal compound, not the body. RPTFE and EPDM fail long before the bronze does.

Seat & Body Seal Material
enum
RPTFE seat, EPDM body O-ring

Sets the temperature ceiling, chemical compatibility and whether shutoff is bubble-tight. Seat and O-ring compounds often differ on one SKU.

Manufacturer Part Number
identifier
77C-104-01

The figure number plus suffix is what the contractor quotes and what the submittal references. The suffix encodes handle and trim.

Differentiating

What buyers actually compare on. This is where catalogs win or lose the filter.

Bore Diameter
number · in
1.00

Port Type is a label; bore is the number. Buyers matching a valve to Sch 40 pipe ID or to a meter set need the actual dimension.

Flow Coefficient (Cv)
number · Cv
45 (1 in, full port)

Required to size a branch or calculate pressure drop. An engineer will not approve a submittal without it.

Operator Type
enum
Lockable Lever Handle

Lever, tee handle, oval handle, lockable lever, or bare stem for actuation. Drives clearance and whether a lockout tag can be applied.

ISO 5211 Mounting Pad
enum
F05, 14 mm square stem

Whether an actuator bolts on directly or needs a bracket and coupling kit. Pad code and stem square are both required.

Steam Working Pressure (SWP)
number · psi
150

A separate saturated-steam rating, far below CWP. The bronze marking 150 SWP / 600 WOG is two ratings, not one.

Compliance & identifiers

Standards, regulatory data, and the identifiers channels reject you for missing.

Potable Water Certification
enum
NSF/ANSI 61-G, NSF/ANSI 372

NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 covers what leaches; 372 covers the 0.25% lead limit. Listings are granted per model and per size range.

Gas Service Listing
enum
ANSI Z21.15 / CSA 9.1; ASME B16.33

Gas valves are listed by pressure tier and cannot be swapped. Z21.15 is 1/2 psig appliance; B16.44 is 5 psi indoor; B16.33 is 125 psig.

Design & Test Standard
enum
MSS SP-110

MSS SP-110 for threaded, solder and grooved ends; API 608 with ASME B16.34 for flanged and weld ends; API 607 if fire-tested.

GTIN / UPC and Country of Origin
identifier
UPC-A each, GTIN-14 case; United States

GTIN gates Amazon Business and any GDSN or ASA PDS exchange. Country of origin gates Buy American and AIS clauses on public work.

The fields that aren't in the schema at all

What most ball valves catalogs are missing.

The table above is the schema most catalogs already have. These are the attributes that usually aren't in it — each one surfaced by a signal from the live market rather than by an audit of what's already there. This is what Anglera's Schema Foundry does on a real catalog, in this category.

Supplier signal
+ Flow Coefficient (Cv)

Manufacturer datasheets publish a Cv table by size on every ball valve line. Distributor product pages almost never expose Cv as a field, and it is not filterable anywhere in the category.

The engineer cannot size the branch from your page, so the submittal goes back to the manufacturer rep and the order tends to follow the rep.

Supplier signal
+ Pressure Rating at Elevated Temperature

Catalogs carry a single '600 WOG' number, which is the rating at 100 F. The pressure-temperature derating curve for the seat compound exists only in the supplier PDF.

A valve specified at its 100 F rating lands on a 250 F hydronic loop, the seat extrudes, and the failure returns as a warranty claim on the distributor.

Competitor signal
+ ISO 5211 Mounting Pad Code

Automation suppliers filter valves by F03/F05/F07 pad and stem square. Most plumbing and PVF catalogs say 'actuator ready' in prose, with no pad field to filter on.

Actuation buyers cannot confirm a direct mount, so they buy valve and actuator together from an automation house instead of splitting the order.

Search signal
+ Bore Diameter

Port Type is carried as Full or Standard, but the bore dimension itself is absent. Buyers searching a bore size in inches or millimetres get zero results.

Standard-port valves ship where a matched bore was required, and the return is a stocked item that comes back opened and unsellable.

Supplier signal
+ Certification Scope by Size Range

A single 'Lead Free: Yes' flag sits on the whole figure number, while the NSF listing on the supplier sheet covers only part of the published size range.

An uncertified size ships to a potable job, the inspector rejects it at rough-in, and the distributor absorbs the swap and the callback.

How Schema Foundry finds these

Messy in, governed out.

The same value, spelled every way plumbing & PVF suppliers spell it. A filter only works once they agree.

Max Working Pressure (CWP)
600 WOG600 CWP600#600 lbPN40150 SWP / 600 WOG
600 psi CWP

WOG, CWP, # and lb all mean cold working pressure. SWP is a separate steam rating and must not overwrite the CWP field.

Port Type
Full PortFull-PortFPStandard PortRegular PortReduced Port
Standard Port

Standard, regular, conventional and reduced all describe the same restricted bore. Only full port is genuinely distinct.

End Connection
FIPFNPTF NPTFemale NPTIPS ThreadedThrd
NPT Female (FNPT)

FIP, IPS threaded and FNPT are the same taper thread. Sweat, press and CTS compression must stay separate values.

Seat Material
TeflonTFEPTFERTFERPTFEMPTFE
RPTFE (reinforced PTFE)

Teflon is a trademark, not a spec. Virgin PTFE and reinforced PTFE have different temperature ceilings and cannot be merged.

What buyers ask

Every one of these should be answerable from the attributes above. If it isn't, that's a gap.

  • Is this full port or standard port, and what's the actual bore in inches?
  • It says 600 WOG — is that still 600 at 250 degrees, or does it derate?
  • Is this NSF 61 approved for potable, or is it just lead-free per 372?
  • Can I bolt an actuator straight to this, or do I need a bracket kit?
  • Is it rated for steam, and at what pressure?
  • Is that FNPT both ends, or FNPT by sweat?
  • What's the Cv? I'm sizing a 1-inch branch off a 2-inch main.
  • Can this be locked out in the closed position for LOTO?

What channels require

The same SKU, different mandatory fields per destination.

Distributor's own faceted catalog
Nominal Valve SizeBody MaterialEnd ConnectionPort TypeMax Working Pressure (CWP)Seat & Body Seal Material
ASA Product Data Standard (PHCP-PVF)
GTIN / UPCManufacturer Part NumberCountry of OriginBody MaterialNominal Valve SizePackage dimensions and weight
Amazon Business
GTIN / UPCBrandManufacturer Part NumberCountry of OriginNominal Valve SizeMax Working Pressure (CWP)
Engineer submittal / spec sheet package
Design & Test StandardPotable Water CertificationMaterials of constructionTemperature RatingFlow Coefficient (Cv)Face-to-face dimensions

Ball Valves data, in practice

What's the difference between WOG, CWP and SWP on a ball valve?

WOG (water, oil, gas) and CWP (cold working pressure) are the same thing: maximum non-shock pressure at ambient, conventionally 100 F. A valve marked 600 WOG and one marked 600 CWP are identically rated. SWP is steam working pressure — a separate, much lower saturated-steam rating, which is why bronze valves carry the classic dual marking 150 SWP / 600 WOG. Store them as two distinct numeric attributes. Collapsing them into one 'pressure' field is how a 150 SWP valve ends up described as a 600 psi steam valve. Neither number holds at elevated temperature; both derate against the seat compound.

Does a valve marked 'lead free' automatically meet NSF/ANSI 61?

No, and treating them as one flag causes rejections. NSF/ANSI/CAN 372 certifies the 0.25% weighted-average lead limit on wetted surfaces, which is the Safe Drinking Water Act requirement under Public Law 111-380, effective January 2014. NSF/ANSI/CAN 61 is a separate health-effects evaluation of what the materials leach into the water; Annex G is the lead-specific portion. A valve can be 372-compliant without a 61 listing. Both are granted per model and per size range, so a 'Lead Free: Yes' boolean on the whole figure number will over-claim on the sizes the listing doesn't cover.

Which design standard should the record carry — MSS SP-110, API 608, or ASME B16.34?

It depends on the end connection, and they stack rather than compete. MSS SP-110 covers ball valves with threaded, socket-welding, solder-joint, grooved and flared ends — most of the plumbing and PVF counter business. API 608 covers metal ball valves with flanged, threaded and welding ends, and layers requirements on top of ASME B16.34, which is the underlying pressure-temperature rating and shell design standard for industrial valves. API 607 is neither: it is a fire test for quarter-turn valves with nonmetallic seats. Record the design standard and the fire-test certification as separate fields.

If we already carry Port Type, do we need Bore Diameter as its own attribute?

Yes. Port Type is a two-value label; bore is the dimension the buyer is matching. Full port on a 1 in valve is roughly 1.00 in of bore, but 'standard port' is a manufacturer's convention rather than a standard, and the reduced bore on a 1 in valve varies meaningfully between brands. Anyone calculating pressure drop, matching Sch 40 pipe ID, or passing a brush or probe through the line needs the number. It also makes the category searchable by dimension — a query in inches or millimetres returns nothing when only the label exists.

More plumbing & PVF schemas

Backflow PreventersCommercial FaucetsGate ValvesPipe FittingsPipe Hangers & SupportsWater Heaters

Run this against your own ball valves.

Bring the category. We'll show you which of these attributes your catalog is missing — and the ones we find that aren't on this page yet.

Book a demo