Fitting Background and Sizes

Tri Clover fittings, also called sanitary fittings, are widely used in the commercial food processing industries.  They can be found in dairies, soft drink plants, wineries and of course: breweries.  They allow for pipe and tubing connections to be made in a sanitary fashion that is designed to be cleaned in place (CIP) but is easily broken down for further cleaning, inspection and repair.  For an installation to be truly considered sanitary, it most conform to the “3A” standard.  Among a long list of requirements, the two that stand out are:

1. No exposed threaded connections.  All connections end to end must not have any threads. There can be connections made with threaded fittings, but they are special fittings that use a gasket or seal between the threads and the fluid.  Connections between Tri Clover fittings and NPT fittings are not allowed in the 3A standard and that’s why those fittings are hard to find.
2. No abrupt changes in internal diameter.  If you need to reduce a 3″ pipe to a 2″ pipe, there is a special reducing fitting that offers a gradual taper between the two diameters.

Sizing Tri Clover Fittings

Like all pipe and tube fittings, the sizing of Tri Clover fittings can be confusing.  Unlike all other pipe and tube fittings, Tri Clover fittings are a lot easier to understand: The size of a Tri Clover fitting refers to the outside diameter of the sanitary tubing it makes a connection for, NOT the flange diameter.  1/2″ and 3/4″ Tri Clover fittings share the same flange size as do 1″ and 1.5″ fittings.  See the table for Tri Clover size vs. flange size.

The most common size used 1″-1.5″.  Since they share the same flange size, they can be interconnected with no problem.  A 1″ ball valve will connect to a 1.5″ ferrule without a problem.    1/2″ Tri Clover fittings are a little more compact and weigh less, but since they are not as widely used they tend to be more expensive.

Standard Gaskets

Our EPDM, FKM fluoroelastomer, silicone, and PTFE clamp gaskets have all passed USP Class VI testing.

AVAILABLE Materials: NBR, EPDM, FKM Fluoroelastomer, PTFE, Platinum & peroxide-cured Silicone
AVAILABLE SIZES: 1/2″, 3/4″, 1″, 1-1/2″, 2″, 2-1/2″, 3″, 4″, 6″, 8″, 10″, 12”

Screen Gaskets

Fluid conditioning screen gaskets in 10 micron through four mesh. Screen gaskets provide prefiltration for critical membrane filters, coalescence of water vapor from process exhaust lines and particulate removal before fill and finish. Also available in a complete elastomer selection are perforated plate fluid conditioning gaskets, removable sanitary gasket holders for all discs, screen disc inserts, perforated plate disc inserts and orifice plate disc inserts.