Guidi sea water intake valves. Here are the results after one year of tests.

Guidi valves : one year of on-board tests for the safety of sea water intakes

More than one year has passed since we replaced some of the sea water intake valves available on board our Daydreamer (our lab-boat) with those ones made by Guidi Srl in order to field-test (at sea, in our case) a product that has revolutionized the market.

These valves are indeed no more lever operated or equipped with a traditional mechanical sphere but they consist of a screw rotating mechanism that, operated through a pivoting head, makes a gate valve moves.

While, in the previous article, we showed their conditions just 60 days after their installation, now, after about 1,500 nautical miles and more than one year of on-board tests, we can finally give our final feedback.

The Guidi valves installed on our boat are of two types:

1. Alex, a non-stick full-flow valve equipped with two counter-posed sleeves and a 90-degree lock. The product is exclusively patented by the manufacturer.
2. Non-stick 2210, a valve with full-flow inner channel which allows liquids to pass through; it is also equipped with an internal anti-scaling prevention system and a safety lock.

Let’s start from the simplest and most important question we have to ask ourselves when we carry out our tests: does the product work?

Yes, the product works perfectly and we have never had any problems. We used valves on our boat, opening and closing them all the time and, above all, by taking advantage of the times where our lab-boat didn’t sail. We appreciated their working even after months of inactivity, which is often the test bed and the Achille’s heel of traditional valves.

At every use, Guidi valves have always been soft and fluid, with efficient rotation and, above all, with no obstruction signs, leaks, water drops or signs of moisture.

However, these products have special features that inevitably need other considerations related to the differences with traditional lever-operated valves. So, the question is: ” Why should I buy this technology? What are the advantages for my boat?”.

After using them, we have identified three important advantages:

1. Easy installation: devoid of opening levers, valves can be installed in narrow corners and take up a minimum amount of space.
2. Practicality and convenience: the pivoting head is geared down ( more revolutions with lower load and pressure); consequently, the action exerted on the valve is always very soft and activation requires no physical effort. Even a child can activate it! All these months, valves have never showed signs of seizing.

3) Safety: valves are installed in the critical points of every boat and they control sea water intakes. There is no need for us to stress the obvious importance of this aspect. The “open/closed” lettering visible from the head “windows” eliminates the risk of dangerous mistakes and ensures a clear control of their status.

Furthermore, thanks to their efficient functioning, we will never be obliged to force the group ” valve – water intake – hull” and this is another very important aspect. Traditional valves are equipped with levers and, when the latter are blocked, the force we use to unblock them significantly affect the group we have just mentioned, with the risk of compromising both sealing ( waterways) and resistance of each parts ( sea water intakes and valve levers).

Finally, all parts of Guidi valves are safe from the risk of oxidation ( we’ve tested that!), which is a further proof of the discrepancy between this product and traditional valves.

During our test, opening and closing operations have been performed not only by our staff, who perfectly knows functioning, but also by our guests and we can assure you that their user-friendliness has prevented them from asking: “Can you recheck water intakes, please? I’m not sure I opened/closed them well” .

In conclusion, we can certainly certify the efficiency of this product and recommend its installation on board.

Even though they are a little more expensive than traditional models, these valves control the waterways of our boat. In our opinion, there’s no point in saving money since safety at sea is priceless.

Guidi Srl

Via delle Acacie 2,

28075 Grignasco (NO) – Italy

www.guidisrl.it

Tel. +39 0163 418000

Email: info@guidisrl.com