Play'N Hooky

I had a plastic valve (1/2" ID) on one of the thru-hull fittings on the boat. The hose nipple on the downstream side of the valveapparently got snapped off during the engine removal. I was wanting to replace the whole thingwith a bronze seacock. Since I am kinda on a budget and don't look forward tothat violated feeling Igeteverytime I leave West Marine, I have tried to locate one from another source. I have run across several for sale that were advertised as being "bronze" butupon inspection of the packaging were found to actually be "brass". I have noticed that the terms seem to be used interchangeably despite the fact that bronze typically refers to a Cu/Tn alloy and "brass" to Cu/Zn.

Is there a way to tell the difference if they aren't labeled?

Does it really matter that much?

X-Shark

That is because people are lazy and just say "Brass".



A Seacock and it's associated fittings like the scoop are Bronze.



Don't shop at West Marine if your tired of getting it broke off in you.



Shop on line.



The housing is Bronze on this one, even if it doesn't say so in the write up.



http://www.discountmarinesupplies.co...E_SEACOCK.html

Play'N Hooky

Thanks for the info. That is a little cheaper than West Marine even with shipping.

Is there a way to tell bronze from brass if you ran across one in say a bin at the flea market or on e-bay? I've noticed that bronze tends to be a little darker and more red than brass but I didn't know if there was some marking on them that wold distiguish the two.

X-Shark

I've never seen any of this stuff that was Brass. It's all Silicone Bronze.



Now that is not to say there isn't brass fittings as is Bronze fittings.



And as you will see the Bronze fittings are more expensive. The Brass is to soft to be putting into a marine plumbing system.



Both of these are Bronze.







Now note the 90deg fitting. It is Bronze too. This could be bought in Brass, but that is not what you want.