Valve leakage


Valve leakage refers to flow through a valve which is set in the 'off' state.
The importance of valve leakage depends on what the valve is controlling. For example, a dripping tap is less significant than a leak from a six-inch pipe carrying high-pressure radioactive steam.
In the United States, the American National Standards Institute specifies six different leakage classes, with "leakage" defined in terms of the full open valve capacity:
Class VI valves are slightly different in that they are required to have less than a specified leakage rate in millilitres of air per minute: