Y-Strainers

Y-strainers in 1/2" through 2", bronze and brass, in FIP, sweat and press, most supplied with a 20-mesh stainless steel screen.

A Y-strainer protects everything downstream of it. Scale, weld slag and construction debris will wreck a circulator seal, jam a control valve or block a heat exchanger, and the strainer is the cheap part that catches them first. On a new system it earns its cost in the first month, when the pipe is dirtiest.

Orientation matters and is easy to get wrong. The pocket must point downward on a horizontal line so debris collects in it by gravity; installed pointing up, the strainer traps nothing and the debris carries on. On a vertical line, flow must be downward.

Mesh selection, body pressure ratings and the difference between a Y-strainer and a basket strainer are covered in our strainer selection guide.