Long story short, I was getting small amounts of particulate making it past my filter stack (no media). I have the old style compression rings and was told solid rings are much better for creating a tight seal.
I have a 3” BVV filter plate body, so I grabbed a 3” filter plate kit (2 solid rings and a perforated backing plate) from them. They’re both made by the same brand and should be compatible, I thought. They are not. The ring immediately gets stuck in the filter plate body and required a mallet and screwdriver to get it out. Using a filter paper is quite literally impossible.
I contacted BVV about it last Wednesday, and they finally got back to me today. They essentially said if I send back the kit and they fit into their other filter bodies without problem, they’ll assume my filter body is defective and refund me for the kit, but not the filter body. If the rings are defective, they’ll send me a new set to try.
Maybe it’s just me, but this whole thing seems pretty shitty. The probability of me receiving 2 defective rings at the same time is extremely small, meaning it’s probably my filter plate body.
Even if they did refund me, I’d have to buy an entirely new filter body just to get rings that will actually fit. If the 2nd set of rings fits, problem solved. However, I don’t think that will be the case.
(Pictured is a ring stuck halfway in the filter body)
What would you do if you were in this situation?
(Yes, I know killa is the man with the stainless plan, but I didn’t see drop-in perforated backing plates or solid rings in 3” on his site and didn’t want to bother him during one of the busiest shopping seasons of the year with such a miniscule order)
Sorry to hear about your experience. There’s been tons and tons of horror stories from BVV. At least you heard back from them, I would be thankful for that. Hopefully you can get it taken care of and not have to spend any more money.
Also for the record, this is what @Killa12345 does. I have no doubt whatsoever that you wouldn’t be bothering him if you tried to contact him about it. This is just my opinion, and has been my experience with him
These are a pain in the ass and the reason I don’t like carrying them. Cause some they fit and some they don’t. It can be a matter of a mm or 2. When I did sell them I’d have to check every one I sold to make sure the rings fit and didn’t have any play. I personally would just sand down the rings on a belt sander if you have one.
I don’t think it’s defective or right. It just can be a mm difference between perfect and failure.
I’ve had horror stories myself, an imploding vacuum chamber being one of them. I forgot to say I grabbed one of their 1.5 inch 1 micron sintered Dutch weave disks as well, so I just didn’t want to place an order with a separate company in addition to the fact I was worried filter plate rings from another manufacturer wouldn’t fit. So I specifically purchased from BVV to avoid that problem. The irony.
I’m definitely going to be sticking with killa from here. The only thing better than his reputation is his customer service.
Honestly, sanding them down might be a better option than hoping a replacement set would fit.
They originally told me to send them back and if they were deemed not defective, I’d have to pay for them to ship it back to me or forfeit the item. Also that if it was damaged, it voided the warranty altogether.
I had to use a screwdriver and mallet to remove the rings, so naturally they have marks and would be deemed damaged.
Regardless of how they want look at it, either the filter plate or rings are defective to an extent. Both of which came from them.
I’ve had to do this a number of times with my personal ones in the beginning of crc. I just got so pissed off I bought a $70 belt Sander from harbor freight and sanded them down to make the tolerances a bit lower
I’ve used the belt sander for a ton of stuff since. Made some coffee tables and used them to make everything smooth. You don’t realize the need for some tools till you have them.
I would have to add friendship in there as well. But you’ll get there with time. If he doesn’t carry something I found he usually has a very solid reason for it. Anyway sorry to hear about your troubles
Him and I had a few good conversations before I deleted my IG. Not only is he a good dude, but very knowledgeable, and quite nice to boot. A rare combination in this industry.
Pretty much all rings and filter plates have issues. Out of ten i have 3 that fit with filter papers. Other ones no way. All from same supplier too. Ordered in kits.
Sucks that BVV was shitty on their end. I like the fact that they have a lot of parts available, I designed and ordered parts for a crystallization reactor off the shelf for $600 (btw @Killa12345, if you can get a decent inventory of at least steel on you website, I’d love to buy from you!)
I haven’t had terrible experiences with them though, and this seems to be an issue with this part in particular. This was mentioned above but 1mm irregularity can mess something up and it just happens sometimes with these parts. The woven mesh should be less of an issue, I think
These guys epitomize what’s wrong with our industry, they are only in it for the fast buck. They screwed me on a chiller, worked exactly 3 times if memory serves, Adam basically told me to go eff myself. It sits in the corner of my lab, staring blankly at my AI nearly breaking a sweat. The heating mantle on my BVV 2l roto’s power cord overheated and almost caught fire. The roto is only used for polishing, no heavy evaporation. All junk, even the paint on my -80c freezer runs if ethanol happens to come in contact with it, who would have thought ethanol would come in contact with a -80c freezer. All Chinese junk, might as well go direct, get screwed out of 50% less. JUNK!
So true. @shopbvv i thought you guys were trying to fix things over there. Sounds like it has only gotten worse. No surprise I never heard back from you. BVV is trash.
