API 600
Steel Gate Valves - Flanged and Butt-Welding Ends, Bolted Bonnet
Bolted bonnet steel gate valves - heavy duty
What it covers
- Bolted bonnet steel gate valves with flanged or butt-welding ends
- Minimum wall thickness above the B16.34 requirement
- Stem diameter, yoke and operator requirements
- Back seat, packing chamber and gland design requirements
- Trim material combinations by number
What it does not cover
- Pressure seal bonnet valves - the standard is written for bolted bonnets. This is the most commonly misquoted point on Chinese supplier websites.
- Globe and check valves
- Compact valves NPS 4 and smaller, which fall under API 602
- The pressure-temperature rating itself, which comes from ASME B16.34
This section exists because standards are routinely listed on valve datasheets in positions where they do not apply. Knowing the boundary is what makes the reference useful.
The misquotation to watch for
API 600 is frequently listed on pressure seal valve datasheets as though it were a general quality standard for power valves. It is not. The standard is written for bolted bonnet gate valves, and quoting it against a pressure seal valve is either careless or deliberate. If a supplier lists API 600 on a pressure seal gate valve, ask them which clauses they are claiming compliance with.
What it adds over B16.34
Heavier wall than the B16.34 minimum, defined stem and yoke sizing, back seat requirements, and standardised trim numbers. For a bolted bonnet gate valve in demanding service, that additional definition is genuinely useful - it removes a lot of manufacturer discretion.
When it applies to our range
Where a project specifies a bolted bonnet gate valve to API 600, we build to it. On pressure seal valves we do not list it, because it does not apply. Where a specification calls for "API 600 pressure seal gate valve", we raise it as a clarification at the quotation stage rather than accepting an inconsistent requirement.
Products this applies to
Verify it yourself
We summarise what the standard governs. We do not reproduce its content - it is copyrighted and you should work from the current edition, not from a supplier's summary.
If anything on this page conflicts with the current edition of the standard, the standard is right and this page is wrong. Tell us and we will correct it.