U.S. Solid 3/8" Electric Solenoid Valve 12-VDC, VITON Gasket, Air, Gas, Fuel Normally Closed

Nice item, great addition to a gravity feed auxiliary fuel tank

Works perfectly! Initially I installed a 12v fuel pump, thinking it had a built-in shut off valve, it didn’t. So, I installed this shutoff valve in-between the aux tank and the 12v fuel pump. I wired both to the same switch, both- open and pump at the same time. Works perfectly.

Worked as expected but solenoid gets very hot when energized. Curious if this will make it fail sooner.

no bracket or hardware had to make my own

I originally posted the negative review below, and almost immediately after posting it, the owner of the company not only issued me a credit, but he sent me an email acknowledging they had a manufacturing problem. He also offered to send me out an immediate replacement, and asked that I call him personally. So, I called, and he answered - on a Sunday. As background, I bought this solenoid over a year ago, but had not installed it until last weekend, so I had exceeded the warranty period and they were under no requirement to address my concerns. I was very impressed that he admitted they had a manufacturing/supplier problem and they were replacing the units. He explained that some people do not understand these types of valves are not intended to be energized (i.e. be kept in the on/open position) for an extended period of time. The valve is opened via an electromagnet which by their very nature will generate some heat over time. That is both entirely reasonable and in line with the additional research I had done. This was also in line with my particular need (to open a low-pressure LPG line in a boat/RV when cooking, and automatically shut off the supply when the switch is turned off). I also determined this is consistent with other solenoids. He went on to explain that there are better solutions for valves that need to be kept open for extended periods. I put in the replacement, and am happy to report that while the solenoid gets warm, it is much cooler than the first one, and the draw went from 2 amps on the first unit to about 1.2 amps on the replacement. As sailors, we are always concerned about battery draw as we sail for many hours without running the engine, so unnecessarily drawing down our battery bank is not something we want to do unnecessarily. In short, I am extremely impressed by someone who cares enough about their business to fix a problem even after the warranty period expires - and to be honest when a manufacturing or supply problem is discovered. I will now go out of my way to buy from US Solid in the future. ORIGINAL REVIEW: I bought this valve as I had to repair the system on my boat about a year ago. I finally got around to replacing my old solenoid which was quite rusty, but still worked. Upon hooking this up, it ran WAY hot, measuring over 180 degrees on the outside. Now I have to replace it immediately after putting it on. I see they no longer sell this unit.