B16.10: Valve Face-to-Face Dims

Quick Reference

ASME B16.10 specifies face-to-face (flanged) and end-to-end (butt-weld) dimensions for steel valves. Covers: gate, globe, plug, ball, check, butterfly. Purpose: ensure interchangeability between manufacturers without piping modifications. Works with ASME B16.34 (pressure ratings) and ASME B16.5 (flange connections). Critical for valve replacement and system maintenance.

What Is Valve Face-to-Face Dimension?

The valve face-to-face dimension refers to the distance between the two end faces of a valve, which are the points where the valve connects to the piping system.

This measurement is key for ensuring that the valve fits properly within a given piping layout and for facilitating valve replacement or system upgrades. Manufacturers and industry standards, such as those provided by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI), American Petroleum Institute (API), and the Manufacturers Standardization Society (MSS), specify face-to-face dimensions for different types of valves (e.g., gate, globe, check, ball, and butterfly valves) and service conditions. Standardizing these dimensions helps in maintaining uniformity across valves produced by different manufacturers, allowing for easier interchangeability and system maintenance.

The ASME B16.10 Specification

ASME B16.10 is a widely recognized standard issued by the American Society of Mechanical Engineers (ASME) that specifies the face-to-face and end-to-end dimensions of flanged and butt-welded end steel valves. This standard is critical for ensuring the compatibility and interchangeability of valves within piping systems, facilitating easier installation, maintenance, and replacement.

The standard covers a variety of valve types, including gate, globe, plug, ball, check, and butterfly valves, and applies to various sizes and pressure classes.

By defining precise dimensions for each valve type, ASME B16.10 helps to standardize valve design across the industry, making it simpler for engineers and designers to select and specify valves for new installations or to find suitable replacements for existing systems.

Adherence to ASME B16.10 ensures that valves manufactured by different companies can be used interchangeably in a piping system without the need for modifications, provided they conform to the same type, size, and pressure class as specified in the standard. This interoperability is key for maintaining the efficiency, safety, and reliability of fluid handling systems across various applications, including oil and gas, chemical processing, power generation, and water treatment.

Why Face-to-Face Standardization Matters

The whole point of ASME B16.10 is interchangeability. If a plant needs to replace a 6” Class 300 gate valve, the new valve - regardless of manufacturer - must have the same face-to-face dimension as the old one. Otherwise, the pipe spools on either side don’t reach, and the maintenance job turns into a piping fabrication job.

This matters most during turnarounds and emergency shutdowns, where time is critical. A standardized face-to-face means you can stock replacement valves from any compliant manufacturer and know they’ll bolt in without cutting pipe.

The standard distinguishes between two measurement conventions:

• Face-to-face (FTF): for flanged-end valves - measured from one flange face to the other
• End-to-end (ETE): for butt-weld end valves - measured from one weld-end bevel to the other

Short Pattern vs Long Pattern

Several valve types in ASME B16.10 come in both short pattern and long pattern variants. This is one of the most common sources of ordering mistakes.

Short pattern valves have a smaller face-to-face, saving space and weight. They’re common for ball valves and plug valves in lower-pressure services.

Long pattern valves have a larger face-to-face, which gives more room for the internal mechanism and usually results in lower pressure drop. Gate valves, globe valves, and high-performance ball valves are typically long pattern.

The critical point: you cannot substitute a short-pattern valve into a space designed for a long-pattern valve (or vice versa) without modifying the pipe spool. When specifying valves, always state the pattern explicitly on the purchase order. When replacing valves, always measure the existing face-to-face on-site before ordering.

ASME B16.10 ensures interchangeability: By standardizing face-to-face and end-to-end dimensions across manufacturers, this specification allows engineers to replace valves from any compliant manufacturer without modifying existing piping layouts; provided the type, size, and pressure class match.

Pro Tip

Before ordering a replacement valve, always physically measure the existing face-to-face dimension on-site - don’t rely solely on drawings or specifications. I’ve seen many cases where the as-built differs from the design, either due to construction modifications or previous replacements with non-standard valves. A dimension mismatch means cutting and re-welding pipe spools.

ASME B16.10 Valve Face-to-Face Size Charts (Class 150 to 2500)

Valve face to face dimension ASME B16.10

Valves Class 150

Note: dimensions in mm for flanged valves with RF face (ASME B16.10)

150#	Ball Long Pattern	Ball Short Pattern	Gate Solid Wedge and Double Disc	Gate Conduit	Plug Short Pattern	Plug Regular Pattern	Plug Venturi Pattern	Plug Round Port Full Bore	Globe Lift and Swing Check	Y-Globe and Y-Swing Check
1/2	108	108	108	-	-	-	-	-	108	140
3/4	117	117	117	-	-	-	-	-	117	152
1	127	127	127	-	140	-	-	176	127	165
1 1/4	140	140	140	-	-	-	-	-	140	184
1 1/2	165	165	165	-	165	-	-	222	165	203
2½	178	178	178	178	178	-	178	267	203	229
2½	190	190	190	190	190	-	-	298	216	279
3	203	203	203	203	203	-	203	343	241	318
4	229	229	229	229	229	305	229	432	292	368
5	-	-	254	-	254	381	-	-	356	-
6	394	267	267	267	267	394	394	-	406	470
8	457	292	292	292	292	457	457	-	495	597
10	533	330	330	330	330	533	533	-	622	673
12	610	356	356	356	356	610	610	-	698	775
14	686	381	381	381	-	686	686	-	787	-
16	762	406	406	406	-	762	762	-	914	-
18	864	-	432	432	-	864	864	-	978	-
20	914	-	457	457	-	914	914	-	978	-
22	-	-	-	508	-	-	-	-	1067	-
24	1067	-	508	508	-	1067	1067	-	1295	-
26	-	-	559	559	-	-	-	-	1295	-
28	-	-	610	610	-	-	-	-	1448	-
30	-	-	610	660	-	-	-	-	1524	-
32	-	-	-	711	-	-	-	-	-	-
34	-	-	-	762	1016	-	-	-	-	-
36	-	-	711	813	-	-	-	-	1956	-

Common Mistake

Specifying short-pattern ball valves without verifying the piping layout allows for it. Short-pattern valves save space and cost, but they don’t always fit - especially in retrofits where the existing pipe spools were cut for long-pattern valves. Mismatched patterns mean expensive spool modifications or ordering new valves.

Valves Class 300

Note: dimensions in mm for flanged valves with RF face (ASME B16.10)

300#	Ball Long Pattern	Ball Short Pattern	Gate Solid Wedge and Double Disc and Conduit	Plug Short and Venturi Pattern	Plug Regular Pattern	Plug Round Port Full Bore	Globe and Lift Check	Swing Check
1/2	140	140	140	-	-	-	152	-
3/4	152	152	152	-	-	-	178	-
1	165	165	165	159	-	190	203	216
1 1/4	178	178	178	-	-	-	216	229
1 1/2	190	190	190	190	-	241	229	241
2½	216	216	216	216	-	282	267	267
2½	241	241	241	241	-	330	292	292
3	282	282	282	282	-	387	318	318
4	305	305	305	305	-	457	356	356
5	-	-	381	-	-	-	400	400
6	403	403	403	403	403	559	444	444
8	502	419	419	419	502	686	559	533
10	568	457	457	457	568	826	622	622
12	648	502	502	502	711	965	711	711
14	762	572	762	762	762	-	-	838
16	838	610	838	838	838	-	-	864
18	914	660	914	914	914	-	-	978
20	991	711	991	991	991	-	-	1016
22	1092	-	1092	1092	1092	-	-	1118
24	1143	813	1143	1143	1143	-	-	1346
26	1245	-	1245	1245	1245	-	-	1346
28	1346	-	1346	1346	1346	-	-	1499
30	1397	-	1397	1397	1397	-	-	1594
32	1524	-	1524	1524	1524	-	-	-
34	1626	-	1626	1626	1626	-	-	-
36	1727	-	1727	1727	1727	-	-	2083

Valves Class 600

Note: dimensions in mm for flanged valves with RF face (ASME B16.10)

600#	Ball Long Pattern	Gate Solid Wedge and Double Disc and Conduit Long Pattern	Plug Regular and Venturi Pattern	Plug Round Port Full Bore	Globe Lift Check and Swing Check Long Pattern
1/2	165	165	-	-	165
3/4	190	190	-	-	190
1	216	216	216	254	216
1 1/4	229	229	229	-	229
1 1/2	241	241	241	318	241
2½	292	292	292	330	292
2½	330	330	330	381	330
3	356	356	356	444	356
4	432	432	432	508	432
5	-	508	-	-	508
6	559	559	559	660	559
8	660	660	660	794	660
10	787	787	787	940	787
12	838	838	838	1067	838
14	889	889	889	-	889
16	991	991	991	-	991
18	1092	1092	1092	-	1092
20	1194	1194	1194	-	1194
22	1295	1295	1295	-	1295
24	1397	1397	1397	-	1397
26	1448	1448	1448	-	1448
28	1549	1549	-	-	1600
30	1651	1651	1651	-	1651
32	1778	1778	1778	-	-
34	1930	1930	1930	-	-
36	2083	2083	2083	-	2083

Valves Class 900

Note: dimensions in mm for flanged valves with RF face (ASME B16.10)

900 #	Gate Solid Wedge and Double Disc and Conduit Long Pattern	Plug Regular and Venturi Pattern	Plug Round Port Full Bore	Globe Lift Check and Swing Check Long Pattern	Ball Long Pattern
3/4	-	-	-	229	-
1	254	254	-	254	254
1¼	279	279	-	279	279
1½	305	305	356	305	305
2	368	368	381	368	368
2½	419	419	432	419	419
3	381	381	470	381	381
4	457	457	559	457	457
5	559	-	-	559	-
6	610	610	737	610	610
8	737	737	813	737	737
10	838	838	965	838	838
12	965	965	1118	965	965
14	1029	-	-	1029	1029
16	1130	1130	-	1130	1130
18	1219	-	-	1219	1219
20	1321	1321	-	1321	1321
22	-	-	-	-	-
24	1549	-	-	1549	1549

Valves Class 1500

Note: dimensions in mm for flanged valves with RF face (ASME B16.10)

1500#	Gate Solid Wedge Double Disc and Conduit Long Pattern	Plug Regular and Venturi Pattern	Plug Round Port Full Bore	Globe Lift Check and Swing Check Short Pattern	Ball Long Pattern
1/2	-	-	-	216	-
3/4	-	-	-	229	-
1	254	254	-	254	-
1¼	279	279	-	279	-
1½	305	305	-	305	-
2	368	368	391	368	368
2½	419	419	454	419	419
3	470	470	524	470	470
4	546	546	625	546	546
5	673	-	-	673	-
6	705	705	787	705	705
8	832	832	889	832	832
10	991	991	1067	991	991
12	1130	1130	1219	1130	1130
14	1257	-	-	1257	1257
16	1384	1384	-	1384	1384
18	1537	-	-	1537	-
20	1664	-	-	1664	-
22	-	-	-	-	-
24	1943	-	-	1943	-

Valves Class 2500

Note: dimensions in mm for flanged valves with RF face (ASME B16.10)

2500#	Gate Solid Wedge Double Disc and Conduit Long Pattern	Plug Regular Pattern	Globe Lift Check and Swing Check Long Pattern	Ball Long Pattern
1/2	264	-	264	-
3/4	273	-	273	-
1	308	308	308	-
1¼	349	-	349	-
1½	384	384	384	-
2	451	451	451	451
2½	508	508	508	508
3	578	578	578	578
4	673	673	673	673
5	794	794	794	-
6	914	914	914	914
8	1022	1022	1022	1022
10	1270	1270	1270	1270
12	1422	1422	1422	1422

The ASME B16.10 specification can be purchased from the ASME website.

Field Note

When planning valve maintenance that requires removal, account for gasket thickness in your calculations. Two new gaskets can add several millimeters to the assembly, and if the piping is rigid, you may not have enough play to reinstall the valve. Always have a piping stress engineer review critical lines before valve removal.