For one reason or another, our customers often need to adapt their process lines from sanitary tube to pipe fittings and vice versa.  There are several ways to do this.  We will use this post to better detail what types of fittings are commercially available to accomplish this.

Let’s start with adapting from sanitary clamp fittings.  To adapt to male NPT pipe there is basically one type of adapter available- the 21MP male pipe adapter.  This is a clamp in adapter, sanitary clamp on one side male pipe thread on the other. Good adapters will have wrench flats to help in assembly. They are offered in a myriad of sizes in both 304 and 316 stainless steel.  Clamp sizes range from ½” to 4”.  The most common sizes, 1”, 1 ½” and 2” are commonly available in NPT sizes down to 1/2”, but we do stock NPT sizes as small as 1/8”.

To adapt from sanitary clamp to female NPT there are two commercially available fittings.  The first is the 22MP which is similar to the 21MP.  Clamp sizes range from ½”-4”.  These are available with about the same choice of pipe sizes as the 21MP male sanitary adapter.

The second choice is the 23BMP.  Also known as a thermometer cap, the 23BMP is essentially a very thick Tri-Clamp cap that has been bored and tapped in the center with female NPT threads.  They are available in sanitary clamp sizes 1”-4”, but have a more limited number of sizes available on the NPT side. The standard thread for most sizes is ¾” FNPT but there are some other sizes available.  The 23BMP is less expensive than the 22MP and takes up less space. Holland stocks blank caps in a variety of sizes and we can tap and drill them to your specification. We pride ourselves on extremely quick turnaround.

Left to Right, 21MP Male Adapter, 22MP Female Adapter and a 23BMP Female Adapter Screwed to a Pipe Elbow

If you want to adapt from a sanitary buttweld tube end to NPT there are weld on fittings available with both male and female NPT ends.  These are available in sizes from ½”up to 6” OD tubing on the buttweld side.  None of these are available with size reductions, so if you are adapting from 1” tubing the fitting will have a 1”NPT end.

To adapt from sanitary tubing to flanges there are weld-on options commercially available.  The most common method is using a buttweld stub end ferrule with a slip on flange.  These are available from tube sizes ½” through 6”.  The stub ends are available in 304 and 316L stainless steel. The flanges are primarily 304.

So those are the fittings that are pretty much off the shelf and commercially available.  What do you do if you application needs cannot be solved with one of these fittings?  Call us.  We make special adapters for customers every day.  Be it sanitary clamp by flange adapters, special size adapters, specially polish requirements, special metallurgy, you name it, we have probably made one.  Contact one of our sales engineering and we will help you design the most cost effective solution that meets your needs.