cleaning ball valves

[Graham.C]

I have never disassembled my ball valves to clean them. I recognize this is bad and am doing it tonight, but I have never taken one apart. I know there are lots of styles but I seem to be stuck on the one I have (something like this). Anyone know how to crack these suckers open?

[Tony L]

Unscrew the valve body where you see the line dividing the valve. The ball will drop out when you position the valve handle a certain way.
Then you remove the two plastic pieces inside the two half sections of the valve body. Pretty easy and straight forward once you start at it.

[Graham.C]

Ok, obviously I wasn't putting enough muscle into it. Thanks!

[Tony L]

Note the way the plastic is when you take it out of the valve so it goes back the same way.
You'll need two wrenches to remove the two sections, or some way to secure the main section of the valve to unscrew the other end.

[McGruff]

I clean mine quite often. There is always wort trapped inside when I take it apart. Kind of stinks too.