Sight tube for boiler?

[Jolum]

Hi all,

I'm putting together a 50 Ltr setup for someone and rather than have separate pots for HLT and boiler I thought I'd save him some cash and combine the two in a single pot (he can always take a leaf out of DaaB's book and use an underback). Thing is can I use a sight tube with the HTL\boiler? I was going to use one I got off Garth ages ago. At the time I bought 2 off Garth, I used one of them in my 100 Ltr HLT and the other I've kept for a rainy day
Does anyone know, will the plastic tube take boiling temperatures? If you're about Garth, I'm sure you'll know.

[tubthumper]

yes they wer made of polycarbonate so would be safe check out this link
viewtopic.php?f=8&t=15873 if you forgot
polycarb is safe to a maximum Temperature: 250°F 121°C
so nothing to worry about as boiling does not go that high but steam can

[beermonsta]

quick side question - not worried about the boiling liquid temp but more about how suitable one would be when used on a steel pot heated by gas. Would the heat rising up the side melt the polycarbonate? anyone done this?

[Jolum]

Thanks tubthumpa, thought I'd just ask to be sure.

Sorry beermonsta, I'm a lekky man myself

[tubthumper]

use a thermometer on the side of your pot to find out but if its the gas rising then you need to turn the gas down so it does not go over the sides as its a waste of gas just heating the air. the side ot the pot will also had some elbows which will also take some heat away but I am sure that others have tried this and its ok and if your really worried about it just use glass but it will be hard to find and hard to cut

[WishboneBrewery]

If you do think about Glass tube on a Gas fired boiler, you could try Steam Boiler Engineers. Gas or Oil Fired Steam Boilers have at least 1 Glass sight tube for levels during blow-downs etc

[beermonsta]

choo-choo - cheers tub thumper and pdtnc looks like I'm off down the hill to the steam train station to look for someone wearing a boiler suit
Can't you 'cut' a glass tube by heating it to melting point then ...ermm...chopping or stretching it? something from my childhood brought a memory back - the chemistry set had glass tubes in it.
Cheers, Ben

[tubthumper]

this look a good one
http://www.visilume.com/home/item/level ... gauge.html