CO2 pipe

[jubby]

I’ve just converted a fridge for storing kegs and need some nice flexible 6mm bore pipe for Co2. I used the normal beer line in my last fridge but it’s too stiff. I ordered PVC food grade pipe but it smells bad so I don’t want to use it. Anybody use silicone pipe for Co2?? The right wall thickness will handle the pressure.

[Jocky]

I've seen pictures (on here) of people with ruptured silicone hose that has exploded due to gas pressure. I suspect once you get to a 'safe' thickness of silicone hose it will be as unwieldy as your stiff beer line.

Beer line is stiff so that it can be thin and handle the pressure. If you need to go around corners in a tight space then get some john guest elbow fittings.

[jubby]

Thanks Jocky. It’s not the bending of the beer line, it’s the general ease of handling in confined spaces. I’ll have a search for the burst hose post and see what pressures were involved.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Once the pipe (of any sort) kinks, then the kinked area becomes compromised from a strength point of view - so it becomes a site for blowouts.

Not all silicone hose is the same, and I would say that once you get down to small bore tubing, it gets hard to find silicone tubing with appropriately thick walls. Stick to 3/8 line and plan out how to bend it in place with 3/8 elbows.

[jubby]

Found the post about the burst Silicone pipe Jocky.

Went with THIS in the end. Works well and doesn't smell of plastic.

[PeeBee]

Silicon is very porous to gases (including oxygen, so don't use it as beer-line) so isn't ideal even though it is perfect for pre-fermentation beer use. For CO2 the fish-tank users use polyurethane. Polyurethane is used for many pneumatic uses. I've been using it (6mm OD, 4mm ID plus 8mm OD, 6mm ID) for a couple of years now. Very flexible but can still be kinked if bent too tight. The connectors (metal) are vastly superior and cheaper than John Guest ones.

Available (but very variable) from eBay. Also aquarium supplies and pneumatic suppliers. I use https://www.contextpneumatics-catalogue.co.uk but it does take a bit of navigating. Fix price P&P so be careful of very small orders. The fittings are mostly here https://www.contextpneumatics-catalogue ... town=False and the tubing https://www.contextpneumatics-catalogue ... town=False (hmm, seems the coils are 25m now, not 10m, but at £8.45 + vat + p&p for the 6x4mm stuff it's a steal).

There's plenty going on here (8x6mm tube):

(EDIT: Actually you could get away with the 4 and 5mm OD tube, which will be as flexible as (and look like) spaghetti. We are home-brewers, not Pubs, and the throughput of CO2 in such fine tube will easily keep pace with a home bar environment. But I've never tried it, and you won't get 1/4" BSP fittings, only 1/8" ones. I'd worry if using handpumps as they could draw beer out faster than gas goes in; which when using Corny kegs could result in popping the lids as a vacuum develops.)

[PeeBee]

Another piccie, just to put scale to the claim it's "very flexible":

Actually one of those lines did crimp shut; one connecting lid components with box components (with grey band around it). It didn't crimp shut until the lid was closed which caused some head-scratching when troubleshooting. The crimp was easily corrected by lengthening that line and creating a loop with the surplus ("pig-tail").

What I need such crazy control boxes for is another story.

The blue tube is 6x4mm, the black is 8x6mm. So I can tell at a glance which are the "bus" lines holding the higher pressure (4-5 bar) fed by the "primary" regulator. Blue lines hold the lower pressures (0.05-1 bar) fed by the "secondary" regulators (there are two in that box).

[LeeH]

Is that your crazy keg wash peebee?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk Pro

[PeeBee]

Is that your crazy keg wash peebee?

Nope! If you look at the piccie's timestamp, it was one of last years projects. Keg washer (I'm thinking of putting a shower curtain about it and make it multi-functional) is held up waiting for the new power supply to arrive - well, I was convinced I had a 45A supply, but it was only 20. Big bang. Don't think the Chinese makers had heard of fuses.

The control box was because I hadn't the heart to throw out those two huge Shako NUR regulators. So I spent twice as much as 4 perfectly good Shako NR200 regulators that I usually use, to sandwich them NUR ones between solenoid valves. The NURs are very "extravagant" with gas - I guess they were designed for air compressors - so they needed isolating between pours.

And I'm not crazy! You shouldn't believe what my pet Pteranodon flies about the UK telling people. And if you see her tell her it's way past tea-time and to come home damn quick. ( … What? … no I don't want to swallow another of those little pea-like things, I don't like the colour, and I'm busy talking to this guy inside the box under the desk right now … ).