Installing elbow shanks in 3" tower, I need smaller hands or smaller hose clamps

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humann_brewing

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Ok, so what are peoples secrets on getting these d$mn things installed.

The smallest hose clamp I could find it 1/4" which works for the 3/16 hose on a 1/4" barb fitting, but my problem is getting it all through the brass nut that tightens everything on the back.

I hooked up the hose and clamp, fed it through the faucet hole on the tower down through the bottom, then I feed the brass ring up the opposite way but can't get it past the hose clamp.

I have a few on these things
Oetiker_Stepless_Clamp.jpg
but don't have the special tool and can't get a regular wrench to work.

So what am I missing? I could put the hose clamp on afterwords but would be hard to tighten as it is facing down, again tight space here.
 
Sorry, RC0032, but I'm hoping this will help humann. (RC0032 had PM'd me a similar question as we both have ACU towers. Hopefully it's useful, but it's hard to explain, I didn't take pictures while doing it, and pictures now wouldn't help.)

It's a pain in the ass. I only have two taps on my tower so that probably made it easier, but not much.

I basically ended up attaching the lines outside the tower and then just hand tightening the shanks to give me some wiggle room when trying to clamp the hoses. You'll be able to turn the shank slightly so the clamp screw will face up.

Also, make sure you've cut away enough of the insulation. I don't have any of it compressed between the tower and the shank parts; it was too thick.

* Run the lines up from the fridge out of the top of the tower.
* Slide a hose clamp on to each hose, tightened just enough so that it won't move unless you slide it along (you probably only need to slide it on about 4-6").
* For each line, take all of the shank parts that go on the inside of the tower (nut, washer, and black plastic thingy, I think) and slide them on the line making sure they don't fall past the clamp (if the clamp even fits through the hole).
* One by one, pull each hose through its tap hole and attach the hose to the shank barb.
* Push the hose/shank back into the hole, line all the parts up, and finger tighten the shank nut.
* Slide the clamp up the hose and tighten it.
* Finish tightening the shank nut with a wrench, pliers, etc.

Hopefully that'll help, but it was a trial and cuss sort of process.

The key to making it work is being able to turn the shank so that you can get the screw on the hose clamp to face up. I'll see if I can come up with some way to explain better, but I'm afraid the most helpful thing would be for me to take mine apart and take pictures/video as I put it back together -- no offense, but I don't know anybody here well enough to go through that for them. :D
 
Holy crap batman, I forgot the hose clamps! Soaked the end of the smaller ID beer line in boiling water and shoved it on the barbed end. 6 kegs of beer through 3 taps so far and no leaky. Tightening the shank nuts was an effort in frustration because I was too lazy to go buy a ???, not sure exactly what kind of open end wrench would fit.

No guarantee for your system, but 10psi seems to be low enough pressure to keep the hose on.
 
"No guarantee for your system, but 10psi seems to be low enough pressure to keep the hose on."

That's one hell of a risk to take, especially if it decides to let go when you're not around.
 
That's one hell of a risk to take, especially if it decides to let go when you're not around.

You are correct dstar26t- it is a needless risk and I will be adding some clamps soon. I bought those damn silly plastic squeeze on clamps originally and they were useless and just forgot to get back to it. Worm drive clamps and a long shaft hex driver should work on clamping them down.
 
Sorry, RC0032, but I'm hoping this will help humann. (RC0032 had PM'd me a similar question as we both have ACU towers. Hopefully it's useful, but it's hard to explain, I didn't take pictures while doing it, and pictures now wouldn't help.)



The key to making it work is being able to turn the shank so that you can get the screw on the hose clamp to face up. I'll see if I can come up with some way to explain better, but I'm afraid the most helpful thing would be for me to take mine apart and take pictures/video as I put it back together -- no offense, but I don't know anybody here well enough to go through that for them. :D


Thanks for the information that gives me a few other ideas. One of which would be to attach everything on the backside and slide it up from the bottom and get it through the hole then just attach the outside piece and screw. I don't have it in front of me right now, but will try it out tonight.
 
Sorry, RC0032, but I'm hoping this will help humann. (RC0032 had PM'd me a similar question as we both have ACU towers. Hopefully it's useful, but it's hard to explain, I didn't take pictures while doing it, and pictures now wouldn't help.)



The key to making it work is being able to turn the shank so that you can get the screw on the hose clamp to face up. I'll see if I can come up with some way to explain better, but I'm afraid the most helpful thing would be for me to take mine apart and take pictures/video as I put it back together -- no offense, but I don't know anybody here well enough to go through that for them. :D
Im about to fly you up here to do it :tank:
 
I will post the pics later but I got the 2 lower taps installed which are the hard ones. Installing the first one I was able to use the other hole that the second lower tap was not in yet to stick the screw driver through and tighten the hose clamp and then a little bit more with some needle nose plyers that takes about 80 turns for 1 rotation of the screws :(

For the second one I tighten the hose clamp as tight as it would go and still be able to slide on the hose. Since the section that is on the barb of the shank expands the hose a little, I grabbed the hose clamp with the needle nose plyers and wiggled it over the barbed area then used it to tighted with the 80 turns to = 1 rotation :( I also used the second smallest wrench I had to turn a few more times. They are on there pretty good and I just need to be able to tighten the brass nut that squeezes the shank to the faucet some more.
 
Here are the pictures

A shot with shanks almost in
P1040852.JPG


A shot down the center showing the shanks in their place nice and tight. I still have to put the top one in but that one will be easy
P1040855.JPG


Stainless steel shank
P1040859.JPG


Nice 525SS perlick faucet
P1040860.JPG
 
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