Therminator- 3/4" or 1/2" Hose for water in/out?

Hi All,

New guy here.

I searched, but I'm sorry if I missed a thread on this.

I just bought a blichmann therminator. I brew indoors (electric), and the spigot that I have available for the cold water supply is on 1/2" pipe (and 1/2" bib). My plan was to use 1/2" silicone hose for all connections on the therminator so that I could make use of the same quick disconnects I use on other devices/etc. The quick disconnects are expensive, so I want to maximize flexibility for future configurations by not introducing another size of quick disconnects.

The therminator uses 3/4" hose connections for the water in/out though.

Here's my question: would it be beneficial to performance if I use a 3/4" hose, even if the water supply is fed by a 1/2" pipe?

I know that increasing the ID of the hose will increase the volume of water entering the therminator, but I think that also means that it will decrease the pressure (velocity) of the water going through it.

So asked differently, what's more important for the cold water supply in terms of the speed of chilling: more volume or more velocity, assuming a trade off is necessary?

Thanks in advance for your help!!



Peter

I would not use the same unreinforced 1/2" ID silicone hose most use on their brew rigs for the cold water IN path to the chiller.

I'm pretty sure my water hoses are the typical 5/8" ID as most GHT hoses sold in the US.
I put GHT disconnects on the hoses with mates on the PC as imo there's no reason for interchangeability (and it also assures proper connectivity)...

Cheers!

I use cam locks in my whole system. When i used the therminator i got a 3/4" GHT to 1/2" NPT adapter and used a regular 1/2" cam male lock. Use thick walled silicone 1/2" ID hose

As long as you don't restrict the outlet you can use regular unreinforced tubing with city water pressure. just don't restrict it or it'll blow up on you.

schematix said:

I use cam locks in my whole system. When i used the therminator i got a 3/4" GHT to 1/2" NPT adapter and used a regular 1/2" cam male lock. Use thick walled silicone 1/2" ID hose

As long as you don't restrict the outlet you can use regular unreinforced tubing with city water pressure. just don't restrict it or it'll blow up on you.

Click to expand...

OMG, I kid you not, I just learned that lesson about 15 minutes ago. Connected one of my silicone hoses to my water filter with the valve on the filter closed. Noticed that the hose was swelling up, and said to myself, "That's odd... I should probably open the valve on the... POP!!" water everywhere. Scared the bajesus out of me and took a few seconds before I realized I should turn the water off.

lesson learned!

Anyway, thanks guys for the tips. I will definitely find another style hose for the pressurized city water- maybe just a garden hose. Seems like the hose diameter doesn't matter much either way.

pierps said:

OMG, I kid you not, I just learned that lesson about 15 minutes ago. Connected one of my silicone hoses to my water filter with the valve on the filter closed. Noticed that the hose was swelling up, and said to myself, "That's odd... I should probably open the valve on the... POP!!" water everywhere. Scared the bajesus out of me and took a few seconds before I realized I should turn the water off.

lesson learned!

Anyway, thanks guys for the tips. I will definitely find another style hose for the pressurized city water- maybe just a garden hose. Seems like the hose diameter doesn't matter much either way.

Click to expand...

Been there too, twice.

"So endeth the lesson"