I'm tired of hoses collapsing, so I'm upgrading to 90 elbows and silicone tubing. My question is what length of tubing is ideal? Should it go to the bottom of the receiving vessel? Just long enough to get in the vessel? Silicone ain't cheap and I'd like to cut down on the length to save money if possible. Does it matter? It seems with longer lines, once the tube gets submerged, a siphon starts occurring, which leads me to think bottom, but you guys are the experts
Optimum tube length for gravity-fed system
- Thread starter wbtenor
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The length of the tubing won't make any difference, but it's usually a good idea to avoid splashing except if maybe you want to aerate the wort as when transferring to a fermenter after it has cooled. Look at it this way. We are only talking a couple of feet one way or the other. Not a huge difference in cost. I would buy hoses that reach to the bottom of the receiving vessel. That way you would have the option to position the output wherever you want it without finding it too short. Submerged or not won't influence the siphon effect. The pressure head is a function of the difference between the height of the surface of the liquid in each vessel (if at the same level, the flow will stop). It won't make any difference if the end of the tubing is submerged or not. I don't see any significant cost savings to be had by shortening the tubing a foot or two.
Now get on with it!
