8mm OD EVA Barrier tube Duotight fitting for C02 regulator below shut off valve

[sixstring]

In case anyone's in a tight spot and needs a connector for their EVA barrier tube on a gas line to their regulator. I needed something for mine that I could connect below the shut off valves on the regulator. Wasn't sure if they'd work, but I didn't want to wait for Williams to send me the actual duotight connector.
I'm sure they're not the greatest option. But they do work without any gas leaks (as long as you use teflon tape on the regulator thread)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0822LFW62

 

[mashdar]

FWIW a flare fitting should not need any tape/doping. Unlike tapered threads, the threads in a flare fitting are not where the seal happens.

edit: Oh, that's a tapered thread part. Are you putting it on a flare fitting on the regulator?

 

[Deadalus]

In case anyone's in a tight spot and needs a connector for their EVA barrier tube on a gas line to their regulator. I needed something for mine that I could connect below the shut off valves on the regulator. Wasn't sure if they'd work, but I didn't want to wait for Williams to send me the actual duotight connector.
I'm sure they're not the greatest option. But they do work without any gas leaks (as long as you use teflon tape on the regulator thread)
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0822LFW62

So as mashdar noted, those are 1/4" NPT threads on the elbow. If the male threads on the shut off valve are NPT, you would need the teflon tape. If the threads on the shutoff are not NPT they are probably flare threads. In which case, I'd suggest replacing the shutoff due to the mismatched threading. Duotight to my knowledge does not have any 1/4"NPT x ptc adapters and instead have 1/4" BSP threads on their ptc adapters. Or alternatively, they also have 1/4" female flare x ptc adapters, which is a common thread type for the inline shutoff valves.

Here's a picture of a typical shutoff valve. The bulb nose end is 1/4" flare and is where the gas comes out. The side that attaches to the regulator is 1/4" NPT usually. You can see the taper slightly on the NPT side. The NPT side gets teflon tape. The flare side, if attached to another metal fitting, needs a washer unless it has sort of a built in plastic part. Ball lock QDs have that if they are flare threads.

 

[sixstring]

So as mashdar noted, those are 1/4" NPT threads on the elbow. If the male threads on the shut off valve are NPT, you would need the teflon tape. If the threads on the shutoff are not NPT they are probably flare threads. In which case, I'd suggest replacing the shutoff due to the mismatched threading. Duotight to my knowledge does not have any 1/4"NPT x ptc adapters and instead have 1/4" BSP threads on their ptc adapters. Or alternatively, they also have 1/4" female flare x ptc adapters, which is a common thread type for the inline shutoff valves.

Here's a picture of a typical shutoff valve. The bulb nose end is 1/4" flare and is where the gas comes out. The side that attaches to the regulator is 1/4" NPT usually. You can see the taper slightly on the NPT side. The NPT side gets teflon tape. The flare side, if attached to another metal fitting, needs a washer unless it has sort of a built in plastic part. Ball lock QDs have that if they are flare threads.
View attachment 872788

yes that's what the shut off valve looks like basically. The bulb nose part is what i had to connect to. Ok, I should've used a washer then from the sounds of it But teflon tape did the trick. I sprayed starsan all over the place to check for any leaks and no bubbles appeared anywhere except for the 1/4" flare. Wrapped the tape and all the nice bubbles stopped immediately.
I had these on order duotight 1/4" flare to 8mm tube (image attached), but they're not arriving until friday. Hence the reason for the other elbow air fitting. But I figured i'd just keep these in reserve in case i spring a gas leak. At least I have something easy to fix it with then.

https://www.morebeer.com/products/duotight-pushin-fitting-8-mm-516-14-flare.html

 

[Deadalus]

No, you shouldn't have used a washer on it, you should have used two fittings with matching threads. It's ok you made a mistake, it's part of learning, but don't perpetuate the mistake! The thread types have different geometries and are now cross threaded, which typically damages the threads. (Both were metal.) If just holding two items together they may still continue to bind but this is for gas. You may eventually lose a tank of gas which you will kick yourself in the ass over since the valve is much cheaper. And if your threads are damaged on the valve, the correct new adapters, which are plastic, those may have their threads damaged as well if screwed onto the damaged valve threads.

 

[sixstring]

No, you shouldn't have used a washer on it, you should have used two fittings with matching threads. It's ok you made a mistake, it's part of learning, but don't perpetuate the mistake! The thread types have different geometries and are now cross threaded, which typically damages the threads. (Both were metal.) If just holding two items together they may still continue to bind but this is for gas. You may eventually lose a tank of gas which you will kick yourself in the ass over since the valve is much cheaper. And if your threads are damaged on the valve, the correct new adapters, which are plastic, those may have their threads damaged as well if screwed onto the damaged valve threads.

Must've been the smoothest cross thread I've ever felt then Not disagreeing with you, but it literally felt like it screwed on perfectly. Didn't get any of that need to force it or that lovely metal on metal grinding that you would normally feel from a cross thread.

However, to avoid potential damage, I'll be replacing them on friday with the duotight connectors then to make sure it's done right. Thanks for the heads up all, I appreciate it.

 

[mashdar]

They may noy be cross theeaded. The issue if they have the same thread pitch (TPI etc) is that tapered threads are usually tapered on both ends so you get a large plane (cone?) of contact. Standard threads into a tapered part will have the tightest seal up front, and will be progressively looser towards the back. It'll be prone to leaks.

 

[Deadalus]

Must've been the smoothest cross thread I've ever felt then Not disagreeing with you, but it literally felt like it screwed on perfectly. Didn't get any of that need to force it or that lovely metal on metal grinding that you would normally feel from a cross thread.

However, to avoid potential damage, I'll be replacing them on friday with the duotight connectors then to make sure it's done right. Thanks for the heads up all, I appreciate it.

I was thinking the 1/4" flare would be too small to be confused with 1/4" NPT once the threads were checked initially but I guess not. I didn't fish a mismatched set out to check. The valve I pictured shows the diameter difference to some degree. If you wrapped a dozen turns of teflon or so, it was potentially cushioned.

They may noy be cross theeaded. The issue if they have the same thread pitch (TPI etc) is that tapered threads are usually tapered on both ends so you get a large plane (cone?) of contact. Standard threads into a tapered part will have the tightest seal up front, and will be progressively looser towards the back. It'll be prone to leaks.

Good points but I would caution that the thread cross sectional profile may still be different as different standards may use different angles and also different peak and valley shapes. So a mismatch might be forcing a more trapezoidal shaped peak into a triangular shaped valley, which may deform threads. I'm not saying it's a given but most of the shutoffs are cheaply made.

Also in this case, I think the tpi are different, 20 for the flare and 18 for the NPT.

It's OP's money and time to do whatever with.

 

[Broken Crow]

Must've been the smoothest cross thread I've ever felt then Not disagreeing with you, but it literally felt like it screwed on perfectly. Didn't get any of that need to force it or that lovely metal on metal grinding that you would normally feel from a cross thread.

However, to avoid potential damage, I'll be replacing them on friday with the duotight connectors then to make sure it's done right. Thanks for the heads up all, I appreciate it.

I'm really glad to see you digging in and trying out stuff on a quest for ubiquitous beer on tap. Can you post more pics when you do these things? This forum is regularly searched by new brewers and your threads have provided a great source of information that will likely be re-read by many who are looking to set up thier own kegerator.
I can see from your picture in another thread that you do have the cheap regulator in your kegerator (https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/data/attach/813/813350-IMG-8010.JPG) Please don't let my derogatory comments about it keep you from posting pics...having such a regulator is perfect for experimenting! One of the biggest issues that come up for folk setting up for kegging is the difficulty in getting EVABarrier attached to a regulator and IMO there aren't enough pictures in these threads to show readers how it's done.
Did you ever buy that Taprite? ...I ask because they usually come with barbs and I can't help wondering if you have or will give swaging EVABarrier on to barbs a try yet. If you have redundant regulators, it would be a great time to give it a go and share the results with pics.
Very glad to see you've got it all working now!

 

[sixstring]

They may noy be cross theeaded. The issue if they have the same thread pitch (TPI etc) is that tapered threads are usually tapered on both ends so you get a large plane (cone?) of contact. Standard threads into a tapered part will have the tightest seal up front, and will be progressively looser towards the back. It'll be prone to leaks.

I think there may be a bit of miscommunication that is causing some confusion too I've got the air connectors on the flare side, (the bulb gas out to keg) part of the valve. Not the tapered NPT side. And only used a very minimal amount of teflon (one full turn and a slight overlap).
Regardless, I am going to switch them out with the correct 1/4" flare connector to duotight tomorrow.

I'm really glad to see you digging in and trying out stuff on a quest for ubiquitous beer on tap. Can you post more pics when you do these things? This forum is regularly searched by new brewers and your threads have provided a great source of information that will likely be re-read by many who are looking to set up thier own kegerator.
I can see from your picture in another thread that you do have the cheap regulator in your kegerator (https://cdn.homebrewtalk.com/data/attach/813/813350-IMG-8010.JPG) Please don't let my derogatory comments about it keep you from posting pics...having such a regulator is perfect for experimenting! One of the biggest issues that come up for folk setting up for kegging is the difficulty in getting EVABarrier attached to a regulator and IMO there aren't enough pictures in these threads to show readers how it's done.
Did you ever buy that Taprite? ...I ask because they usually come with barbs and I can't help wondering if you have or will give swaging EVABarrier on to barbs a try yet. If you have redundant regulators, it would be a great time to give it a go and share the results with pics.
Very glad to see you've got it all working now!

Good point, I'll get some pics when I make the changes to the regulator tomorrow.
Good eye on you - Yep, I did go for the cheaper regulator, it's the SPARC dual output one, and actually it's working really nicely. I put the taprite dual on my wishlist so my kids can save up and get me something for my birthday I don't mind spending a bit here and there to try stuff out and see how it works. I find I learn best that way anyway. I actually have an old taprite sitting here that I got with the kegerator when i bought that. So I'm going to take the barb off the bottom of that and attach a shut off valve and then see if the duotight connector will fit properly on that too. If yes then I know what I need to do with the dual taprite when I finally get that.
The EVA set up was a breeze though. Had such a minimal amount of issues (the minor gas leak and some spraying of beer everywhere when I first got the kegerator, oh and managing to leak beer out of my FV when i cold crashed it), but nothing to complain about, mostly stupidity on my part haha.

Anyway, yes, I'll be happy to post some pics of the regulator with the correct fittings on it, and i'll put some links on what i bought, and how I did it.

 

[mac_1103]

I think there may be a bit of miscommunication that is causing some confusion too I've got the air connectors on the flare side, (the bulb gas out to keg) part of the valve. Not the tapered NPT side.

I don't think there was any confusion on that point. The thing is that your connectors are female NPT and you threaded them onto male flares, right?

 

[Bobby_M]

1/4" flare, which is named for the (flared) tubing OD size that the the nut would be compatible with, either JIC 37degree or ASE 45 degree, is 7/16-20 thread. NPT has a 18 thread pitch and the threads are actually over a 1/16" larger (and tapered). I suppose anything fits with enough teflon tape but my guess is that the teflon is acting as packing and a TPI adapter. I doubt the threads are meshing at all.

 

[sixstring]

Interesting. Well, I know it's odd, but it's definitely holding the gas in and it really didn't feel like it wasn't going to fit. It screwed on fine without the tape too, literally no friction, noise, rough or increasing tightening toughness. When i unscrewed it to put the tape on, there wasn't any thread damage that would be pretty easily noticed if it didn't fit properly. But maybe I just got lucky. Regardless, I'll change them to the correct fitting tomorrow when they arrive, just to be safe.

 

[Broken Crow]

I actually have an old taprite sitting here that I got with the kegerator when i bought that. So I'm going to take the barb off the bottom of that and attach a shut off valve and then see if the duotight connector will fit properly on that too. If yes then I know what I need to do with the dual taprite when I finally get that.

Just heads-up: Taprites usually ship with a shutoff valve with an integrated check-valve and the barb or MFL fitting is proprietary and its removal will wreck the check-valve, as well; you may have difficulty in finding a part to properly fit in its place as the backside is formed to retain a spring and ball within. If you're extremely lucky; There was a Taprite model years back that shipped with a barb that was removable and had an MFL fitting underneath so you had the option of choosing which connection to use....that model is very rare though. Any chance you can post a pic of the one you have before you alter it?

 

[Broken Crow]

Apologies for an extra post again... still thinking about it but in slow-motion
Since you're working on a permanent 2-tap/2-keg kegerator with only 2 gas lines, have you considered forgoing the mucking about with threaded fittings and simply swaging your gas lines on to the barbs? It's likely that the lines that came with your danby had 1/4"MFL swivel nuts that you can easily re-use and swag a pair of 1/4"ID EVABarrier lines on to for the gas side.
https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/evabarriertubing6mm55.htm
..if you need swivel nuts: https://www.brewhardware.com/product_p/fflbarb14.htm
Here's my own Taprite utility regulator that I used the 1/4"ID EVABarrier line on (with 13.3mm oetiker clamps);

And here's a 42 second video showing just how simple and easy it is to do: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/eva-barrier-line-conversion.733937/page-2#post-10406957
....just a thought.

 

[mashdar]

Just heads-up: Taprites usually ship with a shutoff valve with an integrated check-valve and the barb or MFL fitting is proprietary and its removal will wreck the check-valve, as well; you may have difficulty in finding a part to properly fit in its place as the backside is formed to retain a spring and ball within. If you're extremely lucky; There was a Taprite model years back that shipped with a barb that was removable and had an MFL fitting underneath so you had the option of choosing which connection to use....that model is very rare though. Any chance you can post a pic of the one you have before you alter it?

Hmm, I have one of these*
https://www.morebeer.com/products/co2-regulator-taprite-dual-gauge.html
and put one of these in it without issue.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/shutoff-valve-14-mpt-mfl.html
Maybe they improved their setup?

*it was part of a Komos kit I got as a gift via morebeer a couple years ago, so the exact SKU could be different.

edit: realized I linked another barb valve, not the flare I used

 

[Deadalus]

This is a 1/4" flare x ptc Duotight and a 1/4" male flare x something fitting screwed together. (I think it's a beer nut adapter, no matter.)

This is the male 1/4" flare inserted into a 1/4" female NPT X barb. No cross threading as there's way too much space for even thread contact. You may have 3/8" flare on the valve but at this point, we need a picture.

 

[sixstring]

Just heads-up: Taprites usually ship with a shutoff valve with an integrated check-valve and the barb or MFL fitting is proprietary and its removal will wreck the check-valve, as well; you may have difficulty in finding a part to properly fit in its place as the backside is formed to retain a spring and ball within. If you're extremely lucky; There was a Taprite model years back that shipped with a barb that was removable and had an MFL fitting underneath so you had the option of choosing which connection to use....that model is very rare though. Any chance you can post a pic of the one you have before you alter it?

I took a look at the old taprite and yep, it's not going to work on that. No worries, that thing is in such bad shape I should just bin it anyway. The guy i got all this stuff from didn't take care of his gear.

So, if these duotights don't work, then I'm going to just do what you did and put the barb connectors into the EVA tube and clamp it on tight and then put those back on the SPARC regulator. Either way, no big deal which way it ends up going.

Will be making the change over tomorrow, can't do it this evening as I have one of my FV's cold crashing some EPA in the fridge too, so I'll wait until i pull that out tomorrow to change the connections and take some pics.

 

[Broken Crow]

Hmm, I have one of these*
https://www.morebeer.com/products/co2-regulator-taprite-dual-gauge.html
and put one of these in it without issue.
https://www.morebeer.com/products/komos-14-npt-516-barb-ball-valve-check.html
Maybe they improved their setup?

*it was part of a Komos kit I got as a gift via morebeer a couple years ago, so the exact SKU could be different.

The barb on the Taprite valve is made to hold the internal check-valve together..changing the whole valve works fine though.

I took a look at the old taprite and yep, it's not going to work on that. No worries, that thing is in such bad shape I should just bin it anyway.

Nah! Taprites are survivors..really well built and replacement parts are still available. https://www.taprite.com/repair-parts-regulator-parts
Any idea what model it is?

 

[sixstring]

well, I forgot to take pics of what I did, but I managed to force the EVA gas lines on to 1/4" barbs that I had for the SPARC regulator. For some reason those 1/4" duotight connectors are too small. Not really sure how that makes sense, but they definitely don't fit.

In order to get the EVA barrier tubes on, I just made a little snip on the ends to let them flare out some, warmed them up in hot water and then got some pliers to hold the barb and some molegrips to hold the tube without destroying it, and just jammed it on and then put one of those little screw tight fasteners to just really hold the tube in place.
Sprayed it with starsan and no bubbles. So hopefully that should be the end of that. I do think the air fittings were leaking, but just so gently that it wasn't making any noise or bubbles. As my tank gauge showed quite a drop. Oh well, lesson learned again Shouldn't have to worry about it anymore.

 

[Deadalus]

You've got the thread size wrong on the check valve as I showed in the video. You wouldn't have been able to get that original elbow on in the manner that you said to a 1/4" flare thread. It's possibly 3/8" but it's been several days and no pictures on your end so good luck!

 

[sixstring]

You've got the thread size wrong on the check valve as I showed in the video. You wouldn't have been able to get that original elbow on in the manner that you said to a 1/4" flare thread. It's possibly 3/8" but it's been several days and no pictures on your end so good luck!

yeah, it's not a bother now. I just put the EVA on a barb at the regulator and it's doing fine now. Decided not to arse about with it anymore