Calling Accuflex Bev-Seal Ultra (3/16) experts

[drksky]

I have to admit, after my last post I still had trouble with leaking and bought the guest fittings. Well worth the cost of alleviating the aggravation of tying to fit that hose over barbs.

Had all four of my taps converted in about 10 minutes.

 

[fifelee]

Tried the Swaging tool and it worked very well. Put it in a vice and pointed a heat gun at the tool.



6-In-1 Swaging Tool
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-1-swaging-tool-66750.html?hftref=cj#.UyjTGahdU7B

 

[Beezer94]

I spent 3 hours yesterday beating my head against the wall trying both just heat gun and screwdriver and boiling methods and the stuff kinked inside the tubing every flippin time!

Tried the Swaging tool and it worked very well. Put it in a vice and pointed a heat gun at the tool.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GfDSiY0_7RE&list=UUXjsJKp3LilGnPgxKhvhRzA&feature=share

6-In-1 Swaging Tool
http://www.harborfreight.com/6-in-1-swaging-tool-66750.html?hftref=cj#.UyjTGahdU7B

Thank you so much this method was so much easier! Well worth the trip to harbor freight just for it. Took 10 minutes to get right compared to yesterdays debacle.

Now I just need to move my taps to the side of the fridge since this ridiculously stiff tubing is not going to work on my door even zip-tied.

[RANT=ON]Really hope this is the greatest tubing of all times because I've never been so angry at a little piece of plastic in my life. If this doesn't work out I'll use regular beverage tubing and just replace it every time I change kegs. I could replace regular tubing every week for the next year and spend less time than I did just getting one of my 'ultra' tubes on.[/RANT=OFF]

 

[FuzzeWuzze]

Its weird some people have so many problems, i wonder if its the same tubing sometimes.

It wasnt easy by any means but i did 10 connections(5 taps) in probably 2-3 hours just boiling water, stretching with some needle nose pliers and shoving it in, reheat, push on another few mm, repeat 3-4 times and move onto the next one.

 

[Beezer94]

I got the one to the ball-lock end with just 2 tries of the heatgun and screwdriver, it was getting it on the shank end that just wouldn't happen. It was mostly the inner layer jamming in on itself causing a partial blockage, which just wasn't acceptable to me as it'll cause problems. The fact that I got one side on without too much work is why it was so aggravating not to get the other as easily.

 

[tg123]

ahhh!!! i got it in after 30min using the water method but now the other piece won't pass through! heading over to Harbor Freight to pick up that swaging tool now.

 

[MicroBrewMaster]

I got on a roll and did 8 taps in a snap using screw driver with heat gun, my only big thing was after heating and getting screw driver in was to let it sit for a few mins to cool down then pull screw driver out and bam it would fit


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

 

[YoKramer]

Spend the money on these its well worth it. And makes removal and cleaning a breeze!!

http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/1-4-mfl-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/
http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/shank-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/

 

[fosaisu]

Spend the money on these its well worth it. And makes removal and cleaning a breeze!!

http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/1-4-mfl-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/
http://www.birdmanbrewing.com/shank-connector-for-accuflex-bev-seal/

Another very satisfied John Guest user here. Great to see that Birdman brewing has started carrying them!

 

[YoKramer]

Another very satisfied John Guest user here. Great to see that Birdman brewing has started carrying them!

They have a great price on them, the line and the Perlicks with shanks. Bought my whole tap setup through them and couldnt have been ahppier.

 

[tg123]

They have a great price on them, the line and the Perlicks with shanks. Bought my whole tap setup through them and couldnt have been ahppier.

Bought most of my keezer setup with them as well. Pretty good prices compared to others. Wish I'd added those connectors though. Don't want to pay $8 for shipping just for those.

 

[insanim8er]

ahhh!!! i got it in after 30min using the water method but now the other piece won't pass through! heading over to Harbor Freight to pick up that swaging tool now.

It's so much easier if you attach that swivle barb to a coupler before jamming it into the hose with the nut on the other side.

Bought most of my keezer setup with them as well. Pretty good prices compared to others. Wish I'd added those connectors though. Don't want to pay $8 for shipping just for those.

Ya... They added them after I bought my hose. A guy I know got some and said they're great.

 

[BiggerE]

Thanks for all the help in this thread.

My method is to heat a kettle to boiling. Turn off the heat put the tubing in for 5 seconds, twist the swaging tool in as far as it will go. Repeat two more times. Put the beer nut and tail piece on the end of the swaging tool and push it in, goes about a third of the way. But the tube and hardware back in the water, maybe a 1/4 inch deeper than where the tail piece is for 5 seconds. Pull it out and push it the rest the way in with the swaging tool. Takes about a minute for each in. Pro tip once it is in put it all in the warm water for about 10 seconds. It kind of forms a seal around the tail piece.

I've done 30 of them following that method. My grip is incredible right now!

DONT'S
1) Do not use pliers or anything that compromises the outer tubing
2) Do not use anything that can tear the inner tubing. If it tears you got to clip it and start over.
3) Do not expose too much tubing to a heat source. It will kink and be worthless.
4) Cut the tubing straight.

DO'S
1) Get a swaging tool. Harbor Freight is cheapest, but Home Depot might be more convenient even at twice the cost.

2) Go to Goodwill and get a water kettle if you don't have one. They have tons for like $5.

3) Get some gloves to protect your hands from the heat.

4) Take your time and get it right.

 

[Devin]

Looking to upgrade my keg lines from vinyl to accuflex and have been looking over these threads showing the method for putting the tubes onto the barbs. One thing that I don't understand is why people are heating the barbs? That is counter intuitive to me. I can understand heating the hose to get it more flexible and pliable. But heating the barb just makes the barb bigger (thermal expansion). If anything, it seems that you would want to cool the barb (although the direct contact with cold metal against the tubing might defeat the purpose of making the tubing more pliable). Why heat the barb? Just to maintain the softness of the tube during the pressing process?

 

[JuanMoore]

Looking to upgrade my keg lines from vinyl to accuflex and have been looking over these threads showing the method for putting the tubes onto the barbs. One thing that I don't understand is why people are heating the barbs? That is counter intuitive to me. I can understand heating the hose to get it more flexible and pliable. But heating the barb just makes the barb bigger (thermal expansion). If anything, it seems that you would want to cool the barb (although the direct contact with cold metal against the tubing might defeat the purpose of making the tubing more pliable). Why heat the barb? Just to maintain the softness of the tube during the pressing process?

Because the expansion of the steel from heating is minimal, and since the thermal mass of the barb is way higher than the tubing, a cold barb will cool and harden the tubing immediately. Getting the barb hot ensures that the tubing stays warm and flexible in the area that's most crucial: the part touching the barb.

 

[Devin]

Looking at material properties, the CTE of the steel, while less than PVC, is still in the "ball park" of the PVC (i.e. less than an order of magnitude). My guess is that as you stated, the thermal mass of the steel would make it such that the contact between the two materials would suck the heat quickly away from the tubing, making it less flexible, which must be more important than the slight size difference.

Thanks for the response. Looking forward to this upgrade - I have been noticing the vinyl taste in my pours lately if the beer has been sitting in the lines for a while.

 

[user 40839]

Question about those John Guest fittings (threadjacking alert!). Have them on the way, but was wondering if the shank connectors (PI451015FS) require the use of ye olde beer washer? (Am assuming not, but the ones I have are ratty having swapped all my lines out, so wondering if I should snag a few)

 

[day_trippr]

No, these adapters use their threads to seal...

Cheers!

 

[cyberbackpacker]

Not to be that guy, but the John Guest fittings do not have self sealing threads-- at least none that I have seen. That said, they do come with a black "washer" preinstalled in the fitting that creates the seal against the shank.

 

[day_trippr]

You're correct, and I keep forgetting there's a rubber gasket deep inside the BSP female ends. My bad...

Cheers!

 

[user 40839]

I don't care if they use sparkly unicorn dust to seal, if it means I don't have to wrestle with heat guns and boiling water!

 

[smakudwn]

I too am very happy with the John Guest fittings. Makes things so much easier in my system.

 

[cyberbackpacker]

They really are "the" way to do it! The regular fittings plus a 90d fitting off of those made it a 5 minute job to set-up 4 taps. And in truth, it was probably wasn't even 5 minutes!

 

[BiggerE]

But heating the barb just makes the barb bigger (thermal expansion). If anything, it seems that you would want to cool the barb (although the direct contact with cold metal against the tubing might defeat the purpose of making the tubing more pliable). Why heat the barb? Just to maintain the softness of the tube during the pressing process?

I never got anywhere heating the barb before insertion.

 

[DC_0602]

Is there a final consensus on the length most of you use? I've read anywhere from 5' - 25'.

 

[JuanMoore]

Is there a final consensus on the length most of you use? I've read anywhere from 5' - 25'.

Depends mostly on your serving temp, and somewhat on the range of carb levels you want to be able to serve. I use 15' for most of my faucets, which allows for a very wide range of carb levels at my 40F serving temp. I also have one at over 50' for serving the occasional soda.

 

[alexavery]

Is there a final consensus on the length most of you use? I've read anywhere from 5' - 25'.

I bought a 100' roll from Birdman Brewing with the John Guest fittings for my keezer expansion. I went with 15' per line, and I get a great pour. I keep my keezer around 40 degrees. I keep my pressure at around 10psi i believe.

 

[tolbert]

i have my two faucets at 13-15 psi, 20' bev seal line, at 40 F. excellent pour.

 

[chapusin]

So I installed 12 of these on the weekend (or 24 if you count both ends). Piece of cake! Thanks to however posted the swagging tool method. I heated the tool with the heat gun, then pushed the tubing in there, heated both of them for like 1-2 seconds and pushed down some more to make the opening bigger, immediately took it out of the tool and into the barb and pushed, it goes all the way in perfectly.

Now, here's some things I found.

1)If you put in the swagging tool, take it out, and heat it while it's outside, the opening will collapse again. Don't do that.

2) If you put it in the barb and it doesn't go all the way in and you heat it for more than a second at a time so it goes down, it will overheat and it will kink and you'll need to do it all over again. So the best thing to so is to make it as big as you can on the swagging tool so once its in the barb you heat it a little bit and when it cools down it contracts and seals.

The seal is so good I didn't even need my clamps. My shanks have a barb on them and I think that added 3 psi of resistance. I used 10 ft at 10 psi at 36f, perfect pours!

 

[tolbert]

seems like a lot of hassle. why not just grab some john guest fittings?