Great price on copper coil at home depot.

[Bartp]

Bartp ... Thanks for the heads up on the copper, I picked up a couple rolls and left a few for others. Glad you could get some extra. Chiller looks great; what did you bend the copper around?

cool I'm glad you got some of that. I bent the copper around a 5 gallon bucket, just tightened up a coil around a bit and then tied it with copper wire

 

[Lost]

This copper is HVAC-sized copper tubing. You will need HVAC-sized fittings, NOT the customary water/liquid fittings that the big box stores carry. I ran into that when I bought my tubing. Fortunately, I have a friend who is a HVAC tech, and got the fittings for me. Just be aware of that.

glenn514

My understanding is that soft copper tubing is nominal sized, the O.D. is constant and the I.D. will vary slightly depending on wall thickness (type L, M, etc.). So thin walled or not it should still be standard 3/8" O.D. and should not present any problems.

caveat emptor.. I am no plumber!

 

[ARKAY]

I can't find that deal in my area... go make some chillers

 

[Lost]

I looked into this more and my remarks above are not quite correct so I wanted to set facts straight in case anyone else reads this. Apologies for the bad info.

Type l, m, and k are nominally sized. The size is an approximation of the id but the actual id will be a function of wall thickness (ie what 'type' the tube is). The outside diameter is a constant 1/8" larger than the stated nominal size. So 1/2" tube has an od of 5/8" regardless of type. K is thickest walled, l is medium, and m is thinnest.

Now here is the catch. There actually is specialty tube for a/c lines and it is sized differently. ACR tube is sized according to actual od. So a 1/2" ACR tube has an od of 1/2" and an id of slightly less than 1/2". Wall thickness is close to that of type l. So 5/8" refrigeration line (ACR) has the same od as 1/2" type l, m, k tube. The id is close too but slightly larger for the 5/8" ACR. Wall thickness is also close to 1/2 type l.

So, if you are using refrigeration line go with 5/8" and you'll be fine. If it is type l, m, or k then 1/2" is what you want. For both the od will be 5/8" and the id slightly larger than 1/2".

edit: so to make this relevant for this thread, 3/8" refrigeration line would have an od of 3/8." 3/8" l, m, or k tube would have an od of 1/2." So 1/2" ACR line and 3/8" L, M, or K tube would have the same OD. ID and wall thickness of type L 3/8" would be very close to 1/2" ACR line.

 

[Lost]

One more thing, the super cheap copper tubing sears is selling as "utility coil" is not ASTM rated. I contacted the manufacturer and they told me it is .020" wall thickness. For reference, type M tubing is .028" thick, type L .040", and type k .049. These numbers are for 1/2" tube and would be different for 3/8" tube.

I don't know what the od would be for the sears tube. It could be 1/8" larger as is standard for l, m, k tube or it could be as stated (i.e. od=1/2") as it is for ACR line. Or it could be something else entirely. I dunno. If I was on a budget I'd consider the sears "utility coil" but I think I'll just fork out the extra cash for something a bit better.

I bet type M tube would be fine but I'm going to try and locate some ACR line or type L tube. The sears stuff is very thin walled, it might kink easy or not. I dunno. For $26 shipped for 1/2" X 25ft it is a heck of a deal and probably worth trying.

Oh, and for the record I'm getting this info from a handy .pdf manual located at http://www.copper.org/resources/pub_list/pdf/copper_tube_handbook.pdf

You can look up the 3/8" stuff there if you like.

Edit: sorry for all the 1/2" references in a thread about 3/8" copper tube. I'm shopping for 1/2" right now so that was what was on my mind. I know this is off topic but I wanted to put it out there anyhow and it certainly doesn't merit a new thread. Hopefully it's helpful for someone. And the cheap sears utility tubing is available in 3/8" as well.

 

[ozzy1038]

buy them out. then scrap the stuff... youll make money

Or resell!

 

[Bartp]

One more thing, the super cheap copper tubing sears is selling as "utility coil" is not ASTM rated. I contacted the manufacturer and they told me it is .020" wall thickness. For reference, type M tubing is .028" thick, type L .040", and type k .049. These numbers are for 1/2" tube and would be different for 3/8" tube.

I don't know what the od would be for the sears tube. It could be 1/8" larger as is standard for l, m, k tube or it could be as stated (i.e. od=1/2") as it is for ACR line. Or it could be something else entirely. I dunno. If I was on a budget I'd consider the sears "utility coil" but I think I'll just fork out the extra cash for something a bit better.

I bet type M tube would be fine but I'm going to try and locate some ACR line or type L tube. The sears stuff is very thin walled, it might kink easy or not. I dunno. For $26 shipped for 1/2" X 25ft it is a heck of a deal and probably worth trying.

Oh, and for the record I'm getting this info from a handy .pdf manual located at http://www.copper.org/resources/pub_list/pdf/copper_tube_handbook.pdf

You can look up the 3/8" stuff there if you like.

Edit: sorry for all the 1/2" references in a thread about 3/8" copper tube. I'm shopping for 1/2" right now so that was what was on my mind. I know this is off topic but I wanted to put it out there anyhow and it certainly doesn't merit a new thread. Hopefully it's helpful for someone. And the cheap sears utility tubing is available in 3/8" as well.

Thanks for lots of great info lost. You're right, the refrigeration copper is indeed 3/8 OD, so its thinner than 3/8 type L. However, the price difference between type L, the Utility Copper is a major factor. The diameter is a bit smaller but the surface area of the coil is still more than adequate. Also, utility copper might have thinner walls, but its not as soft as type L, so it's actually more rigid and harder to kink.