EuBrew
Well-Known Member
Anyone know where I can pick up a swagelok 1/2" tubing bender for a reasonable price? I've checked ebay and there are not any listed right now.
EuBrew; backing up to reply #6 if you compare your 1/2" OD tubing with .402" ID vs 5/8" OD tube of .495" ID the 5/8" has 1.516 times more cross sectional area, 1/x equals .659 cross sectional area. A simple choice which size tube flows more with less pump restriction and back pressure.
Here's a quick ebay example of 1/2" Swagelok fittings, rather cheap you just have to shop around.http://cgi.ebay.com/Swagelok-Stainl...337?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item35ad090999
At my end my company has a great connection with a metals supplier I still get a special rate on materials like 5/8" x .065" tubing i'll need.
With 5/8" Swagelock fittings my custom SS marine fab shop friend can get me fittings at his cost. I'm lucky this way reducing my material bill to 1/2 or 1/3 the cost you'll find on the net. Heart attack time you bet if I had to pay the advertized full prices your seeing. Call me cheap, saved money spent on other needed items.
With my planned 26 gallon brewery build I decided on 1/2" ID tubing thru out the system preventing flow problems going with smaller tubing, i'd rather throttle down flows than have weak flows.
With the swagelok fittings you can get the tube to pipe fittings "Bore Through" so the tubing Od is maintained through the fitting. With the new system plumbing all in 1/2" tubing it looks like the tubing pressure drop is not going to be a limiting factor, grain bed compaction over 1 GPM flow will be the limiting factor. With a series 3 LG pump pushing, it is not hard to exceed the 1.3 GPM limit of the flow meter, so I do not think you will have problems with 1/2" tubing as most of the runs will be fairly short. If you go copper water tube then the 5/8" fittings would be the way to go, better if you had the ratchet bender by Rigid to bend the copper to reduce the number of fittings and pressure drop there.
Unfortunately I don't have the connections so I'll be limited to ebay and scouring the net for parts. My tubing will be the smallest diameter I use in my build and as stated earlier will be .430ish inside diameter with .035 wall tubing. I'd love to be able to go with 5/8 through the build but I can't justify the cost and extra time it will take to source the parts. There are plenty of systems out there running with less than optimal fluid path diameter so I think I'll be ok. Thanks for the input though, it's always good to see what other opinions are to build the best mouse trap!
depending on how big your tube is, you can fill it with water and freeze overnight. It will help thin wall stuff keep it's shape while bending.
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