Burst vinyl chiller line

[sdbbp]

This is the first time connecting my immersion chiller to an outside garden hose. Also the first time I put a ball valve on the outside of the chiller, thinking I could adjust the flow from there to balance chilling time and total water usage.

I'm glad I did a dry (er, wet) run with just boiling water in the kettle.

I inserted the chiller into the boil, connected the hoses, and shut the outtake ball valve. Then I walked over to the intake hose bib to turn on the flow. I opened it just a little at first, then all the way. Next I hear a whistle then a loud bang.

I shut off the water and walk back over to the kettle to see the attached image of a burst vinyl hose right at the copper intake. I guess the heat and water pressure was too much.

What could I do better? Pay up for lengths of silicone hose? Keep the intake flow low? Never completely subject the vinyl to high pressure by always keeping the outtake valve partially open? Forget about the outtake valve and maybe move it to between the intake garden hose and the length of vinyl hose that goes up to the chiller?

 

[sdbbp]

Sorry. Image upload not working for me right now

 

[day_trippr]

fwiw, I run conventional garden hoses to/from my IC through garden hose type quick connectors. Been using the same pair of hoses for maybe 16 years now and have never had a problem. I have a GHT style in-line shutoff on the cold water feed just before the IC. They're definitely more capable than the clear PVC tubing I use for racking, running cleaning solution through my keezer, etc...

Cheers!

 

[sdbbp]

My chiller copper has plain ends with no welded hose connectors, so I slip vinyl on and secure with hose clamps. I then run a few feet of vinyl down to ground level where there are barbed female garden hose connectors. I can shorten the vinyl length and bring the garden hose close, but that would weigh more and still have a few inches of vinyl with the same problem.

 

[day_trippr]

If by "plain ends" you mean bare copper tubing, you can obtain compression fittings specifically meant for copper tubing and end up with conventional garden hose threads ("GHT") that you can work with My IC is 1/2" SS tubing that came with bare tubing ends so I picked up compression fittings that fit the tubing providing 1/2" pipe threads that I transitioned up to GHTs. Picked up the fittings as well as the quick connects at Lowes...

Cheers!

 

[Deadalus]

Copper or stainless IC? If copper you could solder on some garden hose fittings (GHT) or use compression fittings as suggested. It is easiest to go to NPT then GHT in terms of finding the fittings locally.

The vinyl hose you used may have a pressure rating printed on it or you could find that out. You could get a pressure reducer for the hose as well, they are usually under $10. I don't know how high a value you may find for a pressure reducer as I am usually just looking to get it low for my dripline irrigation. I think I have seen 50psi but not sure about higher than that. Are you on city water or well water?

 

[IslandLizard]

That vinyl hose gets very soft due to the hot water streaming out. Then the high 35-65 psi pressure from your water supply will make them burst.
I would restrict the inflow by opening that wall spigot only enough to get the flow you want, and without restricting the outflow.

I use "braided" vinyl hoses on my chiller, similar to the ones @day_trippr uses as shown in the picture in post #5. I still don't restrict the output, only restrict/regulate the input.

Having the braided reinforcement will allow them to withstand much more pressure and higher temps. But I would never push those anywhere near the 35-65 psi range either, especially when containing near boiling or even (very) hot water.

I'm quite sure the specs for those braided type vinyl hoses are listed somewhere.

 

[sdbbp]

Thanks, all. I now think by restricting (blocking) the outflow, the water in the IC boiled and the steam pressure plus whatever intake pressure plus the softness from the heat is all what did it.

Since I wanted to brew today, I just repaired the end. Then for chilling I removed the outflow restriction and just controlled from the house hose bib. I was carefull with pressure and everything went fine.

I'll look into compression fittings if I want to upgrade this IC, but otherwise I'll move my ball valve to the inflow side at the garden hose to vinyl transition to see if I can still have flow control without having to want back and forth across the yard.

 

[Bobby_M]

Regulate the flow on the end of the garden hose before the lighter duty vinyl piece. By the way, silicone hose has an even lower pressure rating than vinyl does.