Silicone tubing always kinking. Thinking about going back to vinyl!

[slayer021175666]

New to silicone tubing and so far... WHAT A PAIN IN THE A##!
It keeps kinking and or flattening at the worst times! Everybody says vinyl won't take the heat but, I used it for YEARS without any problems at all. Any ideas? Something I might be doing wrong? I saw somewhere saying to use elbows wherever it kinks but, its a fortune in fittings and IMO, just a crutch for crappy tubing. I don't know.
Frustrated and flumoxed!
GRRR!!

 

[day_trippr]

Where are you using this silicone tubing? And what is the ID/OD?

I have always used 1/2" ID - 3/4" OD silicone on my 3v2p single tier brew rig and have never had problems with kinks. Only problem I ever have is inadvertently ballooning a section when flushing the rig at the end of a brew session and not noticing a down-steam valve is closed and having to replace that ballooned run

But, I do have elbows at the ends of most runs to avoid kinks in the obvious places. The only straight ends are the ones that run upwards to pump inputs, where you don't want any elbows to avoid turbulence affecting pump performance...

1/2" SS elbows are actually one of the cheapest bits of my rig

Cheers!

 

[slayer021175666]

Wow! What a badass system!
The id/od is 1/2 and 5/8. Thicker stuff might help.
I guess a few 6 dollar fitting won't kill me, either. Its just that I have quite recently spent a small fortune on QD fitiings and other fittings. Throw more money at it, I suppose.

 

[Punx Clever]

Wow! What a badass system!
The id/od is 1/2 and 5/8. Thicker stuff might help.
I guess a few 6 dollar fitting won't kill me, either. Its just that I have quite recently spent a small fortune on QD fitiings and other fittings. Throw more money at it, I suppose.

The thin-walled (5/8" OD - 1/2" ID = 1/16" wall) silicone tubing is your main problem.

 

[day_trippr]

Agreed - check out the "almost clear" 1/2" thick-wall Si tubing on @Bobby_M's brewhardware.com.
That's what I've been running for some time now.

Within sanity limits, I'll trade money for ease of operation anytime

Cheers!

 

[Vale71]

https://www.morebeer.com/products/silicone-tubing-reinforced-12.html
It's a bit more expensive but IMHO money well spent.

 

[kitr]

I probably should use the elbows but instead I wrap the end of the tube close to the termination in SUGRU.


Sugru - Amazon

The stuff works like a wonder and then absolutely will not kink.... ever. Its also good for a 1000 other things around the house.