KegBB

I am in the process of re-plumbing my kegerator. I used to use 3/8" tubing and needed a ton of it to get the proper pressure drop. This time around I plan on switching over to 3/16" beer line. This allows me to use only about 7' of tubing. Now that I have my kegbot already to go I need to get my vision 2000 flowmeter in line some how. I am having troubles finding plastic or stainless fittings to easily interface with 3/16" tubing. What fittings are available, if any that can get me from 3/8" female npt to 3/16" barb?

Also, does anyone know how to get user pictures to work in the kegweb interface?

I plan on having a kegbot kickoff party this Friday, so I'd appreciate the help getting this plumbing problem solved by then.

Thanks, Jared

Edited goliathdrakken (Oct. 11, 2009 20:57:38)

You need to go with 1/4" fittings. They will fit fine on vinyl tubing. Use a heat gun to heat the vinyl and it will slide right on...

For instance a 3/8" FNPT to 3/8" John Guest fitting and a John Guest 3/8" stem to 1/4" barb fitting.

This is the fancy solution previously suggested on this list. Cost is ~$8 per FNPT-JG/JG-barb combo. I don't remember the manufacturer of the JG fitting, so please do an archive search for the part number.

Alternatively, my suggestion, not previously mentioned here on the list: US Plastic has a 3/8" FNPT to 1/4" barb for $1.39:

http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname415&product%5Fid416&variant%5Fidb222

This $1 part is FDA approved just like the $8 solution previously suggested on this list.

Peter

Edited pnielsen (Oct. 11, 2009 21:12:17)

Hi Jared,

On Sun, Oct 11, 2009 at 9:04 PM, Jared Szechy goliathdrakken@gmail.com wrote: > I am in the process of re-plumbing my kegerator. I used to use 3/8" tubing > and needed a ton of it to get the proper pressure drop. This time around I > plan on switching over to 3/16" beer line. This allows me to use only about > 7' of tubing. Now that I have my kegbot already to go I need to get my > vision 2000 flowmeter in line some how. I am having troubles finding > plastic or stainless fittings to easily interface with 3/16" tubing. What > fittings are available, if any that can get me from 3/8" female npt to 3/16" > barb?

Looks like our resident fitting expert (Peter) has already handled this.. :-)

Also, does anyone know how to get user pictures to work in the kegweb interface?

Profiles are a bit lacking right now. I'll have a bugfix for this (along with a bunch of other improvements) this week.

I plan on having a kegbot kickoff party this Friday, so I'd appreciate the help getting this plumbing problem solved by then.

Cool. I should be on #kegbot a bit more this week. I'm working to knock several things off the TODO list and do an official versioned release of the software.

mike

Edited mike (Oct. 11, 2009 21:35:10)

Peter, thanks for the advice on the fittings. I was leaning in that direction of stretching the tube over a 1/4" fitting. Good to hear that works.

Mike, looking forward to the bugfixes and updates. I'll be on #kegnet as well, let me know if you need some testing done.

-Jared

Edited goliathdrakken (Oct. 11, 2009 21:40:29)

Hey Jared,

I also bought those same exact fittings to use in my kegbot. The price is reasonable and the shipping charges weren't too expensive. They also ship quickly.

I was wondering what type of thread sealer should I be using for these fittings? Telton tape or some type of Pipe Thread Compound? None? Just wondering what other people are using.

Cheers, Geoff

Edited geoffculp (Oct. 12, 2009 15:51:58)

Ok, can we get a parts list going? It sounds like we have the different groups of parts well understood.

Flowmeter: - SwissFlow - The other one

Fittings from flowmeter to tubing: http://www.usplastic.com/catalog/variant.asp?catalog%5Fname=USPlastic&category%5Fname415&product%5Fid416&variant%5Fidb222

Also, can we get a list with the most common tubing dimensions? To make things easier to follow for the archives.

-William King

Edited quentusrex (Oct. 12, 2009 15:57:08)

In case anyone was wondering: Here's a link showing the different beer line types and sizes.

http://www.micromatic.com/draft-keg-beer/hoses-portfolio-cid-21.html

Edited geoffculp (Oct. 12, 2009 16:01:57)

Hey all,

My name is Josh, I'm new here. I've been lurking for a while, and finally decided to build a kegbot.

I'm looking at this flowmeter: http://cgi.ebay.com/NEW-SWISSFLOW-SF800-INFRARED-IN-LINE-FLOW-METER_W0QQitemZ370193262782QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item56313ce8be as it seems to be popular here. Looking at the thread specs on the SF800, the threads are BSP, not FNPT. I am having trouble finding barb fittings in metric. Am I just going to have to get a FNPT -> BSP coupler?

Thanks,

Josh

Edited josh.dgill (Jan. 2, 2010 01:21:41)

I've been using the Parker fittings seen here:
http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/wwg/search.shtml?searchQuery=2ZTF7&op=search&Ntt=2ZTF7&N=0&sst=All

My success has been great with them so far. A little bit of leaking, but probably my plumbing skills. Or possibly due to the difference in threading. The are really nice connectors though.

Edited kgrewohl (Jan. 11, 2010 23:02:45)

To follow up on my previous post-

I contacted SwissFlow and told them my application, they shipped me all of the fittings needed. Time to start programming the uC!

I'll start a build thread when I get some results.

Thanks,

Josh

Edited josh.dgill (Jan. 19, 2010 16:46:56)