Hose Life Expectancy

[revdrjbob]

Greetings,
Waht's the life expectancy for most brewery hoses? I mean the blue or orange rubber ones with the steel coil inside. My hoses are at 3 years of age with constant use with caustic and PAA, and are starting to split, burst, and show various signs of deterioration. The boss says they should last longer.

Anyone?

TIM

[beararms2]

Depends... Temperature extremes will zap'em, but with proper care, a quality hose should last at least that long. Maybe some wear at the fittings. Are you cleaning/rinsing the hoses after exposure to caustic, PAA? keep'em off the floor as much as possible.

[Alex T]

g'day tim,

the life of your hose will depend upon the quality of your hose. we use gates foodmaster which is expensive (~$55/m) - almost twice as expensive as other hoses i have looked at. some of ours have been in service since little creatures was started - ~4yrs ago. we do get our pressure tested by a hose company (ENZED) frequently to 250psi to ensure they won't burst during CIP. mostly we just have to get the ends re-crimped every now and then to stop leaks. anyway, doubt you guys want to buy a heap of new hoses, but new hoses are cheaper than treating a caustic burn. i went through the exercise of purchasing 40m of new hoses for us recently and i checked out a few different ones and the foodmaster was hands down the best.

cheers,

alex

[revdrjbob]

Cheers Alex,
will look into that brand, I think it's time I convince the boss for new hoses. At 80ºC and caustic, they have been bursting, and held together with gaff tape.

Hope all is well at LC,
TIM

[zbrew2k]

3 Years is a long time for a hose in a busy brewery.

If you want the best hose on the market, go for Purple Snake, in my experience there is none better:
http://www.paguag-schlauchtechnik.de...purplus_e.html

Used by the largest breweries in the world for its reliability.

I would also get them with "swaged on" fittings, whether you use triclamp or DIN. An example: http://www.ahphose.com The stainless ferrule is actually formed around the hose and is gap free unlike brewery installed banding which creates gaps for nasities to live in. If you have a supplier to the Milk Industry in your area you might be able to find someone capable. Paugag could hook you up also. As last resort there might be a UK supplier also.

Good luck,
B