Sight glass tubing

[pete]

What type of tubing should you use for a sight glass?

[Larry Horwitz]

what kind of sight glass?

[Michael Murphy]

pirex usually

I have seen some oldie style ones with very thick blueish glass.

[brewingnewbie]

I too need a sight / gauge tube to fit my hot liquor tank. It’s a Newlands 7 bbl. system with over-under mash tun / hot tank. The kettle has a glass tube.

1) is there a cheaper alternative to glass that will withstand high temp?
2) is the Newlands equipment probably in metric?

Hopefully I can just order something through McMaster Carr.

Any suggestions?

[DancingCamel]

It's transluscent but that should be sufficient for a sight glass. Heat resistant to over 100 deg C. We also had to replace our Newlands sight glass & used silicon tubing.

David

[Sauce]

Try the Polycarbonate tubing from McCaster Carr

I once worked on a Newlands system and was going to replace a broken sight glass and this is what I looked into, never got around to it though, just kept moving the good one I had to and from the kettle and HLT

The tubing needs to be fairly rigid for the nut and gasket to seal. so the outside diameter is most critical. Hopefully you have a piece of the old tubing left (or your doing as I did above) to get a OD measurement from, if not the rubber gaskets should work to get close.

Here are the specs from the catalog:

Type Durable Clear Polycarbonate Tubing
Plastic Polycarbonate
Material Polycarbonate
Shape Single Line
System of Measurement Inch
Reinforcement Unreinforced
Clear Clear
Color Clear
Low Temperature Range 0º to +100º F
High Temperature Range +201º to +300º F
Operating Temperature Range +32º to +250º F
Performance Characteristics UV-Resistant
Bend Radius Not Rated
Rockwell R 118
Shipped As Straight Length
Fittings Used Adhesives
Specifications Met United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA)