Stainless steel hose as tubing for a chiller?

[mcnbns]

I was thinking about a design for a "portable" water chiller the other day and I came up with this problem: transporting a chiller while your (probably vinyl) tubing is frozen will likely break something. I know everyone says Tygon this and Tygon that, but what about using some stainless steel hose stuff sort of like this:
http://images.people.overclockers.ru/26234.jpg (I "borrowed" the pic from Xooler in his DD Project thread in the Vapor Phase section.)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but wouldn't that be very resistant to breakage when frozen? (I can't see stainless steel shattering at -30 C.)

Thanks for any info!

[REDKEN]

I think Tygon is rated at -40c but don't take my word for it. I'll do some diggin around later when I have more time.

[Frozendeath]

Thats correct -40c it is. It's currently what I use, and while it has not cracked at - 37, my lowest temp reached, I would never think of moving it while that cold

Anyway, Stainless should hold up much better, is there a rubber lining inside that stuff? I forget whats in there. If I am thinking of the wrong tubing and its all metal even on the innerwalls, then it wont crack, but will get MUCH colder than plastic tubing does on the outside.

Get ready for some good insulation if thats the case.

But once again the metal tubing I was thinking of is braided stainless outsite with a rubber inner wall.

[][nSaNe]

im using nylon braided 300 PSI max hose, its good for chemicals and it is super strong. 3/8 ID is totally flexible @ -30 and actually got the hose to kink with little effort, it was cold on the hands even holding it with a towel but the cold didnt seem to affect this tubing whatsoever.


edit. if your close to me i could gladly hook u up with 5 or so feet of this hosing. free of charge.

[REDKEN]

http://www.tygon.com/media/documents...3/tygr3603.pdf

[mcnbns]

im using nylon braided 300 PSI max hose, its good for chemicals and it is super strong. 3/8 ID is totally flexible @ -30 and actually got the hose to kink with little effort, it was cold on the hands even holding it with a towel but the cold didnt seem to affect this tubing whatsoever.


edit. if your close to me i could gladly hook u up with 5 or so feet of this hosing. free of charge.

Would you really do that? That is awesome, man! Can you send me a PM if it's possible? (I live in Madoc, Ontario, about 30 minutes south of Belleville.) Thanks a lot!

[Marvin]

you can vuy clearflex 60 hoses. They support lower temperatures than tygon and dont kink like rigid hoses.

[mcnbns]

I keep reading about silicone tubing... it's supposed to be a lot more flexible at lower temps than PVC tubing like Tygon and Clearflex. Does anyone have any experience with it? Thanks!

[samuknow]

I was thinking about using soft copper. If your computer is hard mounted to your chiller then you will have no probs. I was actually looking at doing this before I lookid into water chilling just for the looks of it. All you would have to do is to have a short section of tygon from the copper to you blocks and pump. Once you bend the tube the way you want it will stay there.....Just a thought.. fire away...

[mcnbns]

I was thinking about using soft copper. If your computer is hard mounted to your chiller then you will have no probs. I was actually looking at doing this before I lookid into water chilling just for the looks of it. All you would have to do is to have a short section of tygon from the copper to you blocks and pump. Once you bend the tube the way you want it will stay there.....Just a thought.. fire away...

An interesting idea, but I want to make my chiller as portable as possible, just in case I ever need to go to a LAN or something on short notice.

About the silicone tubing, though... the average lowest "operating temperature" I see quoted everywhere is -80 C. So far I'm thinking about either getting some Clearflex 60 from here or some Primoflex silicone tubing for not much more. (That silicone tubing is said to be more flexible than Clearflex 60 and Tygon 3603 at room temp, and more resistant to cold.)