Hose selection...

[summoner12]

So I want to share a little story with everyone and some ideas about picking the right hose and hose routing.

I was woken up by the sound of my misting system this morning and could tell by the sound of it, something wasn't right. The pressure gauge was ocsilating (doesn't normally do that..) and there was a lot more water coming out of Henry's free range water collector and his bucket was full. It takes about two days to fill his bucket and I emptied it yesterday morning...

Yesterday I was talking to Frans on the phone and I noticed this white stuff hanging down from the top of Henry's free range. It looked like shed skin... and he just went through a shed and I thought nothing of it.............(He can get on top of the range sometimes... so I figured he dropped some skin while moving around.....)

It wasn't skin.............................. It was stucco from the ceiling.......

Apparently the hose that runs along the top of his range to his second misting nozzle acquired a hole . This is where the importance of hose routing, and hose material come into play...

This may seem obvious... but don't run the hose near heat lamps. Another bad idea is to run a hose near a UVB lamp. The UV breaks down the material of the hose. This will lead to a fracture from the pressure inside and cause a leak. It is also a good idea to use dark colored hose. Clear Home Depot hose allows light through and will grow algae. This would require more up keep on the system. Black hose and even the colored hose you'll find at plumbing supply chains don't let UV into the hose and help prevent algae from growing. It is also good practice to replace hold hoses.

My mistake was having the heat lamp too close and I think having the hose running under a UV fixture AND a pressure issue. At the moment I have a lot more pressure in my system than I used to have. With the lower pressure system and having an accumulator, I would have the pump turn on then the valves open. This isn't a big deal with only 30-40 PSI... but when your at 90-125.... the sudden shock of pressure to the hoses is not good. I have not been able to change the timing of when the pump comes on.... but I am going to resolve this issue asap. The combination of my mistakes caused a failure

 

[SoCaliSon]

Hey Kevin... I had the same thing happen to me once bro... Mine went POP! I'm not sure which hose you are using? They sell really nice, thick, rigid, high pressure tubing in huge rolls for really cheap at Lowes and Home depot. I can't remember exactly what they called it... but I remember it was in an isle not with the plumbing, but with the sprinkler supplies, The stuff that popped came from the isle with the rolls of tubing that you cut your own lengths... not high pressure rated. The good stuff is the same stuff they send you with the commercial bought misters, but it has a blue stripe down the side.

 

[summoner12]

The hose that popped was the clear stuff you find in the plumbing isle. the black stuff in the garden center works and doesn't work with my fittings... very inconsistant.

The hose Marty sells is good and the stuff I got for my RO is pretty nice too.

I purchased 100' of blue hose for when I get my misting system and cages situated... then ill bust out the nice looking hose

Until then I am going to double check my hoses. Where the hose failed you can see a bunch of little cracks...

 

[SoCaliSon]

Yeah this hose is just like the hose from Marty... Super cheap and fits all my standard Misting nozzles.

 

[Pure]

This is a real duh moment for me. I totally forgot about UV rotting plastic. Although I'm not sure rot is the right word, but anyways thanks for reminding me.. You can probably guess were my hose is ran on my DIY setup. Yup both hoses to each head go right under my UVB. The fixture is actually sitting on them.

I'll be moving them first thing in the am. Thanks again Kev.

 

[summoner12]

Well it happened again today. Poped another hose. This time I was on to it last night....sort of, but I didn't try looking for it (DOH!). I had emptied Henry's water bucket when I got home because it was almost full... after pour it out I stopped and thought 'wait, didn't I just do this today in the morning?' Since I do his and Lenny's on the same days I looked at her bucket and it hardly had anything in it.... as ussual i spaced out and just put the bucket back and did some other things. This morning I was up laying in bed and again heard more noise from the cham room than I am used to.... I got up, came into the room and could see it right away... the hole in the hose was RIGHT under the UVB lamp. Luckily it was just spraying down and to the side of the free range, so no water spilled out.

So yeah.... time to get crackin on replacing my hose.

 

[SoCaliSon]

Kevin... I think you may have misunderstood me before. They sell a hose that is equivalent to what you get with your commercial bought systems by the huge roll at home depot for dirt cheap... Not in the garden center either... It should fit standard misting nozzles. I wish I could remember exaqctly whre I found it there. It is the same heavy duty rigidity, I have been using it for months with no issues.

 

[luevelvet]

I'm in a similar situation. I noticed the clear hose from HD isn't quite thick enough to stay in the fittings so they tend to pop out and start spewing all over he walls.

Guess I'll end up ordering new hose too...if anyone finds the right stuff online for a decent price, post the link. I'd like to buy a bunch of it and not worry about this again.

Luis

 

[summoner12]

Kevin... I think you may have misunderstood me before. They sell a hose that is equivalent to what you get with your commercial bought systems by the huge roll at home depot for dirt cheap... Not in the garden center either... It should fit standard misting nozzles. I wish I could remember exaqctly whre I found it there. It is the same heavy duty rigidity, I have been using it for months with no issues.

I will take a look around next time I am there. I have 100 feet of brand new hose from the people I got my RO stuff from (decent price too). I just haven't installed it because I want to make sure all of the cages are going to be where they are because I run hose. I think I am going to swap some cage positions... so that the hose routing isn't back and forth with long runs to a single cage that could just be moved closer.

The hose that popped is at least one year old, coule be almost 2 years old. A lot of the failure has to do with the routing... I have them under UVB lamps and the other was close to a heat lamp. I will not do this when I redo the hoses in the near future.

 

[SoCaliSon]

I'm in a similar situation. I noticed the clear hose from HD isn't quite thick enough to stay in the fittings so they tend to pop out and start spewing all over he walls.

Guess I'll end up ordering new hose too...if anyone finds the right stuff online for a decent price, post the link. I'd like to buy a bunch of it and not worry about this again.

Luis

I'll say it again... They sell it in huge rolls cheap at home depot... I am going to try to find the specific product name... But it is equivilant to what you would order from the internet, black, high pressure rated, rigid black 1/4" hose.

I may head down there today... and I'll let you know exactly what it is called and where to find it.

 

[summoner12]

I'll say it again... They sell it in huge rolls cheap at home depot... I am going to try to find the specific product name... But it is equivilant to what you would order from the internet, black, high pressure rated, rigid black 1/4" hose.

I may head down there today... and I'll let you know exactly what it is called and where to find it.

Did you head down there?

 

[SoCaliSon]

Did you head down there?

No I didn't get to today. I will let you guys know... It is there... you just have to find it. The kind I got has a blue stripe down the side, not solid black like the stuff that comes with the systems. I wanna say it was in the same isle where they were selling the RO systems, but I'm not sure. Speaking of which I found a deal on a used fully functioning RO unit for $35 on Craigslist... I get to go pick it up in the morning. Expect a thread about that.

 

[summoner12]

DUDE! I wanna see pics ASAP!

Its all about the filters.... when you get it... do a good clean on it... order up some new filters from BFS and let her rip! got any questions let me know!

BFS is where I got all my RO stuff.... Good prices and Russ seems like a nice guy.

(good price on hose too! )