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tubing materials

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striker85

Member
Joined
Mar 7, 2006
Location
Connecticut
What are the various advantages/disadvantages that different materials have for use in tubing? Let's start with a list of materials:

nylon
polyethylene
tygon
silicone
polyurethane
pvc
teflon
kynar
styrene
polypropylene
norprene
chemflour

and then the medical grade and food/beverage tubing.

What do certain kinds have for amounts of flexibility and rates at which liquid evaporates through the material?
 
DangerDen only sells Tygon. Evaporation isn't a very big deal, it is a closed system and the water shouldnt be getting hot enough to evaporate. Flexibility isnt generally a huge deal, most tubes will flex enough for you to get the job done.
 
tygon and silicon are the better ones, from what you mentioned.

only thing about silicen tubing, once dust gets on the tube, its so hard to get off :bang head
 
By flexibility I mean the ability to make a sharp turn without flattening out. Of the list, which has the best turn radius? I assume silicone, but I'd rather use something stronger and cleaner(from what adam said).
 
striker85 said:
By flexibility I mean the ability to make a sharp turn without flattening out. Of the list, which has the best turn radius? I assume silicone, but I'd rather use something stronger and cleaner(from what adam said).
How much pressure do you think is in a WC loop? 2psi would be alott! Strong, cardboard would be strong enough!
 
The tubing I am going to be using for my new setup is stainless steel 3/8" for the warm water coming out of blocks (helps cool it down before the radiator), and a tubing called virgin teflon, it transfers close to no heat at all so the cold water will stay cold. All of these are going to be using compression fittings instead of barbs ($50 a peice for a compression fitting, getting them from dads work for free) and the piping isnt cheap either, but that's also free for me. It's very expensive but with compression fittings its garenteed not to leak no matter what, also since compression fittings clamp from the outside and dont actually go into the tube, water flow is increased so I only need 3/8" lines.
 
striker85 said:
What do certain kinds have for amounts of flexibility and rates at which liquid evaporates through the material?

Oxalic32 said:
Evaporation isn't a very big deal, it is a closed system and the water shouldnt be getting hot enough to evaporate.

AFAIK, the primary loss of coolant through the tubing is by liquid permeation. It doesn't evaporate in the tubing and doesn't need to. Instead, water molecules find their way right through the walls of the tubing, although at a very slow rate. Once on the outer surface, the water will evaporate much more quickly than it is replaced, hence you'll never see a drip due to permeation.
 
Water in a regular water cooling loop would never be classified as cold, unless you keep the ambient temps cold. The best you can ever do on straight watercooling is ambient, no mater if you used silver plated tubing. If it's 80F inside the case, that is the coolest you could get the water.

BTW, DD sells Clearflex, Tygon, and Primoflex. :)
 
Daddyjaxx said:
Water in a regular water cooling loop would never be classified as cold, unless you keep the ambient temps cold. The best you can ever do on straight watercooling is ambient, no mater if you used silver plated tubing. If it's 80F inside the case, that is the coolest you could get the water.

BTW, DD sells Clearflex, Tygon, and Primoflex. :)

Primoflex > Tygon R3603

Tygon R1000 > Primoflex

:thup:
 
-aDaM^ said:
Primoflex > Tygon R3603

Tygon R1000 > Primoflex

:thup:
Where did you come up with that conclusion?

Yes, Tygon R1000 > R3606 (in low-torque pump situations, like watercooling rigs) but Tygon 1000 is too expensive and is basically overkill for our use.

Primoflex is not even comparable to Tygon. Primoflex is not always 100% clear so if you want a certain color not provided by Primoflex, too bad. It also can react with certain chemicals, something Tygon wont do. Too add to that, Primoflex is porous, so that means it is more prone to liquid permeation, as explained by otter, than Tygon is.

Tygon > Primoflex
 
don't forget about mcmaster-carr masterkleer tubing, it's at least 99% as good as R3606 (lots of ppl will say it's way better). But the huge avantage reside in a really cheap price, 22 to 30 cents a foot depending on size...DD offet 3/8" at 2.35$ a foot . As for evaporation I lost about 10ml in the last 4 months.
 
striker85 said:
By flexibility I mean the ability to make a sharp turn without flattening out. Of the list, which has the best turn radius? I assume silicone, but I'd rather use something stronger and cleaner(from what adam said).

silicone is the best. however if you don't want to use silicone, use regular poly with swiftech cool sleeves.
 
the best ive ever seen for turning radius is something i picked up at the garden centre.
its shiny black 1/2'' ID tubing but it has a moulded in HARD pvc spiral ( sorta like coolsleeves but built in) i swear you can bend this stuff back on its self so easily without a hint of kinking.

the cons:
thinnest parts of the wall may be too thin ?

Rick
 
BWR said:
Where did you come up with that conclusion?

Yes, Tygon R1000 > R3606 (in low-torque pump situations, like watercooling rigs) but Tygon 1000 is too expensive and is basically overkill for our use.

Primoflex is not even comparable to Tygon. Primoflex is not always 100% clear so if you want a certain color not provided by Primoflex, too bad. It also can react with certain chemicals, something Tygon wont do. Too add to that, Primoflex is porous, so that means it is more prone to liquid permeation, as explained by otter, than Tygon is.

Tygon > Primoflex

I have tygon 3603,1000 primoflex clearlfex, thats how I would rate them.
 
If you really need to make a tight bend I'd recommend the 7/16" ID, 11/16" OD, 1/8" walled Tygon 3603--for 1/2" systems. It's got a 1.375' (1 and 3/8") bend radius, which is the best I've seen for that size tubing without getting really esoteric :) (Note: I haven't seen it sold in anything less than 50' rolls, so if you need a section, send me a PM. I've still got about 65' from my last order.)

If you don't need to make any tight bends, get the Masterkleer from McMaster-Carr. You'll save a lot of money. The only real advantages with the Tygon are the bend radius and the fact that it doesn't stain quite as fast as other tubings. And, that isn't generally worth the extra cost to most folks.
 
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