Fitting fire hose to barbs

[Will Truitt]

Hi Nick:

 

No, they do not look like your Genovas.  I don’t have a source for a
picture, so I cannot direct you.  But they have the barbed ends that you
commonly see on PVC items (and, as I said earlier, they are exactly what
Jude Reveley is using with good success with Nitrile hose.   I did stop by
Lowes and bought a piece with a 1  ¼” barb to just try with the hose.  It
was too loose in the 1 ½” hose for me to want to try it, plus I spent over a
hundred dollars on these end fittings and spent a lot of time putting them
together so that they do not leak (they don’t, but the crapola Home Depot
hose I started with sure did!)  So I am invested in making these items work,
plus the Nitrile hose was $168.00 for 50 feet of it.  

 

An update on my efforts today:  I stopped by an auto parts store and bought
a pipe expander (used to expand an end of an auto exhaust pipe to fit over
another pipe.  It will expand from 1 ½ to 2 7/8”.  

I was able to insert it part way into the end of tubing that I worked so
hard on yesterday.  When you turn it, it expands the cylinder, which in turn
expands the pipe.  It does work, but I found that it is just slightly too
big for my task.  The net result was that, because I was not able to insert
it far enough into the hose, it expanded the hose at the end with a bit too
much taper, so the barb would get started, but go only so far.  It’s just
barely the wrong size, but it worked well enough to tell me that the proper
sized one should work.  Grainger sells what looks like what I need:

 

http://images.grainger.com/B269_28/images/products/1MUE3.JPG

 

This is made by Westward, with a range of 1 1/8 to 1 ¾”.  It sells for
$21.43 as item no. 1MUE3.  The smaller size should allow me to fully insert
the expandable portion fully into the hose.  As I tighten it, it will do so
for as much of the length of the hose as I will need to fit the barb, and
with very little taper.  I already know from the size that I have that it
will permanently expand it, so I believe this will work.  

It should work pretty quickly too.  I have a pneumatic screw gun, and put
the proper size socket over the end (the part you see on the right), and was
able to expand and contract it quite quickly.  So I believe that, once I get
it set up, I should be able to do what I need to do quickly, and in a
controlled fashion.  

 

I’ll give a further report to all who are interested once I secure the
proper size pipe expander.  By the way, the 1 ½” size I have now would work
well with those who prefer 2” hose.  

 

Will

 

 

 

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Nick Gravagne
Sent: Sunday, October 05, 2008 10:01 AM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: RE: Fitting fire hose to barbs

 

Hi Will,

 


Glad to help. Do your end caps look like these?  Go to
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000BQ7VPA (Genova #31814 1-1/4" White MPT
Plug)


 


The threaded portion (barbs?) fits well enough into the hose I.D. with a
little push, hammering, and turning with pliers. Fill up the threads with
plumbers putty (the old fashioned gray stuff) and get the cap started in the
hose. Through a combination of twisting, pushing and hammering with a small
dead blow the cap will insert all the way.


 


After you have the cap inserted about half way, the hammering technique
involves (assuming you’re right handed) gripping the hose firmly in your
left hand at the partially inserted cap thread area and tapping. Strange as
this sounds it will work. Use hose/band clamps to tightly secure.


 

 

Nick Gravagne, RPT

Piano Technicians Guild

Member Society Manufacturing Engineers

Voice Mail 928-476-4143

 

  _____  

From: pianotech-bounces at ptg.org [mailto:pianotech-bounces at ptg.org] On Behalf
Of Will Truitt
Sent: Saturday, October 04, 2008 3:07 PM
To: 'Pianotech List'
Subject: RE: Fitting fire hose to barbs

 

Hi Nick:

 

Your comments are very timely, and I am grateful for having them.  My end
caps are supposed to be 1 ½” (See second paragraph below)

 

 

Thanks for your remark about your using the 1.25” stuff for the end caps.
I’ll head over to Lowe’s tomorrow morning and buy one or two barbs of that
size and see if that is going to be a workable solution in a test fitting.
If that seems to be the ticket, then I can go about securing some ones of
sufficient quality.  

 

 

 

Nick, how are you holding the hose to twist and hammer – by hand?  I was
finding that the hose wanted to fold over against the pressure of the barb
against it instead of staying straight on.  I have some large channel lock
pliers, so I will try that too.

 

 

 

Thanks again for your help, and any further comments you have would be
appreciated.  

 

Will

 

 

 

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