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 :rolleyes:

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)