HP hose burst inside equipment room

[Sequoia]

One of my SS bays had very, very low pressure. Plus a report that there was a massive roof/water leak in the equipment room.

I learned that, instead, the high pressure hose leading to Bay 3 had developed a hole in it about 1/4" in diameter. When the Bay turned on, the amount of water that came out was unbelievable. That wasn't so bad as the fact that it also shot water everywhere when the weep system was running. This created a HUGE mess and ruined many of my tools and other items in the equipment room.

This HP hose that burst doesn't move nor flex in the area of the burst, and it's been there since I bought the wash 3 years ago. Now I'm worried about other lines running to the other bays as I want to avoid a repeat of this problem.

How often should you change out seemingly perfect HP hoses to prevent this sort of thing from occuring?

 

[MEP001]

You shouldn't have a hose burst without a good reason. It could be rubbing, the steel braid can rust if the coating is cracked or cut, or you could even have a problem with the pump that's exceeding the pressure rating of the hose. If the hose is "seemingly perfect," it shouldn't break. Your best bet is to shield the hoses in some way so that if another breaks it won't spray on anything that could be ruined.

 

[MikeV]

This might be a good time to consider replacing your hoses with stainless steel tubing. Its easy to do and you'll never have to worry about it breaking.

 

[mac]

Mike, would you mind giving a few tips to do the tubing? I looked into it here, but nobody knew anything about it. Also how does the cost compare?

 

[DavidM]

We replaced the high pressure hoses in our attic with SS tubing at both washes. It is definitely worthwhile. It is not necessary to use SS fittings, just SS tubing. In the equipment room the tubing stops on the wall then short hoses run to each pump. At the other end, an 18" hose connects to the boom.
I do not remember what the costs were but it probably doesn't matter, I am sure they are much higher now anyway.

David

 

[TheDoc]

What does the cost matter. Having to re-purchase ruined equipment, tools, wall materials or anything else will exceed the cost of tubing.
You should run tubing from the back room to the flex point in the bay and go with HP hose from there.
Tubing can be done quickly with the right equipment. I've used a tractor trailer supply company in the past to make my HP lines, never had one break!

 

[BayWatch]

I also have SS tubing in place of hose for certain applications. The price is a major difference as it was not cheap and I did it in phases to keep the cost spread out. It howvever it not fail proof, as I have had two separate lines crack, and the fittings can wear out and leak. The cracks were traced back to a bad batch of tubing and the leaking fittings where on high pressure applications. It was worth the work and the cost but just wanted to say that it aint fail proof.

 

[dpessler]

I left my control panel door open for my water wizard & a 1" hose broke. Fried $2,000 worth of electrical parts. About a $4,000 stupid mistake on my part.

 

[borumrm]

where do you get your SS pipe? What length sections did you use and do you use stainless fittings to join them..

 

[MikeV]

I get my s.s tubing and fittings from a company called PAC Stainless, there is an outlet in Houston, but I know they have other stores in the country. Some of the hydraulic shops will carry the tubing and fittings or they can order it. Price is not that much more than getting hoses made and deffinitely worth the extra cost. Use 3/8" tubing and compression fittings. The fittings can be bought for almost any configuration ie, compression x mpt, compression x fpt, comp x comp couplers etc. The tubing can be bent with a tubing bender, cut with a simple tubing cutter, and the compression fittings are wrenched on. Every install I do, I use s.s. tubing, 3/8" for the self servs, 1/2" and 3/4" for the automatics. Haven't changed a hose in years.

 

[mac]

There is a corrollary to Murphy's Law that states that when a leak occurs in a room, it will squirt exactly to the most expensive component it can hit. It's uncanny how it does this. I think it's in the software program that makes something fail on Fri afternoons. I was wiring an outlet in my home garage one day. Took the cover off the breaker panel to wire it in. Do this all the time with live panels, so that part wasn't an issue. This one time though, the hot water hose to my washing machine burst at that exact moment and proceeded to hose me down with hot water while I had a screwdriver in the panel. My wife found me on the floor singing "You light up my life" I can't make this stuff up.

 

[RLG]

Hay Dave,I'have been down this road before about 10 years ago. I would use the ss fittings.If you are using brass, they will in time wash out and break. For the short piece of hose going to the pump put a piece of Vac hose around it just in case it should break.

 

[GregF]

Mike, which alloy and wall thickness do you use? Are there any other details we'd need to know to place an order?

 

[MEP001]

Mike, which alloy and wall thickness do you use? Are there any other details we'd need to know to place an order?

You should know the pressure rating of the tubing - be sure to differentiate between working pressure and burst pressure ratings.

 

[MikeV]

When you order the tubing, they will ask you if you want welded or seamless, what thickness and what grade. I usually get the welded as it is a little less expensive, same for the thickness and grade. You don't need the high priced tubing as all of it is rated for over 1000 lbs. pressure. I haven't had a piece of s.s. tubing fail in over 20 yrs. unless it was a rub point. I secure it with cushion clamps and unistrut to eliminate those rub points.

 

[MikeV]

To further elaborate, the tubing I get is described as follows;
3/8" x .035 x 20' 316L weld A269
1/2" x .035 x 20' 316L weld A269
hope this helps.