I've been using EK 12/16 PETG Hard tube for some years now. Last night I changed some hardware and reconfigured my loop. I opened some new lengths of hard tube I had purchased a little while ago but didn't need then so never used any.
Problems started to arise when I could not get the official EK 12/16 PETG inserts into the tube. I either had to force it with tools (and still could not fully seat it) or it would not go in at all. I also found that getting the tubing into my EK 12/16 hard tube fittings was exceptionally difficult. Even with what felt like my full strength some tubes just refused to fully seat. Lubed or not....rebuilding my loop was an absolute nightmare last night.
I have a seemingly water tight loop at present but I cant keep it pressurised with air or with my Aquacomputer Leakshield which is showing a loss of about 12mbar/second of pressure...so huge. I have a pretty good feeling it's likey the new sections of tube which are not fully seated and probably only just water sealing on the internal o-ring.
In an effort to work out if it was just me or not I took a caliper to an old and new length of tubing. I cannot speak for EK's manufacturing tolerances or QC but there is observable differences.
New Tube
ID - 11.76mm
OD - 15.95
Wall thickness - Between 2.03 and 2.15mm
Old Tube
ID - 11.94mm
OD - 15.87mm
Wall thickness - Between 1.96 and 2.00mm
I could probably spend more time expanding my sample size but suffice to say my anecdotal experience is the 5 lengths of new tube I worked with ALL had issues with inserts and insertion into fittings. My measurements support my findings so far....the old tube has a wider ID (Inserts fit) and a narrower OD (insertion is more reliable).
Problems started to arise when I could not get the official EK 12/16 PETG inserts into the tube. I either had to force it with tools (and still could not fully seat it) or it would not go in at all. I also found that getting the tubing into my EK 12/16 hard tube fittings was exceptionally difficult. Even with what felt like my full strength some tubes just refused to fully seat. Lubed or not....rebuilding my loop was an absolute nightmare last night.
I have a seemingly water tight loop at present but I cant keep it pressurised with air or with my Aquacomputer Leakshield which is showing a loss of about 12mbar/second of pressure...so huge. I have a pretty good feeling it's likey the new sections of tube which are not fully seated and probably only just water sealing on the internal o-ring.
In an effort to work out if it was just me or not I took a caliper to an old and new length of tubing. I cannot speak for EK's manufacturing tolerances or QC but there is observable differences.
New Tube
ID - 11.76mm
OD - 15.95
Wall thickness - Between 2.03 and 2.15mm
Old Tube
ID - 11.94mm
OD - 15.87mm
Wall thickness - Between 1.96 and 2.00mm
I could probably spend more time expanding my sample size but suffice to say my anecdotal experience is the 5 lengths of new tube I worked with ALL had issues with inserts and insertion into fittings. My measurements support my findings so far....the old tube has a wider ID (Inserts fit) and a narrower OD (insertion is more reliable).
