Stiff trunk line

osagher · Joined: 22 Oct 2018 Posts: 11

I’m in the final stages of a basement brewery build, and have a question re trunk line stiffness and turning radius. I have a 6 product line (with glycol lines) from Micromatic connecting to lines from my keezer. The trunk goes horizontally from keezer through an opening in the wall into a cabinet. On the bar side of the wall there’s a Micromatic tap tower. The issue I’m having is the stiffness of the trunk making the 270 degree turn to reach the vertically oriented tower lines. I don’t want to kink the line making that turn, but there is limited space under the cabinet to make the turn. Is there a minimum turning radius for this line, or any tricks to make this work?

**kal** · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 4:37 pm Post subject:

H!

You're best to ask Micromatic about the maximum turn radius. You do need room, so I made sure to leave enough on my setup as I have 8 products plus two larger glycol lines. You can see pictures here: http://www.theelectricbrewery.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=295672#295672

Got any pics of your setup? I'm trying to understand why you'd need to turn 270 degrees and not just 90.

Kal

osagher · Joined: 22 Oct 2018 Posts: 11

The reason for 270 degrees and not 90 is that the opening between the keezer room and the bar is high (just under counter top) and not lower than the bottom of the tap tower lines, like in your example. I would have to do a 90 deg turn to go down, and then 180 deg to orient back up.

I’ve started to think I might want to use a pipe bender on the tower lines to bring them horizontal through the opening and simplify things considerably. Thoughts?

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**kal** · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 5:24 pm Post subject:

If you're good with a pipe bender I don't see why not. I'd be afraid to damage them however. I'd ask the manufacturer what they recommend.

I'd still post pics if you can, someone may have a brainstorm idea for you.

Kal

osagher · Joined: 22 Oct 2018 Posts: 11

Here are some pics of the opening and the tower, sitting pretty much where it will be installed after the counter goes in. I placed the trunk line through the opening to illustrate the issue I'm facing.

**kal** · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 9:34 pm Post subject:

Can you redo anything? Such as moving the hole in the wall towards the back wall (to the left of the tower as far as possible) so that all turns are wide sweeping 90 degree turns.

You could then come out of the keezer on the right side (when facing the keezer) too. So come of the keezer there and sweep down to the ground, hole in the wall near the floor as far to the left of the tower as possible, then in and turn, run down low, and then up.

Having the hole in the wall exactly where the tower is unfortunately doesn't work well.

Kal

osagher · Joined: 22 Oct 2018 Posts: 11

Kal - I thought about moving the hole in the wall (as painful as that may be), but there are a number of obstacles in the wall behind that would make that difficult.

Actually, my wife came up with what may be the solution... take the insulation off a 3' span of the trunk line, and separate the individual lines. Each of the lines is much more flexible, and makes the turns without a problem. Once all of the lines are connected to the tower, I will rewrap the lines and reinsulate the trunk span. I tested this solution and it seems to work well. I will wait until the tower is mounted in final position, and document this with additional photos for the forum.

Thank goodness for a wife who enjoys brewing as much as I do!

**kal** · Posted: Sun Oct 06, 2019 10:23 pm Post subject:

Good luck! Curious to hear how it turn out !

Kal

pedactyl · Joined: 01 Dec 2017 Posts: 38 Location: Seattle

Splitting the lines will likely work. You’ll want to carefully re insulate all of the lines. Otherwise the beer will warm up in one part of the line. What about bending the tubes on the tower itself? If you got the metal lines over to one side, it might be easier to hook up the trunk. Not sure though, definitely something to ask micromatic about before you try!