Tig hose leaks

[ojh]

I am so frustrated chasing leaks in my torch, I have the vynl hose and see they have rubber hoses, are they better? What do you guys use?
The leaks I am referring to are water leaks where the hoses terminate in the handle, not gas leaks at regulater etc.
thanks, oj
What size torch do you guys use, I now have a small one, maybe 200a and thinking of going back to 350amp

[Jere]

Have you checked the direction of flow of the water.

This is in no way mint to be snarky. I had lots of small pinholes for water to leak out and finely changed the direction of flow and the problem was solved.

Jere

[crystallographic]

Originally Posted by ojh

I am so frustrated chasing leaks in my torch, I have the vynl hose and see they have rubber hoses, are they better? What do you guys use?
The leaks I am referring to are water leaks where the hoses terminate in the handle, not gas leaks at regulater etc.
thanks, oj
What size torch do you guys use, I now have a small one, maybe 200a and thinking of going back to 350amp

OJ,
I use both hose flavors on the good old WP20 tigtorch - and constant flexing of the torch head can weaken the hose/fitting connections and so I have to re-safety wire these every 6 months to a year or so, with frequent usage of the torch when welding tight spots or kinky assys.

[Ron Naida]

My hoses slip over barb type fittings in the handle
Then they are are wrapped with thin ss wire about 5 times
and twisted to tighten.

I have re done them a time or two and if you are careful
they can be leak free.

ron

[ojh]

Thanks for the responses. Maybe I have more pressure, I believe my pump is over 160psi, maybe 250 - I just had to replace it and I was staggered at the pressure and volume.
I double wrap with very thin stainless wire but I'll try 5 wraps to get more surface area.
Is my pressure higher than others? My machine is the Miller 330A-BP and the pump is sized by Miller.

[Ron Naida]

Originally Posted by ojh

Thanks for the responses. Maybe I have more pressure, I believe my pump is over 160psi, maybe 250 - I just had to replace it and I was staggered at the pressure and volume.
I double wrap with very thin stainless wire but I'll try 5 wraps to get more surface area.
Is my pressure higher than others? My machine is the Miller 330A-BP and the pump is sized by Miller.

My miller rad 1 cooler says max 1 qt per minute but I don't know the pressure.
A few years ago the pump started leaking and I rebuilt it The parts were available through a company in Fla. I don't recall the name.

The torch I mentioned fixing by re tying was one of my earlier ones like
Kent's. Now I have a Weldcraft WEM 20RG and does not use the ss wrap tie method. Brass fittings instead.

That nylon fuel line that is heat shrunk onto fittings is available on Amazon.
I don't know if it will work but you may want to look into it.

Ron

[crystallographic]

My old Weldcraft WP20 on a 250A Miller sees 40 to 60 psi. It runs at max amps half the time it's on and stays very cool to the touch.

[Ron Naida]

The top torch is the one I currently use.
Second pic is a replacement i had on the shelf.

One appears to have shrunk on vinyl hose.
The other is ss wire tied with two wraps

Can you not just order the hose for your torch with
fittings on it. I don't recall it being too expensive.

A pic of yours may help.

Ron

[Overkill]

Oj,

If you pump operates at that much pressure - it's way too much. Some people just hook up to household water (normally less than 60 PSI) and run that through the torch.

Miller's Coolmate series has a 55PSI pressure relief valve built in.

Getting a constant flow, that takes the heat away, is much more important than pressure.

[skintkarter]

Hi OJ - I recently made a tig cooler with a Procon soda fountain pump. This is the same pump used by a number of the store bought coolers. Torch required 1 ltr per minute of flow. I was able to adjust the pressure relief valve on the pump to throttle back to this flow and PSI is about 2.5 bar or 35psi. Seems to work fine. The pressure you state seems very high. Hope this helps.

Link to the cooler build showing the pump.
http://allmetalshaping.com/showthrea...ghlight=cooler