The Price of Copper!

[periolus]

Oh My God! I just went to Screwfix and got a price for 25m length of soft copper tubing to make a wort chiller:

£61! That's awful!

AND....25m of 15mm copper piping - £63!!

I can't believe it! Apparently the Chinese are to blame, according to Screwfix staff in Bristol

Can anyone recommend a supplier that could be cheaper? I know it's a fairly standard price, but any saving will help!

 

[robsan77]

I did have a website favourited but on a new pc now and its gone. I did post the link on several threads asking similar questions if you can search and find them on here though. It was the best price around but sorry I cant remember the name.

 

[simonranson]

Http://www.BES.co.uk

They have coils of 8mm x 25m for around £27.60... Can't remember if it's plus vat

 

[stevander74]

www.tradingdepot.co.uk was suggest to me by kieth1664 and ive found their the cheapest ive found for the copper fittings i need to make strainers etc.

 

[periolus]

That's more like it! Thanks chaps! :thumb:

 

[46.philh]

http://www.gasproducts.co.uk/acatalog/c ... _Tube.html

 

[robsan77]

http://www.tradingdepot.co.uk was suggest to me by kieth1664 and ive found their the cheapest ive found for the copper fittings i need to make strainers etc.

thats the one I was thinking of.

 

[BigYin]

I'll try them too - screwfix were best a while back, but all their copper fittings have shot up in price - I make quite a few coolers for folks, and I'm positively embarassed to ask for the amount it now costs to make them

 

[hedgerow pete]

screw fix is owned by the b and q group thats why its full of kitchen units, the man who sold it to them restarted with another firm called tool station try them as they are well under the screwfix prices

 

[aneray]

I make quite a few coolers for folks, and I'm positively embarassed to ask for the amount it now costs to make them

I've got one made by BigYin and there worth every penny, plus more. There isn't a supplier anywhere that can compete with his quality and workmanship.

You pay for what you get

 

[BigYin]

You are too kind Neil :mrgreen: :drink: :drink:

I propose to start making my chillers from 8mm rather than 10mm copper for the coils. I've calculated the resultant cost saving to be between £10 and £25 per chiller (depending on amount of the cheaper 8mm copper coil used) :shock: :

 

[BigYin]

Is there any reason why using 8mm copper tube instead of 10mm would be less efficient? Or would it in fact be more efficient? It has 0.1mm thinner walls, and presumably that equals faster heat exchange :hmm:

 

[BigYin]

Anyone????

 

[battwave]

Is there any reason why using 8mm copper tube instead of 10mm would be less efficient? Or would it in fact be more efficient? It has 0.1mm thinner walls, and presumably that equals faster heat exchange :hmm:

Greater surface area per volume of cooling water = greater chilling (the reason why heat-sinks have fins)

If you can add an extra parallel coil of 8mm and get the same cooling water flow as the lower number of 10mm coils, you'll improve efficiency, especially when your wort is down below say 30 degrees.

I've got two parallel 10mm coils of 5m in length. If I did it again I'd try to bank-up four different diameter coils of 8mm to reduce the need to rock the chiller.

 

[Vossy1]

Agreed :thumb:

 

[Mike1981]

I was going to make a chiller but the price of copper put me off. I bought one from H & G for around £35 and its spot on :thumb:

 

[BigYin]

Is there any reason why using 8mm copper tube instead of 10mm would be less efficient? Or would it in fact be more efficient? It has 0.1mm thinner walls, and presumably that equals faster heat exchange :hmm:

Greater surface area per volume of cooling water = greater chilling (the reason why heat-sinks have fins)

If you can add an extra parallel coil of 8mm and get the same cooling water flow as the lower number of 10mm coils, you'll improve efficiency, especially when your wort is down below say 30 degrees.

I've got two parallel 10mm coils of 5m in length. If I did it again I'd try to bank-up four different diameter coils of 8mm to reduce the need to rock the chiller.

I did some calculations, and worked out that to acheive the same total surface area of pipe using 8mm instead of 10mm I would need to use 33% more pipe than with the 10mm...

so if I would have made a cooler with 12 metres of 10mm, an equivalent made in 8mm tube would need 16 metres of the 8mm tube to give the same total surface area.

This does reduce the cost saving, although does not eliminate it. :hmm:

Has anyone used 8mm? can it be formed (bent) around a former as easily as the 10mm??? Probably easier I suspect..

 

[battwave]

Is there any reason why using 8mm copper tube instead of 10mm would be less efficient? Or would it in fact be more efficient? It has 0.1mm thinner walls, and presumably that equals faster heat exchange :hmm:

Greater surface area per volume of cooling water = greater chilling (the reason why heat-sinks have fins)

If you can add an extra parallel coil of 8mm and get the same cooling water flow as the lower number of 10mm coils, you'll improve efficiency, especially when your wort is down below say 30 degrees.

I've got two parallel 10mm coils of 5m in length. If I did it again I'd try to bank-up four different diameter coils of 8mm to reduce the need to rock the chiller.

I did some calculations, and worked out that to acheive the same total surface area of pipe using 8mm instead of 10mm I would need to use 33% more pipe than with the 10mm...

so if I would have made a cooler with 12 metres of 10mm, an equivalent made in 8mm tube would need 16 metres of the 8mm tube to give the same total surface area.

This does reduce the cost saving, although does not eliminate it. :hmm:

Has anyone used 8mm? can it be formed (bent) around a former as easily as the 10mm??? Probably easier I suspect..

Now there's a good bit of engineering analysis - well done!

When I came to make mine I couldn't find any 8mm in any of the DIY sheds and 15mm - 8mm reducers weren't as common as 10mm. I guess mine was just a lazy engineer's decision

 

[beermonsta]

I used 8mm copper to make mine. It has 8 (yes eight) individual coils and a full 25m length of pipe....

and I'm in the middle of making a simpler version for a fellow brewer that uses 4 coils...

You can see the small CO2 cylinder that was used as a former to coil the copper around in the background.

In fact I've got to help make another one - and I'm not looking forward to drilling another 144 holes!

 

[screamlead]

WOW they're the dogs danglies m8! well done :clap: :clap: :clap: