On Feb 15, 2013, at 3:53 AM, imajeenyus42 wrote:
Howdy,
I've been a lurker here for some time - came across this recently and thought it might be interesting/useful.
While looking for some info on brewing, I found these "tri clover fittings":
They seem to be standard in brewing/dairy plant, and look very similar to the KF vacuum fittings (genderless flanges, O-ring, and clamp). They're polished for hygenic reasons, so I guess would do well for vacuum. Most importantly they're dirt cheap!''
The first issue I foresee is the o-ring material. If the seals are standard O-rings, great, then you can just order Viton O-rings. But I thought those fittings used custom seals with odd cross-sections.
Another possibility to think about is that they don't have to be absolutely gas-tight for dairy operations, small leaks may be permitted.
Another thing to think about: for the most part, high vacuum fittings are designed such that when assembled together, very little "trapped" volume remains in the conjoined system, that is, space that is connected to the pumped volume, but has low conductance, IOW, "nooks and crannies".
But I agree that these do resemble KFs an awful lot, and I'm going to start comparing prices out of curiosity - if they are drastically cheaper than what I can get from Duniway et al, then an experimental purchase and test would seem in order!
- Bill "Gomez" Lemieux,
The Highland Tinker
