The trick is to use the correct grade and wall thickness for the job. Do not try this though for hydraulic brakes or power steering. Refrigeration grade tubing is annealed to provide flexibility for bending/flaring and to allow for vibration. Dennis -----Original Message----- From: Vanagon Mailing List [mailto:vanagon@gerry.vanagon.com] On Behalf Of TJ Hannink Sent: Monday, May 02, 2005 10:28 AM To: vanagon@GERRY.VANAGON.COM Subject: Re: Replacing metal coolant hoses with copper? All the non-flexible air lines on my Wanderlodge (including the brake lines) as well as the domestic water supply lines, diesel fuel lines and the propane lines are made of copper tubing. Its a selling point when advertising the vehicle for sale; only hi-end coach producers spend the $$ to install copper instead of steel or plastic, its too expensive for mass-production vehicles. See this brochure: http://www.vintagebirds.com/1983.htm, it's the first feature in the right hand column. If anything, the softness of the copper tubing prevents fracturing from vibration. Its not unsafe, or they wouldn't plumb the brakes on a +32,000-lb vehicle with it. Think about that. Good luck, Tim Robert Cardo <rrecardo@WEBTV.NET> wrote: Copper for anything in a vehicle is a bad choice. It's soft & it will fracture wit vibation. Think about this. Why aren't brakes lines, gas lines, and coolant lines made from copper from the factory? Bceause it'll crack, and it's an unsafe selection . Why didn't your mechanic make that water pump to oil cooler pipe out of steel line as it was ?? This would have been a much better selection of material. I'd have him take it out and start over.
TJ Hannink Goldibox - 1987 Vanagon Camper, Wolfsburg Edition 1981 Bluebird Wanderlodge, FC-33 Winter Park, Florida http://home.earthlink.net/~tjhannink/ http://groups.yahoo.com/group/wolfsburg_campers http://groups.yahoo.com/group/FC_wanderlodge FAVOR website: http://home.earthlink.net/~clubvanagon __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Tired of spam? Yahoo! Mail has the best spam protection around http://mail.yahoo.com |
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