Quick connector for gas hose

[aesmith]

Hi, go the the regulator and the MIG have fixed hose barbs. What's the best sort of connector to fit inline, so that the hose can be easily removed? I was thinking a short pigtail on the welder, not too much in the way when not needed.

Gas would be turned off at the bottle when disconnected.

If anyone could point to a suitable, preferably not too expensive product that would be great.

Thanks.

 

[voipio]

Push in compressed air fittings are quite useful for this kind of thing, and relatively inexpensive. Use a bulkhead fitting variant on the welder. The disposable bottle type regulators e.g. Sealey, often come with a 4mm push in fitting.

Push-In Fittings | Air Supplies™ UK

Plastic & Metal Push-In Fittings

www.airsupplies.co.uk

 

[123hotchef]

Rectus 21

 

[Bravheart]

Rectus 21

It's what I use after recommendations on here

 

[aesmith]

Cheers. Will check these out. Bulkhead connector on the welder would be neatest but the hose tail is sort of integral to the solenoid, not sure I want to remove it just now.

What sort of pressure is in the hose when the solenoid is closed?

 

[Sergei Slovenija]

Cheers. Will check these out. Bulkhead connector on the welder would be neatest but the hose tail is sort of integral to the solenoid, not sure I want to remove it just now.

What sort of pressure is in the hose when the solenoid is closed?

4 bar

 

[Erie Fred]

Cheers. Will check these out. Bulkhead connector on the welder would be neatest but the hose tail is sort of integral to the solenoid, not sure I want to remove it just now.

What sort of pressure is in the hose when the solenoid is closed?

Pigtail is good, I've seen too much hanging out the back with a coupler, and they get smacked (like when changing
out a large bottle) and then the solenoid valve body get's cracked.

 

[MattF]

Something like this, perhaps?

2PCS Water Cooled & Gas Adapter Quick Connector Fitting For TIG Welding Torch 8mm

https://amzn.eu/d/0H2WImN

 

[aesmith]

Rectus 21

Still not sorted this out as I keep the bottle and welder together. However I need to sort it. Everyone selling "Rectus 21" says its for "water fed poles" whatever they are. But is this the same thing? Looks a bit like PCL XF air fittings.

Pardon our interruption...

 

[hotponyshoes]

Rectus is a brand.
21 is the size of the Coupling.

PCL is a different brand and XF is one of the sizes they use but that is bigger than a Rectus 21.
Rectus also do a bigger size (26 I think) which maybe the same as a XF
PCL also do a small size (called mini?) that is the same as a Rectus 21.
Several other brands make fittings that are all the same size but give them different names.

You'll probably struggle to find XF fittings with the right size on the hose end locally as they are mostly for 8/10mm air line. You can probably get them online.

Rectus 21 is commonly used for waterfed poles amongst other things. It's not what they were specifically designed for though.
A lot of online sellers use the application in the title rather than using brand names, partly because that's what people might be searching for but many of them will not actually be Rectus connectors.
Most of the people selling them in ebay etc. will be selling something compatible/copy of rectus 21.
Genuine rectus fittings are decent quality.
Some of the other brands are fine as well but I'd be wary of the sellers that use stock photos or set up the photos so you can't see a brand name in the pictures

 

[prepman]

Hi, go the the regulator and the MIG have fixed hose barbs. What's the best sort of connector to fit inline, so that the hose can be easily removed? I was thinking a short pigtail on the welder, not too much in the way when not needed.

Gas would be turned off at the bottle when disconnected.

If anyone could point to a suitable, preferably not too expensive product that would be great.

Thanks.

Most quick connectors will eventually leak as the o rings wear, even the expensive industrial ones on gas analysis systems due to grit in the welding area. On Pure Argon even small leaks are expensive if not fixed. My cylinder and set move together being small 10Ltr.
If you are constantly (dis)connecting then wear is inevitable. All my air quick connects do to some extent.
So personally I'd use mechanical bullet nosed unions IMHO

 

[hotponyshoes]

Most quick connectors will eventually leak as the o rings wear, even the expensive industrial ones on gas analysis systems due to grit in the welding area. On Pure Argon even small leaks are expensive if not fixed. My cylinder and set move together being small 10Ltr.
If you are constantly (dis)connecting then wear is inevitable. All my air quick connects do to some extent.
So personally I'd use mechanical bullet nosed unions IMHO

If you only have one welder set up in a workshop then a threaded union is fine. You could fit a long hose to make storage easier or just tie the spanner for it to a bit of string that you keep hung round the bottle.
But if you regularly disconnect it even a threaded union will need replacing (or refacing) eventually.

If you have multiple welders and multiple gas types and want to store them easily or take them out in the van for jobs then quick connectors are lovely.
I fit them onto both ends of my gas hoses and also have a couple of extension hoses made up.
I've also got them on the tig torch gas lines that come back out of the welder.
It just makes things so much easier & quicker.
They will all start leaking eventually and I expect some of them probably leak a small amount now which, as you say, is an expensive waste of gas, but that's probably more than covered by the time saving.

I do carry out a leak down test at the start if I am planning a long welding session and keep plenty of spares.
Luckily I'm mostly setting up myself so I can just use a single type of fitting on everything. If I was leaving it to the other lads to setup I'd put different fittings on so they could only connect stuff the correct way round!

 

[prepman]

If you only have one welder set up in a workshop then a threaded union is fine. You could fit a long hose to make storage easier or just tie the spanner for it to a bit of string that you keep hung round the bottle.
But if you regularly disconnect it even a threaded union will need replacing (or refacing) eventually.

If you have multiple welders and multiple gas types and want to store them easily or take them out in the van for jobs then quick connectors are lovely.
I fit them onto both ends of my gas hoses and also have a couple of extension hoses made up.
I've also got them on the tig torch gas lines that come back out of the welder.
It just makes things so much easier & quicker.
They will all start leaking eventually and I expect some of them probably leak a small amount now which, as you say, is an expensive waste of gas, but that's probably more than covered by the time saving.

I do carry out a leak down test at the start if I am planning a long welding session and keep plenty of spares.
Luckily I'm mostly setting up myself so I can just use a single type of fitting on everything. If I was leaving it to the other lads to setup I'd put different fittings on so they could only connect stuff the correct way round!

Good point....I suppose I'm spoilt really as I have independent cylinder and welder setups that rarely move. My bias is after spending most working life using speciality gases at the £600/cyl (old money) mark tempered my response.

 

[hotponyshoes]

Good point....I suppose I'm spoilt really as I have independent cylinder and welder setups that rarely move. My bias is after spending most working life using speciality gases at the £600/cyl (old money) mark tempered my response.

If you have a workshop setting where you can have a big bottle fixed with the welder then the quick connects are a bit pointless.
If you used gas at such a rate it was a pain to swap the bottles then you would probably just get a palleted cylinder bank or something anyway.

I have a few welders, although I normally set them up for something particular so they would normally use the same type of gas.

The main issue I have is the space to leave everything out and connected so I find it easier to have all the gas bottles in one place with a hose hanging up, grab whatever welder & gas and click them both together

 

[hotponyshoes]

I also use them for purging. I've got male ends on the tube caps so when you are done welding you can just pop off the connector and stop the gas flow that way then start the next bit without having to wrestle with the hose while setting it up

 

[chrismac]

Still not sorted this out as I keep the bottle and welder together. However I need to sort it. Everyone selling "Rectus 21" says its for "water fed poles" whatever they are. But is this the same thing? Looks a bit like PCL XF air fittings.

Pardon our interruption...

This is what I used also, the female fitting was fitted to the hf box I bought. just had to find its male matching fitting.

 

[mike weldrecike]

So personally I'd use mechanical bullet nosed unions IMHO

what are these? Do you have a link? Thanks

 

[prepman]

what are these? Do you have a link? Thanks

Alias I done standard pneumatic because cost? Leak test and infrequent used win-out.